Last week in the third of this five-part series, I covered analyzing the process and identifying root cause(s) of the defects will keep you on the path to ensuring the change you’re making is a sustainable solution for your organization (Click here to revisit Part 3 - Analyze the Process).  The second step was to measure the critical to quality (CTQ) characteristics of the process you think is causing the problem (Click here to revisit Part 2 - Measure the Process).  And the first step was to really define the problem using voice of the customer (VOC) and critical to quality (CTQ) characteristics (Click here to revisit Part 1 - Define the Problem). Now comes the fourth thing you can do to help ensure your change is here to stay in the organization.   

4. Improve the situation by figuring out and implementing solutions to remove the root cause(s).

Through the work in step three you may have identified four root causes for the process defects.  That doesn’t necessarily mean all four root causes need to be fixed.  This is where it’s important to once again use the process data to determine which root causes should be focused on.  Would solving one of these root causes remove 80% of the process defects and the process would then meet the customer CTQs and make the customer happy?  If yes, then only one root cause needs to be solved at this time.

Take recent events for example.  The primary way the coronavirus (COVID-19) spreads is an infected person coughs or sneezes, or through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose that a healthy person comes into contact with.  To mitigate this root cause as much as possible to flatten the curve of people getting sick, a good part of the United States is being asked to social distance right now.  And by the way just because we’re “social distancing” doesn’t mean we have to stop being social.  Really, we’re “physically distancing” as we can still be social on our phones, in videoconferences, on social media, etc. which is important for our mental health as we humans are social creatures!  

Now back to the improving the situation.  Once you’ve identified which root cause(s) need to be focused on, it’s time to figure out some solutions.  Some questions to answer in this  step include:

• How can we fix this root cause?

• What needs to change from a process, system, and people perspective?

• Who will be affected by these changes?

• Who will need training?

• Do we want to pilot the solution before rolling it out to the entire organization? 

This is where Change Management comes in.  Change Management is the process to prepare, support, and help individuals, teams, and organizations in making the improvement(s), i.e. help them through the change.  John Kotter's 8­-Step Change Model and the Awareness Desire Knowledge Ability Reinforcement (ADKAR) Change Management Model are just two of several change management methodologies an organization can use to help usher in the improvements.  

Next week I’ll cover the fifth thing you can do to ensure the change you’re making is a sustainable solution for your organization. 

Call to Action

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About the Author: Rosanne Essiambre helps change agents and departments in one-on-one and group settings to be seen, be heard, and be effective in bringing about change in the organization and/or in their personal lives. She provides consulting and facilitation to organizations to improve communications and collaboration, smooth out the change / transformation journey, get to the root cause of an issue so it can be solved for good, improve processes, and implement successful lessons learned. And she conducts workshops, trains, and speaks on Energy Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Resilience, Being a Change Agent and more. If you or your organization could use support with your change effort or some inspiration, contact Rosanne for a complimentary consultation. Rosanne is a Change Agent Coach, Facilitator, Six Sigma Black Belt, Change Management / Continuous Improvement Consultant, Speaker, and Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner with more than 20 years experience working on a variety of transformations across a diverse set of industries both domestically and internationally, while continuously improving herself.