Improving internal efficiency

The problem may not be cast in stone at this point; you may have defined what you believe the problem to be but once you have complete steps 2 and 3 the 'problem' may need to be redefined.

For example, you may start by defining the problem as being: “we currently use too many different processes to achieve the same objective”. After measuring and analysing the problem this might be restated as: “we need to create new internal best practice guidance”. 

Measure

Typical questions you need to be asking during this stage to understand the issues around the working practices are:

● how many protocols are in place and how closely are they adhered to?
● how many precedents and are there and which precedents are most frequently used?
● how many different legal know how providers do we have?
● what acknowledged experts do we have?
● what is the consequence of the variance in procedures?
● how much time and money can we save by streamlining our working practices?

Once you have all the data from your measurements you can then get to the heart of the problem.

During this stage you will pinpoint the bottlenecks that give rise to duplication of resources. 

You need to consider and test theories about the causes of the problem you are seeing and focus on the main root cause or causes.

You also need to establish the priorities as it is unlikely you will be able to change everything at once.

 During this stage, several sequential activities need to be performed:
● generate ideas for resolving the issues identified;
● evaluate the alternatives to determine the best route forwards;
● design improvements taking into account resources and training requirements;
● identify how you will get people engaged and enthused about the new process;
● prove it works by running a pilot or simulation;
● implement the new process according to your project plan.

When evaluating different possible solutions the costs of the solutions need to be compared to the costs of the problem in order to establish a robust business case.

The key factors in this stage are creativity and feasibility, i.e. generating a range of possible solutions and then evaluating them to determine the best route forwards.

Try to involve a number of people when generating possible solutions to give yourself a broad span of ideas and creative solutions and maximise the prospects of your staff accepting any process changes.

This stage is all about embedding the new processes so they become business as usual.

This may include monitoring the process more closely for a time and providing additional support and training as and when required.

It may also be advisable, depending on the size of the new process, to include it within appraisal criteria, so its importance is understood by all employees. 

During this stage you need to re-measure the process so you can compare the data to the measurements taken earlier in the project and establish whether or not it is delivering the desired and anticipated improvements.

It is a good idea to make all measurement data as transparent and public as possible, so far as confidentiality allows, in order for employees to see the difference the new process has made.