Is Your Culture Impacting Your Processes?

Elizabeth Jamischak • December 22, 2021

"If you can't describe what you are doing as a process, you don't know what you're doing."

-W. Edwards Deming

As another year comes to a close it is often a time for reflecting on what went well throughout the year, what could be improved upon and predictions for what the new year will bring.

We thought about the various tools that organizations often use for the exercises listed above and one which came to the top of our list was process maps.

This is a great tool which graphically represents the steps involved in a process, showing how inputs are transformed into outputs.

Process Maps shows who is doing what steps in a process, with whom, when and they allow you to dig down into the type of activities. Are those activities bringing value? How long do they take? Does the process move between teams and/or departments? The amount of information gleaned from these diagrams can be incredible and incredibly satisfying to analysts and data gatherers alike.

However, over the years we have come to recognize that they do fall short in one area – they do not reveal to us how the culture of the organization/team/department impacts the process.

There are 3 areas where culture can impact a process:

Embracing a continuous improvement mindset
Willingness to change
Confidence to speak up

Embracing a Continuous Improvement (CI) Mindset

A CI mindset can be summarized as a growth mindset and can be applied to personal growth and professional growth. It is one where failures or flaws are viewed through a positive lens as an opportunity to improve. Organizations who do not actively promote this type of culture can find themselves with a team of people who may be very high performing (because a failure / breakdown / flaw / error is a negative) and who may be prone to burn-out and high turnover rates thus making it more difficult for the organization to grow as a whole.

Willingness to Change

We believe it’s safe to say that at some point, we have all been resistant to change either personally or professionally. However, being resistant to the point where we are unwilling to make ANY change can be detrimental to an organizations’ survival. We have all been forced to experience a large amount of change over the past two years which has caused some to have ‘change fatigue’. Therefore, ensuring your team understands the reasons for further change, and presenting change in a positive light can make a big impact on how it is received and to build confidence in making future changes.

Confidence to Speak Up

This final point is a crucial one. We have worked with organizations where the team is fully aware that a process is not functioning as it should be, they know where the bottlenecks are, they have insight into how to fix/improve the process but no one says a word and they continue with a frustrating and time-consuming process. Why does this occur? We believe a big factor is how psychologically safe the team feels. Believing that I may be reprimanded, passed by for a promotion or shunned because I pointed out an issue can be a huge deterrent. Therefore, taking the time to educate the team (not just the leaders) on how to create a psychologically safe environment can help build your teams confidence to speak up when they detect an issue.

As you approach the new year we encourage you to continue the exercise of reflection and prediction and recommend adding in some consideration to your culture by asking 'how is your culture impacting your processes as well as your employee satisfaction and retention rates?'.

Have a wonderful and safe holiday season!

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By Elizabeth Jamischak • April 12, 2023

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Sticky Improvements and Closing the Project

By Elizabeth Jamischak • December 21, 2022

This year we have been posting about the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) methodology which is the hallmark of Six Sigma theory and execution. Since this is the final blog for 2022 we decided to include both ‘Improve’ and ‘Control’ within this post. So far we have discussed the importance of defining the problem that we want to fix or area we want to improve and the value of spending time on developing a robust Project Charter, how to protect our project from scope creep by using tools such as a Data Collection Plan and how to uncover the actual Root Cause of the problem we are wanting to resolve or area we are planning to improve. In this post we will list common tools which will aid in collating all the information we have gathered thus far in our project and interpreting that information into potential solutions. However, our primary focus will be on how to actually implement change and then how to monitor / control those changes. To jump right in, some of the most common tools within the Improve phase to identify potential solutions include: Failure Mode and Effects Analysis Stakeholder Analysis Kaizen Event Poka-Yoke Cost-Benefit Analysis Matrix Diagram Once you have a list of possible solutions, selecting the best one AND implementing often brings with it stress and anxiety therefore putting a plan in place is essential for successful change. There are many templates and resources available online for developing an Implementation Plan. We recommend including the following elements: Strategy Process Action Each of these elements can be broken down by applying the 5W2H Method. For example, Strategy Who is managing the implementation of the change(s)? What is our ultimate goal with this project? When does the change(s) need to be completed? Where does this project tie into our mission & vision? Why have we selected ______ solution instead of _______ solution? How will the changes be monitored? How much will it cost to implement the changes? Process Who will be involved in implementing the changes? What is the process and timelines for implementing this change? When do we need to set our milestones to ensure success? Where does the majority of our focus need to be to successfully implement the changes? How will we communicate the change(s) to the staff / department / organization? How much effort is required from the team to implement this change(s)? Action Who is doing _______ [list specific role]? What do we need to accomplish this week / month / quarter to hit our next milestone? When do we need to test the process to verify our changes have been fully adopted? Where will we keep the documentation for implementing the change(s)? How will daily activities for ____ need to be adjusted due to these change(s)? How much time will __________ require to work on implementing the change(s)? By answering these questions, you and your team will have a clear picture of the time, human resources, financial resources and most importantly, the communication which will be required for a successful implementation of the improvements / solution you have selected for your project. The final element in a Six Sigma DMAIC project is ‘Control’. This is the phase that makes all the others worth the time and energy because in the Control phase we focus on maintaining the change(s) / improvement(s) that have been implemented. Oftentimes, the greatest challenge at this point is maintaining the cultural / psychological change that occurred therefore it is important to review your organizations infrastructure (is it technically possible to maintain the change?), the policies and procedures (do these support the change(s)?) and the culture of your organization (is everyone on board with the change(s) / improvement(s) and intentionally incorporating the change(s) / improvement(s) into their daily activities and conversations?) Some tools and activities which typically occur within the Control Phase include… Control Plan Statistical Process Control Control Charts (ex. Xbar, run chart, X-MR chart, p chart, np chart, c chart, u chart) Cost Benefit Analysis Formal Project Closure Celebration of success and team recognition As Six Sigma practitioners it is easy to remain focused on the technical aspects of a project such as collecting and analyzing the data. Therefore, in this series we wanted to highlight some key activities and soft skills which can have a dramatic impact on the success of your project. We trust you will continue to thrive and learn from each experience and that you will allocate additional time and energy to developing your plans at each stage of the DMAIC process and that you will focus on how your project will and is, impacting the culture of your organization. Thank you for joining us on this journey and we look forward to connecting in 2023!