Improving and learning step-by-step
Step-by-step problem solving is a great way to learn and make small incremental improvements.
Using a simple, repeatable approach offers rich possibilities for collaboration and often delivers surprisingly quick results.
Recently I have been running workshops for clients who want to make a step-change in performance but are feeling a bit lost as to where to start. Operational teams - whether they are in manufacturing, service or the public sector - are constantly battling with the pressures of everyday issues and customer demands. The thought of taking time out to work on yet another improvement initiative can seem daunting.
What has fascinated me is that the teams I’ve been working with know the areas that need to be improved and would love to be able to tackle them but I observed a few common and genuine barriers:
Not enough time to step back
Firefighting comes first
A feeling of powerlessness - not knowing where to start and what to do
It’s ‘the management’s job’ to fix things
Taking that last point, it’s true that in the end, the job of leaders and management is to fix problems and get the ‘system’ working well. But they are missing a trick if they don’t home in on the innate knowledge and problem solving skills of their teams.
The technique of breaking problems down into bite size chunks is not new news. I have a simple model (based on Kata) which follows a particular set of steps and also has at it’s heart the principle that by describing a problem and writing it down, it becomes easier to come up with a plan and discuss options with other colleagues. Here is a quick overview of the approach which can be used by anybody (including management!) to make step-by-step improvements.
Pick a problem or issue
Write down what the today world feels like. Think about customers, employees and commercial impact.
Wind the clock forward and imagine what you would like to be true if the problem didn’t exist or was reduced - again write it down
List out the barriers and blockers that you think are stopping you/your team from making the improvements that you want
Decide what action you are going to take to make a small step towards your ideal state.
Think about which barriers will get in the way - pick the main one and write down what you are going to do to overcome that barrier.
Give it a go! Do what you said - take action. Also try to get rid of the main barrier or blocker you identified!
Write down what you expect to happen as a result of your experiment.
Review what actually happened versus what you thought would happen and decide what you need to do to course correct
Follow the steps again
The key to the model is to work on small incremental steps, experiment, learn and experiment again. It actually doesn’t take that long to do, but you need to block out 10-15 minutes at a time to give yourself clear brain space to try it out.
If you want to have a conversation about how to improve step by step or any other other aspects of improving your organisation’s performance, do get in touch: [email protected]
