How do you know if your process improvements are making a difference?

1 Define your goals and metrics

Before you start making any changes to your process, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and how you will measure it. You need to define your process improvement goals and align them with your organizational objectives and customer needs. You also need to identify the key performance indicators (KPIs) that will track your progress and show the outcomes of your improvements. Your goals and metrics should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

2 Collect and analyze data

Once you have your goals and metrics in place, you need to collect and analyze data that reflects the current state of your process and the problems or opportunities that exist. You can use various methods and tools to gather and organize data, such as surveys, interviews, observations, flowcharts, value stream maps, fishbone diagrams, Pareto charts, and histograms. You should use both quantitative and qualitative data to get a comprehensive picture of your process performance and customer satisfaction. You should also establish a baseline for your metrics so that you can compare it with the future state after implementing your improvements.

3 Implement and monitor improvements

After you have identified the root causes and potential solutions for your process issues, you need to implement and monitor your improvements. You can use different approaches and frameworks to plan and execute your changes, such as PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act), DMAIC (Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control), or Agile. You should test your improvements on a small scale before rolling them out to the entire process. You should also monitor the effects of your improvements on your metrics and collect feedback from your customers and stakeholders. You should be prepared to make adjustments and corrections if needed.

4 Evaluate and communicate results

The final step in knowing if your process improvements are making a difference is to evaluate and communicate your results. You need to compare your metrics before and after your improvements and calculate the benefits and costs of your changes. You need to quantify the impact of your improvements on your process efficiency, effectiveness, quality, customer satisfaction, and profitability. You also need to communicate your results to your stakeholders and customers in a clear and compelling way. You can use various formats and channels to share your results, such as reports, dashboards, presentations, newsletters, or testimonials.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?