5 Focusing Steps to Improve Any Service Process

5 Focusing Steps to Improve Any Service Process

Thought of sharing my knowledge, though it might sound bookish, but was really useful to me.?

Do you have a service process that's not performing as well as it could??

This is the question that has been asked to me many a times by my colleagues, in the operational world, but till a few years back I did not know the answer, that is when I started to find suitable answer and certainly how to deal with this satiation of a non performing process.?

This mean, it's likely that there's a bottleneck somewhere.?

A bottleneck is a step in the process that limits the throughput of the entire process. By identifying and improving the bottleneck, you can significantly improve the overall performance of the process.?

The 5 Focusing Steps:

Here are the 5 Focusing Steps for process improvement:

1.????Identify the constraint.?The first step is to identify the bottleneck. This can be done by measuring the time and resources it takes to complete each step in the process. The step that takes the longest or requires the most resources is the bottleneck.

2.????Exploit the constraint.?Once the bottleneck has been identified, we need to exploit it. This means making sure that the bottleneck is working as efficiently as possible. We can do this by optimizing the resources used at the bottleneck, such as by increasing the number of workers or by using more efficient equipment.

3.????Subordinate everything else to the constraint.?Once we have exploited the bottleneck, we need to subordinate everything else to it. This means that all other steps in the process should be designed to support the bottleneck. For example, if the bottleneck is the customer service line, then we should make sure that the customer service representatives have all the information they need to answer customer questions quickly and efficiently.

4.????Elevate the constraint.?Once we have subordinated everything else to the constraint, we need to elevate it. This means finding ways to make the bottleneck faster or more efficient. We can do this by investing in new equipment, by changing the way the work is done, or by making other changes to the process.

5.????Prevent inertia from becoming the new constraint.?Once we have elevated the constraint, we need to prevent inertia from becoming the new constraint. This means staying vigilant and making sure that the process is continuously improving.

Let us understand with a simple example that most of us have faced in operations.:

Let's say you are the manager of a call centre. You notice that the average wait time for customers is 20 minutes. You measure the time it takes to complete each step in the process, and you find that the bottleneck is the customer service representative who answers the initial call. The customer service representative takes an average of 10 minutes to answer each call, and they are only able to handle 2 calls per hour.

To exploit the constraint, you could hire more customer service representatives. You could also invest in new call centre software that is more efficient.

To subordinate everything else to the constraint, you could make sure that the customer service representatives have all the information they need to answer customer questions quickly and efficiently. You could also make sure that the call centre is properly staffed so that there are never too many calls waiting to be answered.

To elevate the constraint, you could invest in new call centre technology that allows customer service representatives to answer calls more quickly. You could also change the way the call centre is structured so that customers are routed to the most qualified customer service representative for their needs.

By following the 5 Focusing Steps, you can significantly improve the average wait time for customers in your call centre.

The 5 Focusing Steps are a powerful tool for process improvement. By identifying and improving the bottleneck, we can significantly improve the overall performance of any process.