Data Driven Process Improvement Coaching

Process improvement is a way to find and fix inefficiencies, mistakes, and other problems in an organization's processes in order to improve the organization's total performance. Data is an important part of process growth, but coaching is also a must-have for success. Keep reading and hear me out. This will be one of many continuous improvement conversations.

Be sure to keep an eye for the Continuous Improvement Conversation Newsletter starting this June 2023! From your favorite PIC coach! (Process Improvement Coach - PIC Me) The process improvement conversations and the ones that never left the Gemba, or the report that was never used! Don't worry, "Respect for people will be the Standard!" Okay back to the article.

How coaching can help improve a process

Coaching can help workers at all levels of an organization gain the skills and knowledge they need to find and implement process changes. According to a study by the International Coach Federation, coaching has a big effect on how well people do their jobs. In fact, 86% of companies say that coaching gives them a good return on their investment.

Coaching that works well depends on a few key things. First, coaches should know a lot about how the company works and how it does things. This lets them find places where employees need help and give them specific advice.

Second, coaches should know how to give staff feedback and help them improve their skills. John Doerr, author of Measure What Matters, says, "Coaching is about giving feedback and helping employees understand how they can improve." "The goal is to help them improve their skills and knowledge so that they can do their jobs better."

Lastly, coaches should be able to help workers deal with the problems that come with process growth. Linda Adams, co-author of The Loyalist Team, says, "Process improvement can be hard if employees don't want to change." "Coaches can help employees deal with these problems by giving them support and motivation along the way."

How Data Can Help Make Things Better

Data is a key part of making processes better. It's important to know how processes are working right now in order to figure out where they can be improved. Data can be used to set a baseline for how well a process is working, find places where it isn't working well or where it could be improved, and track the effects of process changes over time.

Lastly, many legacies, older firms don't employ data or performance management metrics and have antiquated apps and systems. I've heard "oh yeah, I know lean," "that lean thing again," "we have consultants doing that," and "you're wasting your time no one wants or will change." The one I hear most is, "Leaders want to impress the board and show they're lean."

As coaches, we learned to get down to the people level respectfully understanding what their process is and is not by using current state conversations. If the organization does not have data or data they don't trust, we can talk about their process specifically to what's in scope of the process improvement initiative.?

Coaches will use observational studies and a clipboard to collect data if no data is available. Be mindful as many companies react to noise rather than signals. To understand where I’m coming from read Mark Graban's Measures of Success or Karen Martin's Clarity First. One of many lean thinking books by well-known experts. It will help you practice lean or at least enhance your lean thinking. You will find plenty of resources in the bookstore or online as well as on LinkedIn.?

As coaches, waste walks with SMEs/stakeholders, filling out standards worksheets or Gemba worksheets, and creating maps and spaghetti diagrams can improve the conversation and build trust as we learn to see through the eyes of who does the work, and where the work is being done.

Coaches who have successfully implemented lean observe and talk with transparency. In my perspective, most lean transformation failures are due to organizations and leaders failing to see when they should be learning to see. There are also organizations who create playbooks and don't realize the best executed plays depends on the coach or the coaches the ability to teach the players how to execute those plays.

Organizations need to have a culture that is driven by data if they want to use data to improve processes. This means that data should be collected regularly, analyzed in a systematic way, and used at all levels of the company to help make decisions. Employees should be taught how to read and understand data, and those who need it should be able to get it.

Why coaching and data are better together

When organizations combine coaching with data, they can build a powerful way to improve their processes. Coaching can help make sure that improvements are long-lasting and can be kept up, and it can also help build a mindset of improvement. Data can give you the information you need to find places to improve, measure the effects of changes, and make choices based on data to improve processes.

"Coaching and data are a powerful combination for process improvement," says Mary Jo Asmus, a senior coach and the author of the blog Leadership Solutions. "Coaching helps people gain the skills and knowledge they need to find and implement improvements, and data gives them the information they need to make decisions based on data and measure how changes affect them."

In the end, coaching and making decisions based on data can help businesses improve their processes and reach their goals in Creating a Lean Culture. Effective coaching can help employees gain the skills and knowledge they need to find and implement process improvements, while data can give them the insights, they need to make choices based on data and measure how changes affect the business. (KPI Checklist) By adding coaching and data to the process improvement process, companies can build a culture of continuous improvement and achieve long-term success. (Data Books)

Message me to talk more about my approach. I'm fun, open, friendly, and full of energy. I've been used as a sound board and Idea generator supporter. (FYI: Executives I've worked with recently called me, "Executive Energy!")

Make today and tomorrow better than today.