Why a Current State Baseline Matters

People forget how bad it was. If you’re able to fix issues in a quick, easy and in a cost effective manner, maybe the problem just wasn’t that big in the first place.

A CEO reached out to me earlier this year and asked for help changing the culture at his $5 million a year construction company. We identified his primary pain points and worked through the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) process, developing solutions and mitigation strategies for each concern.

Fast forward 3 months. I checked in with staff and confirmed the sustainability of our improvements. Yes, our process improvement solutions are still in place with quantified improvements to the companies profit and culture. The new variable: memory of why we needed to make improvements flipped. Some managers and floor staff now describe the old issues as minor problems. Only the CEO and low level workers recognize and still appreciate the full value of our effort.

This is an interesting and unexpected dilemma. The staff supports our new workflow but completely forgot why we decided to make the changes in the first place. I underestimated the impact of memory and human tendencies in our long term process improvement planning. 

Step 1: Admit you have a problem.

Alcoholics Anonymous requires you admit that you have a problem before you’re able to improve. This is spot on to process improvement. Jumping right in and immediately solving the problem doesn’t mean the solutions are sustainable (our ultimate goal). Just because staff are able to see our solutions working, doesn’t mean a lesson was learned.

Step 2: Why do you want to fix it?

"You’ve made it this far in business and must be doing something right." A stranger coming in and pointing out all the flaws in your processes is guaranteed to feel negative and offensive. This tends to be the first point of process improvement failure. Just like water, most people will take the path of least resistance. Change is hard and continuing to do things the same way is easy. It’s on the improvement lead to help staff to see value.

Step 3: What if others don’t want to fix it?

Sustainable change requires empathy, flexibility, and a mastery of office politics. Just because leadership has the power to hire and fire, doesn’t mean they have control. I’ve seen CEO’s of billion-dollar companies fold to hostile, low level staff. Forcing the change along is not as easy as it sounds. What if all your most experienced staff quit? What if your most negative and mutinous staff don’t quit? Passively influencing change will only take a leader so far. Like the military, sometimes you just need grab a gun, run up the hill, and hope for the best.

Step 4: What happens after its fixed?

Like someone married and remembering single life or a 40 year old remembering a high school football career, the reality and memory might be completely different. Historical facts didn’t change but the story and recollection most certainly will. Positive or Negative, the future perspective needs to be factored into present day planning.

Conclusion:

Not every improvement or failure is quantifiable. The numbers by themselves will not tell the full story. Intangible benefits might be recognized today and racked up to luck tomorrow. A solid baseline in process improvement is our straight edge to measure from.   

Written by Jonathon Guyer