A Simple Approach to Improve a Business Process

The Five Steps for Improving Processes:
1. Define:
•What are your customers saying about your product or service? (Quality, Cost, Delivery)
•Complete a Project Charter:
–Project information: Pick a team leader, a team mentor, and a start and end date for the project
–Team Members: Pick five to six team members making sure the membership is cross functional
–Process Start/Stop: Where does the process (to be improved) start and stop?
–Process Importance: Why is this process important to your business?
–Process Improvement Opportunities: What needs to improve? This may come from your customer or from within your organization
–Process Goals: What are your goals for this process? What do you want to achieve in the project?
–Process Measurements: How will you know if you reached the goals? How will you track progress?
–Project time frame: List the key steps of your project with dates. Make sure the dates fit within the start and end dates for the project.

2. Measure:
•Understand the process as it exists today. You are painting a “before picture”
•Techniques:
–Time it
–Videotape it
–Talk to the people that work within it
•Create a SIPOC Diagram of the Process:
–S (Suppliers): Who supplies each input?
–I (Inputs): What are the key inputs for this process? These are the ingredients needed to make the process happen.
–P(Process): Write out the general steps of the process. Look at the process from a satellite view. This is the recipe for the output
–O (Output): What are the key outputs of the process? These are what the customer is paying for. For each output, list the key metric. Collect data for the metric to understand how the output has performed.
–C (Customer): List your customers. You have external customers (those that pay you for your product and/or service) and internal customers (internal departments that receive output from this process)
-Collect performance data for each area of the SIPOC diagram

3. Analyze:
•Once you have measured the process and understand how it is performing, analyze the process to understand the specific areas that need to be improved
•Techniques
–Watch the videotape and critique it
–Brainstorming
–Nominal Technique
–Fishbone diagram
•Write out a statement of the opportunity for improvement. What needs to be improved or fixed?

4. Improve
•Once you are clear on what needs to improve or be fixed, take actions to improve the process. Use the plan/do/check/act cycle to implement the improvement action(s).
•Each action should have a responsible person and a due date
•Once the actions are taken, paint a before and after picture of the process. What did it look like before the improvement and what does it look like after the improvements? Use data as much as possible.

5. Control
•Once you make the improvements, make sure the improvements work and that they stay in place.
•Techniques:
–Change standard operating procedures
–Audit the process (periodically check on it)
–Measure and track the key outputs to make sure their performance stays in control
–Go through a lessons learned process. What went right in this project? What went wrong?
-Implement statistical process control, if applicable

Are You In the Wilderness?

Many people are in the wilderness right now. Jobs have been lost and incomes cut off with no optimism in site. When you read about and listen to the country as a whole, the weight of the world can pile drive you deep into despair.

So what is the answer? Do we wait on the government to fix our problems and restore America to its hallowed position in the world? Certainly, the President and Congress need to address many system problems but the long term solution must come from American citizens. This means looking at how we have been living. What has been our focus? Have we been living according to God's standards or the world's standards? I fear the latter.

I have struggled in the wilderness and at times agonize over what to do and when to do it. Through prayer and talks with others, I left with a simple thought-Go back to the Bible for guidance. I did and was reminded of the following. I hope this helps you. Please forward this post to friends or colleagues wandering aimlessly in the wilderness.

It is the story of Moses and the deliverance of God's chosen people from captivity. It is all about wilderness living and making changes to exit the wilderness.

Through Moses, God informs the Israelis that he will free them from captivity and deliver them to a promised land. We all know the story of Moses' interactions with Pharaoh and the resulting plagues. As the plagues progressed, Pharaoh turned up the heat on the Israelis. He made them work harder. Their working conditions worsened. What they had grown accustomed to was being significantly altered and they became, at times, frustrated with Moses for upsetting their lives.

Well, God won and the people were freed from captivity and entered a whole new arena-the wilderness. Their lives were radically altered and they were frustrated and afraid. They were hungry not just for food but for answers to what would happen next. God was constantly speaking to them through Moses but often to no avail as many began to act according to their will and not God's.

God was clear. They were freed from bondage in order to live in a land of milk and honey. What an incredible gift and extraordinary change of events for a group that only knew hard work and the expectations of task masters. To enter the promised land, God only asked that they live according to his standards without fail.

As a whole, the people failed to live to God's standards. Thus, God kept them in the wilderness for forty years. Even Moses failed to steadfastly follow God's commands and was not allowed to cross the river into the new land. It was not until a new generation arose did God take the people to the outskirts of the promised land. Moses dies and God transfers leadership to Joshua.

In the first part of the book of Joshua, God commissions Joshua to lead the people into the promised land. It is here where we can take away much for our lives.

The entire nation was camped at the banks of the Jordan river and they could see across to the beautiful land that awaited their occupation. God tells Joshua several key words of encouragement:
1. Be strong
2. Be of good courage
3. Know that God never forsakes us
4. Follow God's written word. Do not turn to the right or left as you follow the words of the Bible.

I had coffee with a friend the other day and we talked about what this story teaches us. He brilliantly stated that we must spend time in the wilderness to build our internal strength. God knows how much strength we need and he will not let us linger longer than we need to. We need to be strong for as we exit the wilderness, strong forces will seek to defeat and discourage us just as they did to God's people as they entered the promised land.

So the take aways I offer to you are:
1. Be strong and of good courage
2. Pray diligently and read the Bible often
3. Know that God never forsakes you. He is always by your side and his love for you is unconditional
4. Our time in the wilderness makes us stronger and more prepared to handle where God places us next.

2009 Lowcountry Quality Conference

I am thrilled to be Chairperson for this year's Lowcountry Quality Conference. The annual event will take place May 1, 2009 at Trident Technical College in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina.

The theme for this year's conference is The Necessity of Quality Improvement in Today's Economic Environment. The format will be two keynote speakers and six breakout, training sessions. Breakfast and lunch will be served.

Here is an overview of the speakers and breakout sessions-

Keynote Address One: A Quality Approach to Delivering World Class Quality at The Sanctuary, Kiawah Island

Bill Lacey, Assistant Executive Manager, The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort

Mr. Lacey will discuss how quality principles and practices have created the world class resort hotel at the Sanctuary of Kiawah Island. This hotel achieved the coveted AAA Five Diamond Award two years after opening and Mobil Five Star Award after just three years.

Keynote Address Two: Trident Technical College: Our Quality Story-The How, The Why

Dr. Mary Thornley, President of Trident Technical College

Dr. Thornley will recount the reasons for embarking on Trident Technical College’s quality journey in 1992 and discuss how the path to continuous improvement continues to this day. Learn how an education organization applies quality tools and principles to meet the growing and ever changing needs of its customer base.

There will three breakout sessions in the morning and three in the afternoon. The sessions and presenters are as follows:

Workshop 1(AM): Measurement Systems Analysis
Stephen Deas CSSBB, President of Quality Minds Inc.
www.qualitymindsinc.com

Workshop 2(AM): Quality Management and Leadership
Bridget Dewees, Director of Institutional Quality, Trident Technical College

Workshop 3(AM): Six Sigma
David Stamps, Q-DAS Inc.

Workshop 4(PM): ISO 9001:2008
Cathy Fisher, Quality Improvement Strategies

Workshop 5(PM): Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma
David Stamps, Q-DAS Inc.

Workshop 6(PM): Supplier Management
Shawn Sullivan, Team Leader Supplier Quality Group, Robert Bosch Corporation

Registration: $99 before April 17, 2009, $125 after. Call Trident Technical College at 843-574-6152 or www.tridenttech.edu

Please tell friends and colleagues.

Flesh and Blood (I wrote this when my children were younger)

Every day, I try to impose the ways of past generations on my children; often in vain, seldom with success. Hey, there is a reason why old school music is in vogue. It had substance and style. Why can’t the customs, ethics, and morality of my formative years apply to the youth of today? But I digress. I’ll leave this for another day’s debate.

Sports is a neat, simple microcosm of this opinion. Today, children can participate in a myriad of sports before they are fully potty trained, can tie their own shoes, or ride a bike without training wheels. There is soccer in the fall. Basketball in the winter. Soccer again in the spring. Swimming and T-ball in the summer. We complain as parents about the non-stop carpooling but honestly love every minute of it. You could argue that the sit down, family dinner has been superceded by the drive through window as early evening games await. Well, that’s the way it is now. Talk to any peers in any other state and you’ll get the same story.

I had basketball for breakfast on Saturday as my daughter’s team continued their winning ways. Lunch was spent watching my five year old sprinting aimlessly around a basket ball court in a non-competitive game. Later, I traveled to McClelanville to see my oldest compete and fall short of victory.

Like many families, we are immersed in a sport-in our case, basketball. The little one is simply emulating his siblings. Just to don the jersey and sneakers is fulfillment for him. Everything else is gravy. There is nothing more pure that watching a five year old score a basket. First, he stares in wonderment as if the rim talked to him. Next, his eyes look for mom and dad making sure that the event was noticed. The middle child is learning how to compete while having fun. At her age, sports is as genuine as it gets. Good hustle. Great desire. A thirst for winning. All spiced with sportsmanship. The oldest is being introduced to pure, unbridled competition. Young man against young man. Who can jump the highest. Who can block whose shot. Can I take him to the hole? The swaggers are noticeable.

There is something eerie about watching flesh and blood, of the same sex, play a sport. Sitting in the stands at my teenage son’s basketball game, I constantly follow him down the court in a symbiotic trance willing him to go left when needed or to shoot when the defense allows. This wonderful young body that only yesterday seemed five years old is now exerting itself so beautifully in pressure packed situations. And I helped create him!

It’s as if my love for the game was downloaded to him at birth. He walks the house tossing a ball from hand to hand. Just like me. He walks from the den to the kitchen shifting his feet side to side to evade an invisible opponent. Just like me. The daily sports page is devoured and statistics memorized. Just like me. It all seems to be part of his genetic code.

As I watch him transition from defense to offense, I catch my breath and glance at the scoreboard. Though we are up by seven points, we need a good, insurance basket and I want him to want the ball. I can stand up and scream for him to take it but that would not be prudent. No, it must occur naturally. He sets up on the foul line and extends his arms above his head. Unrewarded with a pass, he cuts to the right side to make himself a better target for the point guard. He catches it, and I feel as if the ball is in my hands. Ok son, what are we to do now, I ask us both. In the triple threat position, I knew what I would do but could only sit and await his move. He raises his arms to shoot a high percentage, ten foot set shot. Somewhere in my consciousness, I think good of his choice. His acting is superb as it draws the nearest defender into a frantic lunge at the ball. But just as the opposite’s arm reaches to block the shot, my boy pulls the ball down, completing the fake. Genius, I thought as the defender flies by, turning his head in disbelief as number four explodes to the basket for a right handed lay-up and a foul by a recovering center.

So now we find ourselves at the foul line. He’s tired. I’m not. I know that he probably sees two goals as his vision is blurred with exhaustion. “Aim for the left rim”, I beam to him in telepathic hope. He bounces the ball three times. Good. He tosses it forward with backspin so it returns as if tied to string. He quick pumps the ball two times. Aah! He normally pumps three times. Bends his knees and shoots. The arc of the ball is measured by my gaze and deemed to be good…yet it clangs off the side of the rim. Five more years of this. I’ll never make it!

The game ends with his team on the short side of the score. He hangs his head. If I could only be there to help him. To set a pick when he needs it. To run a fast break with him, just us against a helpless defender. Alas, my support now is in words. I speak to a blank stare; a look that in part cries for help and does not want my help.

The ride home is lengthy and we’ll have time to talk. I collect my thoughts and pray that the words stem from my heart and not my head. As I ignite the car, he taps the window to tell me that he wants to go home with a friend. “Of course you can”, I say. He walks off for us to talk another day. Another day where we both will get a little older, a little wiser, and much closer as father and son.

We Learn from Others

More from my journal. This was posted 3/20/91. Place this in the category of counting your blessings and being thankful for what you have.

There is a gentleman at our plant whose disposition is pleasant and infectious. He greets you always with a smile and a salutation which includes your name. He is enthusiastic in everything he attempts from saying hello in the morning to mopping the canteen floor after the day's activity.

He works very hard to remember names, priding himself on the fact that he knows all but one name on first shift. However, he planned to acquaint himself the very day.

To engage him in conversation instills one with envy. How can he be so happy with recessions, war, and the ever present threat of layoff? Why he accentuates the positives in life mystifies his every listener for you see, he has no right arm only an artificial appendage with a hook.

When you marvel at this man, you do not notice his "deficiency". We perceive it as a deficiency while his opposite viewpoint allows him to be upbeat. He had two choices to make after his accident. He could have followed the path to self pity or taken the route to recovery and self accomplishment. He chose the latter.

I sometimes hate getting up and plodding to work. He is lucky to be working and looks forward to each work day. People often annoy me. People interest him. He talks to them, smiles at them, and shows genuine interest in their feelings.

I plan to learn from this man. He has made me realize that I am blessed with much. I am thankful to God and to him for lifting the film from my eyes.

Eighteen Years Later

My first real job out of college was being a Quality Manager of a small manufacturing plant in North Carolina. Back then, I was big into keeping journals of my thoughts and experiences. I found one of my journals this weekend and was entertained with the experiences I had as a wet behind the ear engineer who planned to fix the world's problems.

Here is a passage from a time when an employee (of mine) quit. This had never happened to me before and I struggled with my thoughts. Her name is fictitious.

Margaret quit today. I hate to see her leave. She is a fine lady and a very good worker. In retrospect, I dwelled on her negative performance far more than her accomplishments. First of all, she was very concerned with the well being of the company and the quality of processes and products. Her involvement in the "What If" program was rivaled by few. She provided daily suggestions for improvement. Her strength unfortunately was her weakness. She was so personal and concerned that she could not say no to anyone.

I should have trained her better. Looking ahead, new employees will have a structured training program mixing textbook study with applications. The time will be split between learning procedures on the floor and movement throughout the plant learning processes and meeting associates.

It is very easy to confront someone with performance failures, human errors, and mistakes. Each is obvious because it contradicts the expected result. When the result is not achieved, the person's integrity and commitment is questioned. No matter how well the dialogue is carried, the perception is of criticism.

Incredibly, it seems difficult to find positive aspects of performance. When the results are achieved, you may mention it to the person. However, we mostly ignore the work put forth to achieve the result.

Why Algebra is Important

This week, I attended an economic development meeting in a South Carolina community. The meeting assembled local businesses, government agencies, and educators to discuss upcoming changes in the region's economic environment. One of the best agenda points was having the businesses articulate what they needed from potential and current employees-skills, talents, etc.

One of the speakers mentioned a good understanding of Algebra. I silently applauded the comment and could not agree more. It is simple-Get good at Algebra and your way of thinking develops and matures into a disciplined exercise of logic and rationality.

But the age old question posed by middle schoolers (and some parents) has been- Why do I need to learn this? What in the world does x mean? What does y represent?

The x and y really mean nothing. It is the art contained in Algebra that is more important. It is sitting at a table with pad and pencil staring at a problem having to solve for x. Scratching your head over and over to find the answer.

It is learning and following a process for solving problems: (Algebra problems)
1. With pencil, write out the equation
2. Work down the page one line at a time. Each line contains work that gets you closer to the solution.
3. At each line, simplify and cancel as much as possible
4. Continue down the page one line at a time until you solve for x or y.
5. Look at your work and plug what you got for x (or y) into the original equation
6. If it fits, you know the answer is correct. If it does not, you must start over.

So you still wonder why this is remotely necessary. Well, follow this process enough and get half decent at it and before long, your thought process adopts this rational and structured approach. It prepares you to be a problem solver for business. It gives you the skill and talent to improve processes and manage projects. Sure, there is much more training involved but it all starts will old school Algebra.

A Call to Improvement

The following is the introduction to my ebook, Invest in Yourself.

At points in our lives, each of us wants something badly-a different job, a promotion, a new car, a bigger house, or more money. There are numerous resources in the economy claiming to have methods to get what you want. According to sources on the web, $4.7 billion in self help products were sold in 2001-these included books, DVDs, websites, infomercials, and newsletters. This strongly suggests a healthy market full of needful customers.

But if you need help, how do you know where to go in a billion dollar industry when so many choices come at you via direct mail, email, and the web?

I’ll make it simple. The best self help book of all is the Bible. Reading and talking about God’s instructions help us figure out the process for life. It gets confusing and even depressing at times but the answers and standards for living are in the great book. You’ll find people just like us- working, married, parenting, and dealing with family issues. Some make good choices and others make wrong choices. Some follow God and others ignore him.

I know enough to assert the Bible is the “How to” for our lives. If you open your mind and heart and positively approach it, you’ll find wonderful tales and lessons on every page. You’ll associate with and see yourself in various people. Start at the beginning with the book of Genesis and treat it like any educational or self help book. In my Bible, Genesis is ninety three pages long. Read at least three pages a day, take notes, and you finish in one month.

I grew up in a small, Southern town, the son of a business owner who later became an ordained minister. Raised in the church, I was a teenager when my parents joined the Pentecostal/Charismatic Christian movement which included (in an extreme form) the Jim Bakers and Jimmy Swaggarts of the world. My parents were sincere in their religion as they uprooted me and my siblings to attend a start up church led by my high school football coach. No Sunday school. No structured service. Just people meeting in a one room, old wooden church to worship. There was church on Sunday morning, a drive to Atlanta Sunday night for worship, and Wednesday night back at my church. The adults could not get enough. They wanted to be fed. They were looking for answers to their problems at work and home. Relief from the societal stresses that children did not know.

The sermons were full of condemnation designed to result in an altar full of repenting sinners. When the call was made and you stood firm, the guilty stares from others would jab your back repeatedly trying to push you into the aisle and to the feet of the minister. For a fifteen year old boy, it did not take long for this to distort my view of religion. Within a year, life went from attending Sunday school and sitting on the same church pew with my family to hearing if I did not get my soul right with God, heaven was not an option.

I saw false religion in my day. Certain people were masters at Charismatic basics. They were the first to speak in tongues when everyone in the congregation knew they were faking. They clapped their hands during song and raised their hands during prayer. I admired them and the barrage of condemnation had me envious of their spirituality but my dose of reality would come on the ride home as my parents giggled through recounting of the facade.

There was the time a great evangelist came to town. He stood in the pulpit and waived his Bible back and forth hypnotizing everyone with his message of condemnation. He probably preached the same sermon every day of his evangelical life. But he was successful and the congregation was lapping it up. I often thought that preachers measured success according to how many people came to the altar at the end of a service. Well, this preacher was laying it on hard. As the big finish approached, you knew that the altar call would be special. This guy would not tolerate a bad turnout. Sure enough, his call yielded everyone, yes everyone to the altar. A 100% turnout!

A member of our congregation was the wealthiest man in town. He owned a factory that employed many men of the church. A man of God, he practically built the church with his resources. To us, he was a model for following God. Well, as he stood amongst his brethren, the preacher starting claiming everyone would be healed and slain in the spirit. The latter meant you were overwhelmed with the spirit of God so much so you lost your footing and needed assistance to stand. You’ve probably seen it on television. I believe it is real and have seen people sincerely experience it. The technique is typically the touching of a person’s forehead during diligent prayer with at least one person standing behind the prayee for assistance. At the conclusion of the prayer, the preacher emphatically presses the person’s forehead to literally push spirit into the soul. At this point, people will usually stumble and be slain in the spirit.

When nothing happens at all, it always seemed to be the person’s fault. They did not believe and were not right with God. On this occasion, the preacher decided to do a mass slaying of the spirit as there were too many people to handle individually. He raised his hands and talked about all the afflictions at the altar. He went on with passion in his voice and fire in his belly. He stated that when the prayer ended, everyone would be slain in the spirit. On cue, people crumbled to the floor; all except one man-the aforementioned pillar of the community. The man who arguably followed God closer than any person in town. The preacher stared at him in disbelief. Surely something was not right with this man who remained standing. A few of the supine men were told to take him in back for ministry for surely he needed help.

The men stood there like teenagers caught in a wrong act. They did not know what to do or say. The evangelist questioned their commitment. As if total interest was lost, parishioners starting standing and returning to their seats. It was not clear what really happened. I’m sure some people experienced help while others followed the religious script.

Because of such times, I sadly grew cynical of the church and wary of organized religion. This attitude led me to think I could control my life. Well, years later, I’ll tell you we can’t control our lives. But most of us think we do. I now realize we are merely traveling down a path laid by God. Everything we do and all that happens make us stronger, wiser, better people, and hopefully committed to living our lives according to God’s instructions.

When we leave home, there is excitement and trepidation. Our parents, teachers, and coaches give us advice which we hear but don’t totally absorb. If there is one concept young men and women should know it’s that a wonderful path lies ahead. All they need to do is develop a relationship with God and expect to realize the plan he has for them.

Wherever you are, please invest in yourself. Don’t accept your lot in life. You don’t have to feel bad or sad. There is joy and happiness waiting for you. Seek both. Start developing yourself to improve personally and professionally.

The dictionary definition of genesis is “the coming into being of something; the origin”. I hope these words can serve as your genesis.