Starting a Process Improvement Initiative

Whether a Process Improvement Initiative ends successfully in the end and how much successfully it ends depends entirely on how it is started. For all organization-level change initiatives including Business Process Improvement, the following can be said:

• It is difficult to start an initiative
• And it is a bit more difficult to complete it and that too successfully
• However it is many more times difficult to sustain it thereafter

Starting on a good note is quite important. As has been said so well - "Well Begun is Half Done", a good start will ensure a successful finish and also sustained success. So how to define 'good note'. The following elements constitute 'good note':

Clearly Articulated Executive Sponsorship

Executive sponsors must demonstrate their absolute support to the initiative. This demonstration should be through all modes of communication - official and grapevine, verbal and written.

Adequate Budget/Funding

Approved budget and funding should be on place to support the initiative. Budget should be adequate with sufficient contingency to take care of unforeseen expenses.

Adequate Staffing

This includes both dedicated team members and part-time members. If the allocation of staff to the initiative is mostly virtual and skeletal at the best, achieving the intermediate milestones will be very difficult, this will delay the projected schedule and may also bring down the motivation level amongst all involved with the initiative

Realistic Road-map and Schedule

Schedule should be commensurate with the funding, resources and the focus/drive in the organization towards the initiative. Many a times there is an executive push to get it done faster than it should be (these motives are driven by internal pressures like 'scoring a point over others' by being the first one to finish the initiative or external pressures like the contracting requirement to win or continue the project of a customer).

It's easy to artificially crash the schedule but it's hard to respect an unrealistic schedule or even if it is achieved it may be at a huge cost (team burnout, lowered team motivation, poor effectiveness of the initiative's outcomes, difficulty in sustaining the changes introduced through the initiative, etc.)

In addition, due consideration should be given to acquiring a clear and complete understanding of the projected road map of the initiative right in the beginning by clearly identifying the Implementation Steps. Needless to say that the success of any initiative also depends upon proactively addressing the Implementation Challenges