Improving Business Strategies,
       Processes and Capabilities

 

Related Strategy
Service Offerings

p    Baldrige Criteria and Framework Implementation

p    Six Sigma Leadership Orientation and Support

p    Performance Measurement and Analysis

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Management Action Planning/Project Selection

Challenge 

Are periodic organizational assessments leading to continuous and sustained improvements?  Have improvement projects been prioritized for maximum, positive business impact?  Are improvement plans tracked to ensure performance gaps are being closed? 

Many organization conduct formal, organizational assessments on a regular basis.  From these assessments, numerous strengths and opportunities for improvement are identified.  Despite good intentions, these same organizations never seem to effectively close the performance gaps that have surfaced.  There always seems to be more urgent things requiring attention.   

Even when improvement plans are developed, there are no guarantees that the actions selected are the most pressing issues, or are the ones that will produce the largest impact on the business. Having an improvement plan does not automatically mean that management is tracking the activities or is asking the right questions to ensure their success.  Improvements fall far short of expectations and often don’t result in sufficient savings to offset the initial assessment investment.   

Solution 

As part of every Baldrige type assessment, we urge clients to develop a Management Action Plan (MAP).  The MAP is a tool that facilitates the evaluation of each improvement opportunity, and allocates resources relative to the potential business benefit.  Your business leaders can use the MAP to monitor and regularly follow-up on the progress being made on priorities until the projects are completed and the benefits are realized.  

Approach 

Our first step would be to reconvene all appropriate associates to debrief the assessment findings, recognize key areas of strength and develop enthusiasm for the improvement journey.   

We’ll help assign teams to work on specific categories from the assessment and coach them through the remainder of the MAP.  Our consultants help link each assessment input to a specific process.  For each process, we ensure that a vision of future performance is developed with specific goals.  We recommend actions to improve the process and help establish outcomes in line with the vision and goals identified.  The teams identify what needs to be done and how the projects should be addressed i.e., Six Sigma, Design for Six Sigma, benchmarking, LEAN, etc.  

The final step is to get senior management approval on a limited number of projects. We facilitate the process of ranking and prioritizing the projects. These vital few will be the high impact projects that the leaders will monitor over the coming months to achieve maximum results.    

Results 

A well developed and implemented Management Action Plan translates the assessment findings into business improvements.  It also provides an effective communications vehicle for tracking progress and celebrating success.  The MAP ensures a positive return on your assessment investment.  In a broader sense, a well executed assessment and MAP together help:  

p      Deliver ever-improving value to customers, contributing to marketplace success 

p      Improve overall organizational effectiveness and capabilities 

p      Increase organizational and personal learning