Skip to main content

Finding The Right CI Question To Ask

Central to Continuous Improvement is the PDCA (Plan - Do - Check - Act) cycle. I talk about this a lot as I believe it is rare for every improvement that we attempt to work perfectly the first time. One part of using this approach effectively is the ability to modify your questions when you aren't getting the answers that you need.

For example, the other week I was sitting in a meeting with a client's member of staff and I was trying to find out how to get their ERP system to behave in a certain way. They certainly had the answers, but because I come from an operational background (and they were IT) I had to try multiple attempts to find the middle ground where we both were clear about the conversation and where the right question could find the right answer.


If you have seen the film 'I Robot' with Will Smith you may well recall this in action during various scenes. Will Smith's character talks to a hologramatic recording, trying to find out the missing pieces of the puzzle he has been left to solve. Until Will's character has the right question the limited responses of the recording cannot furnish him with any more information. The right question needed to be presented in order to get the right answer.

Many continuous improvement projects suffer from this as well. We ask questions to others in the business and get a straight 'no' in return. We know that there is merit in the idea and it is up to us whether we try again with our question(s). With a little bit of diplomacy and a bit more understanding of where the other person is coming from, we can often find a slightly different question that can provide us with a better answer.

If you find that your continuous improvement projects don't get off the ground because of someone blocking the idea then perhaps it is time to increase your flexibility and ask different questions. I have experienced this many times personally, as have my clients, where a little bit of persistence to better understand the other person combined with different questions have eventually gotten me to the answer that I needed.

Don't give up, try a different question.



Giles Johnston
...fixing MRP systems and re-engineering business processes
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

What do you think?

Popular posts from this blog

The Kaizen Checklist is here!

Do you want to get better results from your Kaizen programme? Improve your business results quickly with my downloadable kit (including guidebook, workbook and templates) for only $39. Are you looking for a sustainable way to identify and implement improvements across your business? Practical improvement strategies The Kaizen Checklist is a downloadable kit that you can use with your management team to develop a system that suits your business and allow you to quickly implement Kaizen effectively at your place of work. This works great if you use it as the centre piece of your own internal workshop. The kit includes a 40 page guidebook, a workbook, four appendices and three templates. All parts of this kit are designed to get you up and running as fast as possible. If you are unfamiliar with Kaizen, let me stress that this is a simple improvement philosophy that is so much more than just  ‘a Japanese word for continuous improvement’. I’ll cover what it...
Read more

How to get started with continuous improvement

We all know that continuous improvement is a strategy that is essential for business. It involves constantly seeking ways to improve processes, products, or services in order to achieve better results and outcomes. However, for many people, the thought of starting on the path of continuous improvement can be daunting. The fear of doing it incorrectly or not knowing where to start can be overwhelming.    The key to successful continuous improvement is to start small and gradually build upon your successes. Here are some tips to help you get started if you are unsure of how to begin:   1. Identify areas for improvement: The first step in continuous improvement is to identify the areas that need improvement. This can be done by looking at the processes, products, or services that are not performing as well as they could be. It is important to involve all stakeholders in this process to gain a comprehensive understanding of the areas that need attention.   2. Set specifi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nail the number one improvement project

Over the past few weeks I have intervened in my client's continuous improvement programmes . I did this for one good reason: They weren't getting results. They caught the improvement bug, like so many organisations do. They got caught in the trap of wanting to change everything now! As I said, this happens to most of us from time to time. You start with some small improvements and you then identify more improvements you could get your teeth into. The next thing you know, you are trying to run ten improvement projects as well as deliver your day job. I know from bitter experience that this usually leads to having lots of loose ends rather than tangible increases in performance. So, what can you do about this? I know that with careful experimenting and resource management, you could find your sweet spot and figure out how many projects you can handle at once. Or, you can take the quick route and pare back your list until you have one priority. The one project that will give you t...
Post a Comment
Read more