Can You Quantify Your Improvements?

I was recalling a past conversation to one of my clients today; it was based on the idea that 'all decisions are financial'.

The conversation that I was recalling was between me and a talented Engineer who was frustrated by his boss' lack of enthusiasm to an improvement he had identified.

I asked him to explain the improvement to me. It sounded good, so I asked him a further question.

"Why doesn't your boss seem interested?"

"He doesn't understand this stuff" was the Engineer's reply.

As I probed a little further I asked the Engineer about how he had approached his boss with the improvement.

It turned out that he had posed the improvement purely on its technical merits (which, as an Engineer, looked good to me).

He had failed to speak to his boss in a common language - money.

I accept that there are many ways to justify an improvement, but putting things into financial terms (or even just putting a hard number against the benefits) can be all that separates the good ideas that don't get implemented and the ones that do.

The Engineer's improvement would have cost about £1500.00 to implement and would save the business downtime in the region of £8000.00 each month going forward. Getting the numbers wasn't difficult, but it did paint the improvement in a different light!

So, if you are struggling to get your bosses to sign off your improvement plans and you haven't put some numbers against the benefits (and costs where applicable) maybe it is time to rethink your strategy.

Have fun with the calculator!

Giles Johnston
Author of Business Process Re-Engineering

Comments

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...

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...

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...

The Smartspeed Performance Improvement Blog