Do you ever keep your improvement action plans to yourself? If you don't then I salute you and you can stop reading here. If on the other hand you tend to keep them for just your own enjoyment please read on.

During a meeting last week I found myself getting stuck with the team I was working with. We were discussing some process re-engineering that I was doing for them, trying to get five different business arms to fall in line with each other. Whilst presenting my proposal on the way forward there were a number of comments made telling me about how complex the problem really was and that I hadn't allowed for these additional complexities. Before I could respond other members of the team were offering suggestions as to how we could cope with these variations.

I was working with a new client the other day for the first time. If there was a sound track to our first session it would have had the lyrics 'because we've always done it that way...'. Although I am a big fan of 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' I am less of a fan of 'we'll put up with the results even if they're bad'.

When a change project looms on the horizon it may look pretty daunting. It may look like something of a big deal to handle and that alone may put people off. It may of course be a lot simpler and a lot faster / simpler to implement than originally thought.

Visual management boards are a great tool. With only a casual glance you can understand the performance of an office, a production line, or anything else that you care to manage and run. However, the boards I sometimes see don't always tell you what you want to know instantly:

When reviewing the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of a business it can be uncomfortable for many people. When you are faced with the numbers of your business, in 'black and white', it might not tell you what you want to hear.

When we start out on our  improvement projects there is often an issue, or target, that we want to accomplish. This is great at the start of a project, proper focus is present. Later on however, toward the end of the project, this clarity can often fade and projects may slow down before being classed as completed. Having an action plan that has all of its actions closed out is not necessarily a completed project.

Have you been in the same situation... You have implemented a process and then walked away.

I was talking to a business yesterday that stated 'you've got to make time for planning'. I agree, planning seems to be one of the first things to disappear when the going gets tough (perhaps read that as chaotic).

When you design a process you do so for a reason. In order to make that process work effectively you must therefore create some rules as to how the process is meant to work.

When you're new to a process it can sometimes be overwhelming to try and keep up with the waves of information that are coming at you. There are so many things to learn that you need to spend some time absorbing this information and try your best to keep up. Over time you learn the ropes and you find that you begin to master the process, so that you become the one at the front, the leader, who can then drive the process forward.

When I see an action on an issues board I often wonder who takes the lead when it says ‘ALL’. How do you control ‘ALL’?

Another conversation with a client this week took me to a much visited place, the need to find out what is really going on . Assumptions can work wonderfully when they are applied to stable parts of the business, elements that are already well understood and in control. They don't work as well when they are applied to parts of the business that aren't in this position. They become guesses, and left for too long these assumptions can send your business off in an unwanted direction. As is usual with these situations, it is helpful to take a few minutes out of your diary to go and get some facts. It may also be useful to experience what it is that you need to better understand. Even just a few minutes can give you the correct information to make decisions with. Processes, and performance, change over time. It is worth taking just a few minutes periodically to find out what is really going on so that you can make better informed decisions. Giles Johnston Author of