I am a bit of a do-it-yourself-er, especially when it comes to home repair projects.

I recently decided to add an auxiliary battery system to my sump pump. While I was looking at the various types of pipe and connectors at the local hardware store, I was not able to find a certain item.

I asked the sales associate for plumber’s tape. He looked at me a little confused. At first, he showed me some nylon tape used to prevent pipe fittings from leaking. Then, he asked if I wanted a measuring tape. After we spent a few minutes discussing my needs (i. e., hanging plastic pipe from the ceiling), we finally agreed that I was speaking of an item called “Galvanized Hanger Iron” by the manufacturer. So, after more than 15 minutes of trying to identifying a single item, I finally obtained the supplies that I needed for my 30 minute project.

This same problem can be seen in many process improvement projects. Often, team members do not agree on the definition of certain aspects of a project, such as the proper name for an item or how an activity should be measured.

The confusion begins when teams use words that are open to interpretation. For example, abstract qualities such as “world-class,” “timeliness” or “responsiveness” are popular today, but may mean different things to different people.

To help prevent this type of ambiguity, it is helpful for the team to develop operational definitions that result in uniform interpretation. For example, “timely delivery” can be specified as being delivery within two hours, or two days or two months. It is then measurable, and the results can be useful for process improvement.

Operational definitions can include various factors such as:

  1. what constitutes a transaction, including start and stop points
  2. time (seconds versus minutes)
  3. distance (feet versus meters)
  4. scale (1-10 versus 1-100).

By establishing operational definitions, everyone involved can be assured of using the same criteria when evaluating a process and developing appropriate solutions.

How are you helping your employees to work smarter by reducing the amount of time they spend on non-productive activities and correcting errors? If your business processes need a “check-up,” please email me at michael@leadingchangeforgood.com! I’d love to help you get back to a healthy, productive workplace.