Incorporating the Scientific Method Can Help Your Root Cause Analysis
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve had a strong interest in science. It didn’t matter if it was actual science, such as medicine, or science fiction such as Star Wars. If it involved science, I adored it. After spending time in a research lab, I became enamored with microbiology and molecular biology. This interest followed me from high school into college and into my career as a molecular biologist. While much of science is based on memorization (how to spell Escherichia coli or the number of molecules in a mole of table salt), one also learns how to conduct research. One of the primary procedures involved in research is the scientific method (SM). Through the use of observation, testing, and analysis, one is able to prove or disprove a hypothesis (theory) about how something works. In a recent article in Quality Progress (QP) Matthew Barsalou, a Master Black Belt with BorgWarner Turbo Systems Engineering GmbH, recommended the use of the SM in process improvement (PI), especially as it relates to root cause analysis. By developing a hypothesis of the cause(s) of a problem, the PI team can begin to narrow the scope of their investigation. The actions involved can include empirical (making observations, collecting data, and testing the hypothesis) and conceptual (development of the hypothesis, prediction of the results if the hypothesis is true). By using induction and deduction to develop, test, and prove or disprove a hypothesis, the PI team can answer difficult root cause questions and aid in the development of corrective actions and improvements. While not all PI team members are scientists, the scientific method is a great tool for all PI teams to utilize. Be sure to check out Matthew’s article. It’s worth the read! 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...
Read MoreSix Sigma Approach Improves ICU Bed Turnaround Time
These days it seems every organization is being told to work smarter, due to unprecedented pressures in funding, staffing and supply costs. No place can this be seen more clearly than in the hospital setting. With all the changes in the American health care system, every hospital is struggling to maximize the use of whatever it has, be it equipment, staffing, or patient rooms. In the May 2017 issue of ISE Magazine, Patrice Batamack, PhD and Christine A.N. Ndjee, MD discuss an effort by a Los Angeles academic acute care medical center to improve bed turnaround time in its 32-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU), to better meet patient needs and control costs. The hospital noticed that bottlenecks occurred when staff discharged or transitioned patients to lower acuity units. Leaders assembled a team to evaluate the situation using Six Sigma methodology. The team focused on both the voice of the customer, i.e. patients desiring less wait time between transfers into and out of the ICU, and the voice of the business, i.e. the hospital, needing a faster turnover rate for these rooms. The team went through the DMAIIC process (define, measure, analyze, improve, implement, control). Instead of jumping to the conclusion that the hospital needed more ICU rooms, the team collected data about the cause of delays surrounding the turnover of these rooms, such as cleaning and preparing the room for the next patient. The cleaning process was owned by the Environmental Services Department. The team established turnover rates for these rooms. After collecting data for 6 months, they discovered that the process was out of statistical control. The main causes for the delays centered on the availability of managers; their trust in the hospital information system; the availability of the nursing floor staff; their ability to use the hospital info system consistently; availability of supplies; and staffing levels. The team recommended several improvements, not the least of which was to promote and reinforce better teamwork, emphasizing collaboration, cooperation and staff flexibility. The team developed a detailed implementation plan and a Visual Basic tool to monitor the process. By decreasing the median cleaning turnaround time from 67 minutes to 60 minutes, the project team anticipated an annual savings of at least $24,000 in the ICU alone! Too often a problem such as this is addressed by trying to increase staffing, and/or facilities. Six Sigma tools helped this team use data to identify the root causes of delays, make informed decisions and implement solutions. This team proved that by improving the cleaning process, they could achieve better ICU room utilization, meeting the needs of both the customer (patients) and the business (hospital administration). Kudos to the team on a job well done! 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...
Read MoreAvoiding Scope Creep
A few months ago I met with a group of very enthusiastic employees at a small company. They had several ideas on ways to improve their organization. These ideas ranged from simple to very complex. To help narrow down the options, the team took part in an exercise to affinitize (group together) and prioritize (ranking high to low) the various projects. The team identified the top three projects and, with the help of management, reduced the list to one project. As the team began their work, someone mentioned that one of the projects that had not made the priority list would be a good match for our project. There was a large discussion about how we could incorporate the new project into the ongoing work. While this sounded like an easy problem to correct, it really became a hotly debated subject. Many times while developing a project a team runs into “scope creep,” where the original project is expanded to other activities and/or departments. This has also been referred to as a team trying to “boil the ocean,” or fix all problems at once. It is critical that a team, with the guidance of the team leader, set the parameters of the project (which items or areas are in and out of scope) at the beginning of the project. This will help to keep the team on track and increase the odds of successful project completion. 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...
Read MoreSmall but Mighty
I’m convinced that the greatest obstacle to improvement in today’s corporate world is our obsession with “BIG” projects. If it’s not going to immediately save the company a million dollars, then it’s not worth pursuing as a quality improvement effort. In asking for these rare BIG ideas, leaders unintentionally “freak out” their employees. Faced with significant workplace change, even if it is a positive one, employees tend to fear the future. As a result, staff hunker down. The flow of creative ideas simply shuts down. The best way to create a culture of creativity and innovation is to cultivate small changes that don’t create fear. What’s the smallest change we could easily make to improve this problem? In his book Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety, and Employee Engagement (3rd Ed.), Mark Graban illustrates how several organizations empowered their employees to do exactly that — make small changes to improve their workplace: Using 5S to create an identical layout for hospital nursing stations, so that when staff transfer between stations they can work more efficiently because the layout is the same. Alerting hospital staff to the emotional state of a patient who just delivered a stillborn infant by putting an unobtrusive visual indicator, such as a small angel emblem, on the patient’s door. Redesigning a doctor’s office check in area to make it more convenient from the patient’s perspective. Once employees have the opportunity to participate in small changes like these, they gain confidence and build problem solving skills. Then, they are more likely to discover larger changes, and be ready to take them on. From a time perspective, it’s often easier to find 20 minutes or an hour to work on a small problem (and a small solution) here and there within the work day. As a result, many health care organizations have demonstrated that, through gradually working on small ideas (literally thousands of them), they can still save millions of dollars a year. Now that is a BIG idea! 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...
Read MoreAvoid Swimming With The Sharks
I recently had the pleasure of watching one of my favorite James Bond movies, Thunderball. I especially enjoy the scenes where Bond is exposed to the sharks. As expected, Bond is able to defeat his captor Emilo Largo, retrieve the atomic bombs, and get the beautiful girl. Often, when beginning a new continuous improvement (CI) project, it feels like you are entering shark-infested waters. It is common to discover one or more influential people (shareholders) that are not as enthusiastic about your project as you are. One of the best ways to avoid or mitigate these potential conflicts is to perform a stakeholder’s analysis. By asking the members of the CI team to identify potential allies and detractors, the team can determine how best to work with each stakeholder so as to gain buy-in and support for the project. This can be done in many ways, including direct communication from a team member, or group updates delivered at predetermined stages of the project. By working with possible critics to ensure that their concerns are addressed, the CI team can help to lessen and/or remove potential roadblocks to the project and therefore enhance the probability of the team’s success. 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...
Read MoreThe Secret Sauce Behind Six Sigma
A few years ago a popular fast food chain ran ads which included a list of components with which to build a hamburger. One of the items in that list was what the company referred to as “secret sauce.” This was the ingredient that gave the hamburger its distinctive flavor and a great marketing concept. Just as the fast food company had its “secret sauce,” all organizations do too – in their employees. In the April issue of Quality Magazine, management expert and ASQ Fellow Jim Smith shares from his experience of more than 45 years in operations, engineering, research and development and quality management. Although Six Sigma tools can play a key role in an organization’s success, he says it’s really the human factor that makes the difference in a company’s ability to effectively manage its challenges and improve its operations. Companies that champion quality improvement have committed, passionate teams that are focused on creating best practices. It’s the chemistry of these staff members in their drive for excellence that makes the difference. Jim highlights several key elements of successful teams, including: A team must be given the authority to generate results and attain its mission. Team members should be selected for their knowledge of the process being reviewed, not for internal “political” reasons. Team members are critical to every step of the process, from gathering and analyzing data, staying connected with front line staff and deciding the next steps for improving the process. Never underestimate the importance of teams. Constantly emphasizing an improvement mindset must become the way an organization operates day to day. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Jim’s article. It’s a great reminder that quality improvement tools are important, but are useless without the dynamics of an effective team. 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...
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