Recently WSJ.com featured an article that examined why, like many weight-loss plans, Lean, Six-Sigma and other process-improvement initiatives often start out strong and then slowly peter out, and importantly, what companies can do to avoid falling victim to the same type of failure.

In this blog post, I will draw parallels to Metastorm’s “Get Lean for 2010” program with the goal of helping organizations that find themselves stuck at certain points in a process improvement initiative to get themselves back on track and avoid failure. The article describes three phases of a typical process-improvement project:

Stretching Phase- Those involved are flexible, open to change and have the proper level of support to guide their focus.

As during the initial success of a weight-loss program, at this point in the initiative the team is focused on what is important and necessary for the greater success of the project. With the support and insight of the improvement expert, the team sees significant results.

Yielding Phase- With the project being deemed a success in initial results, the team loses their process-improvement expert and champion to other projects. The team begins to struggle, finding it difficult to match the success of their earlier achievements.

As enthusiasm for the project begins to fail, morale suffers and everyone begins to return to their old ways of executing processes  – just as we so often give up on our weight loss or fitness goals and surrender to our old lifestyles.

Failing Phase- At this point the team questions the purpose of the project. After all, they aren’t experiencing any real benefit from their efforts. As enthusiasm for the project hits an all-time low, nobody steps up to reinvigorate the failing initiative, and everyone ultimately reverts back to their previous level of productivity.

Now, and only now, the executive level is informed that the process-improvement project has been an utter failure. In the weight loss paradigm, we just gain our old weight back and are really no better off for our efforts.

I think the reason that many process-improvement initiatives, like weight loss initiatives, fall into a pattern of destruction is because they are viewed in the wrong light. The true benefit of any process improvement project should be the overall enhanced health of the organization. When you look at the project this way, and provide it with the proper amount of support that it truly needs and remain committed – even after that the initial excitement wanes –you will achieve success.

Technology solutions like Metastorm’s software suite of business process management (BPM), business process analysis (BPA) and enterprise architecture (EA) can be the support that your project needs to keep it focused while enabling your organization to holistically model and analyze, tweak and perfect, and execute more agile, productive and streamlined processes – allowing your organization to turbo-charge its process-improvement initiatives and providing complete visibility into the project.

Having the right technology and tools in place to monitor progress and make process improvements easier helps. BPA tools help you identify your “fattest” processes – giving you the right focus. BPM software gives you the foundation you need to generate efficiencies, track results, and fine tune activities to achieve the desired outcome – and most importantly to maintain it long term.

Learn more about how you can shed fat from your business processes here.

Related posts:

1. Planes, planning & process improvement Today’s guest blogger, Brian Chaney, was recently featured on a Metastorm webinar,...
2. Metastorm Customers Speak Out on Business Process Improvement Its back! Today Metastorm reveals real-world insights from organizations speaking...
3. Get Leaner Faster with Business Process Management Last week we hosted a webinar entitled, “Get Leaner Faster...
4. From projects large to small, BPM fits all As we discussed last week, the Metastorm survey revealed some...
5. It’s the People, Stupid! I have been working with clients on complex projects for...