How To Develop A Process Improvement Plan

A process improvement plan (PIP) is an internal or external document that outlines how to make changes to an existing procedure, system, or structure. The term “process” refers to the steps required to complete an activity or task. A PIP usually includes proposing changes, explaining the benefits of these changes, and determining when these improvements can be implemented.

Most organization leaders have heard about process improvement before. Many times, these conversations focus more heavily on why it is important to implement processes than what specific procedures should be used.

Implementing better processes comes with several rewards. These include improved efficiency and productivity, higher quality products and services, reduced employee turnover, and increased morale.

Many large corporations use structured methodologies to create new processes. By using best practices, such as those published by professional organizations, your company can gain knowledge from other successful entities.

This article will go into greater detail about what types of processes are needed in different areas of your business and some tips for developing your own.

Create a plan that addresses the problems

The first step in improving your performance is acknowledging there are issues to be addressed. It’s easy to get distracted by all of the other things you have to do, so it can slip away before anyone realizes something isn’t working.

By catching problem behaviors early, you give yourself a better chance at fixing them. If someone told you they were having trouble focusing, would you try talking to them about how to improve their attention span or asking if they need help figuring out what they were trying to accomplish? Probably not!

It takes time and effort to develop good processes, but once you do, people will recognize them and rely on them. You will know what needs to be done and who should handle which task. This creates consistency and reliability, important qualities for any process to have.

Get feedback on the plan

Now, it is time to get some input from others about your proposal. You should gather as much informal feedback as possible by asking around of people who have knowledge in your area. Ask colleagues, friends, and even strangers!

Some tips: if you are talking to someone about making changes, be sure to ask them how they would go about doing that. This can help you determine what might work for their department or organization, as well as information about what strategies have worked for similar projects before.

By hearing both positive and negative comments, you will likely find out whether there are ways to make your project more successful without requiring major changes.

Revise the plan as needed

A process improvement plan (PIP) is not something that you should simply make up in your head and then stick to until it’s done. You will need to constantly update this, especially at the beginning when everything is new.

As mentioned before, developing a good PIP takes time, so don’t feel pressured to complete one quickly if you are still feeling very busy. Take your time to really think about how each step of the plan functions and what steps could be improved upon or replaced with newer techniques.

It is also important to remember that even though this may seem like an extra job, people who work for you may depend on these changes being made, so try to be supportive. If someone asks why there are changes to the workflow, have a reason ready!

Once the plan is finalised, put it into action! This can be difficult at first, but soon enough everyone involved will know what their responsibilities are within the process.

Implement the plan

Now that you have defined what changes you want to make, it’s time to implement them! This means choosing one action item from your list every week for one month. You can choose to do this at the end of each day or during the morning meeting for example.

Once again, don’t worry about everything else until you have made these changes. Once you have done your best, then you can move onto the next thing.

Keep coming back here in a few weeks when all is said and done and you will see how much more quickly you get through things.

You will also notice that your quality and efficiency go up as you focus only on the most important tasks – just like practicing makes perfect.

Monitor and evaluate the plan

The next step in developing your process improvement strategy is to monitor and evaluate the plan you have designed. Make sure to assess whether the changes made improved the efficiency of the system and helped keep up with demand!

By having clear goals, measuring success along the way, and using data to determine if the strategies worked, you can continue to improve the performance of your organization.

You will also need to measure the effectiveness of these interventions to ensure they are working before moving onto the next one. If not, then you may want to look at other potential solutions that do not require much effort or investment.

It is important to remember that no intervention is perfect, so it is okay to acknowledge failure when implementing a new approach.

Identify what worked and what did not work

The first step in developing an improvement plan is to assess your clinic or department by looking at both positive and negative indicators.

Ask yourself these questions, and make notes of the answers:

Has something changed that has helped my clinic/department run more efficiently?

What have I learned about myself as a leader that needs improving?

What are some things that I can shift my focus to better use my time and energy?

These are all good starting points for development of an improvement plan.

Now, it’s important to remember that creating an improvement plan isn’t a one-and-done event — you will be revisiting this process frequently.

That’s because achieving sustainable quality and efficiency changes requires constant effort and reinforcement.

Learn from the experience

One of the biggest reasons process improvement plans fail is that people who make them lack understanding of the system they are trying to improve. You need to understand how things work before you can make changes, so making assumptions will not help you.

Businesses often get into trouble when someone with little or no background in an area makes recommendations to change something important to the business.

People who have never worked at your company may feel entitled to make changes without getting permission first, which can cause problems.

When leadership does not back up these experts, it raises questions about their commitment to the organization and their ability to lead and manage others. It also negatively affects morale since employees must spend time educating new leaders about the systems we use every day.

Another reason process improvement plan failures occur is because people do not take enough time to evaluate the current state of affairs. They might try to implement their proposal during a busy period, causing more harm than good.

By having a backup plan already designed and approved, you can avoid this risk.

Take action, reflect, and repeat

A process improvement plan (PIP) is an internal or external change that requires significant resources to implement and maintain. It’s not something you can do once and then forget about it, because it will still be in place even when everything else has been discarded!

Changes that are embedded into a PIP have a better chance of succeeding than ones that are merely hoped for. This is why it’s important to take action on your PIP – by doing so, you give it more credibility.

By taking small steps towards implementing changes related to your PIP, before moving onto the next stage, you signal to yourself and others that this matter indeed matters to you. You believe in it enough to invest time and effort into it, which is what needs to be done at this stage.

Once you've taken these first steps, it's easy to keep investing energy into the project, as there's no longer much need to push through the initial hurdles. By using the same logic, you can also drop stages of the PIP if you ever feel that you're making insufficient progress.

Reflection and repeating the processes mentioned above is another way to strengthen the impact of your PIP.