Improvement processes needed for delivering continuous improvement and transformation programs

Introduction

You may have multiple Continuous Improvement and Transformation programs running, with a 100 or a 1000+ initiatives running at different speeds, with widely varying objectives, in different areas of the business. How do you tie all this together and ensure successful completion and delivery of the promised results ?

It’s a common issue faced by all organizations hoping to deliver improvement and it often lands at the door of the Improvement team to fix…

Here’s a critical list of the processes that you need when running your improvement programs:

1. Organisation wide idea generation/ contribution & prioritization

2. Well defined and consistent stage gating process

3. Effective implementation planning

4. Detailed target setting to drive improvement at pace

5. Accurate, timely progress tracking and reporting

6. Structured progress reviews driving execution at pace

7. Sustained improvement

Let’s run through them in detail – essentially in order of program lifecycle starting with generating the initial improvement ideas all the way through to delivering sustainable results.

1. Organisation wide idea generation/contribution/prioritisation

Does your organization give everyone the capability to contribute improvement ideas ?

Without being able to contribute ideas, employees feel unable to improve their working conditions or the business – their ideas are not listened or acted on.

What you want and need is an idea contribution system available to everyone and feedback to employees is systematically provided.

Ideas should be seen as a valuable asset, shared and replicated across the organization and the database easily searched.

The Improvement team should be treasuring this stockpile of improvement ideas as a key starting point of any Improvement program.

2. Well defined and consistent stage gating process

Is your stage gating process working well ?

In the early stages of an initiative, is it clear if the initiative has actually been agreed on and who the owner is ? in the later stages of an initiative is it widely known if it’s been successfully completed or is the initiative in a zombie undead state (i.e., included on reports but no-one working on it!) 

Poor stage gating results in the organization working on ideas/initiatives that are low priority. Precious resources are being consumed on private ‘projects’ with no transparency on how many resources are being allocated and what the business benefits will be.

Ideally, stage gating is used consistently for all initiatives across the whole organisation.

Once you have an agreed stage gating process across the entire organization, then benefits quickly follow:

• The exact status of all initiatives is known at all times and progress reporting can reflect this

• The right stakeholders are consulted prior to each stage

• Resources only work on agreed priorities

You’ll finally heave a sigh of relief at managing to get some control back into your improvement system…

3. Effective implementation planning

Is your implementation planning setting up each initiative for success ?

‘Poor planning results in poor performance’ with the initiative being late on delivery and not delivering the expected impact.

If you recognise any of the following traits in your implementation planning – then you’re likely seeing poor performance as a result.

• Limited time given to implementation planning

• Implementation plan not reviewed as part of stage gating process

• Implementation plan often incomplete - current situation, expected future state, measures of success (process / impact KPI) not explicitly defined

• Work plan not fully defined or unrealistic and missing What/Who/When

• Major implementation risks and potential mitigating actions are not considered

Once you have control of the stage gating process, you can then instill the right requirements for a good implementation plan.

So, ideally, make sure you have control of your stage gating process before you try to get your implementation planning process working well.

4. Detailed target setting to drive improvement at pace

How does your organization treat improvement targets? Do you have them? Are they used? Are they realistic?

At the outset of your improvement program, you should be thinking about what target you’re trying to achieve. These targets need to align with your strategic objectives for the next 1-3 years (a result of your business planning processes) and used as a guide (a ‘North star’) to determine if the improvement program is ultimately on track.

All your reports, charts and dashboards should reflect progress against the targets enabling everyone reviewing progress to have some context on progress and to understand if progress is ‘good’ (ahead of target) or ‘bad’ (behind target).

To drive improvement pace, these targets should also be time-bound; targets should be phrased in terms of ‘target x needs to be reached by date y’.

Good target setting involves some element of ‘stretch’. In other words, the target is doable but will require significant effort – it’s not a ‘gimme’.

Lastly, targets should be both top down at the outset of the program during the diagnostic and bottom-up once the detail of the initiatives is known.

5. Accurate, timely progress tracking and reporting

Can you instantly and accurately report on your progress against targets ?

• Does your organization have a ‘single source of truth’? Some organizations have a single spreadsheet – so that would be a yes on this basis – but a big fail on the following two challenges

• Can everyone easily access this reporting in a timely manner? Is reporting transparent? Can you split out results by area?

• Is the reporting visual and simple to understand? Are progress issues easily identified? Is it obvious if the initiative or area is behind target either in terms of impact or time?

If you don’t have good stage gating, implementation planning and target setting processes working – then good progress tracking and reporting will be challenging …

6. Structured progress reviews driving execution at pace

Do you have effective progress reviews?

To drive execution at pace, you need to maintain structured progress reviews at all levels on a regular basis with strong involvement from senior management.

If you’re not reviewing progress in a structured regular manner, then you’re not providing the guidance needed with the likely outcomes of:

• Implementation issues not systematically escalated or resolved; no cross-functional support

  provided…

• …leading to change happening slowly

Progress reviews should be regular, effective and well structured:

• Progress against expected outcomes (targets, plans, impact, KPIs, risks) should be reviewed

  and deviations understood

• Escalated issues need to be resolved and help provided when requested

• Priorities/direction should be provided as needed

Naturally, good reporting and target setting processes need to be in place for the progress reviews to work.

7. Process to lock-in and sustain improvement

Are you able to secure your initial impact or does your early success fade away?

The final ‘lock-in’ gate in the initiative life cycle should lock-in the delivered improvement. Unfortunately, most organizations get this process wrong - you need to ensure that the process or behaviour sticks – otherwise, any initial success fades away as old processes or behaviours resurface.

What can you do to prevent losing the benefit (and the entire point of the improvement program)?

Two suggested key sustainability strategies:

• Ensure that your initiative lock-in process checks if sustainability steps have been completed and KPI results are consistently delivering

• Ensure that process confirmations actually happen post lock-in

Your stage gating process needs to working well to have any chance at successfully implementing these sustainability strategies.

Conclusion

In summary, once you have all these improvement processes under control, your organization should be able to manage and deliver both Continuous Improvement and Transformations like the well-oiled machine it should be – smoothly, efficiently and effectively!

If you want to find out how you could instantly have an improvement system that includes all the best features of idea generation and can also help you plan, implement and sustain improvement then read more about Lypta’s improvement app.

Author: Mark Bowman – CEO | Founder Lypta

mark.bowman@lypta.com

Mark has deep experience supporting organisations implement both Continuous Improvement and major Transformations.

Lypta is proudly partnering with Yuwan Consulting

Engaging embedded capabilities. Enabling an owner mindset through the Kumul approach in PNG

Wantok: Wok Bung Wantaim (Colleagues: Working Together)

The Objective To foster a culture of trust, proactiveness, and ownership among frontline workers and middle managers, thereby lifting overall site performance and operational efficiency by 30%.

The Challenge The mining industry in Australasia faces numerous challenges, including fluctuating global market demand, volatile commodity prices, and ageing infrastructure. Companies must focus on sustainable and resilient operational practices to remain competitive in the long term and uphold a social licence to operate.

A mining operation in the region was grappling with serious performance issues at a major gold mine, threatening immediate productivity and future growth. Chronic leadership turnover, declining productivity, and a breakdown in trust and morale among frontline workers highlighted the urgent need for transformative change.  The site's culture also showed uneasy relationships between expats and national and local staff.

Previous top-down initiatives had failed to deliver lasting improvements, mainly due to the high turnover of leadership. Productivity had fallen to a point where the site generated less than USD $20 million in free cash flow annually despite operational spending exceeding $1 billion. Targets were routinely missed, and a culture of excuses replaced accountability. This entrenched acceptance of poor performance and diminished trust demanded a fundamental cultural shift to enable meaningful and sustainable progress.

The Approach To address these challenges, the Kumul Approach was developed and implemented. This program leveraged insights from frontline leaders, who synthesised the best practices of multiple consultants into an actionable strategy tailored and trialled in several countries for real-world challenges. The program emphasised deep engagement, inclusivity, and empowerment across all levels of the workforce.

The approach was developed, in the main, by mining professionals from the world’s largest mining contractor and some who had been through previous programs in Africa and saw the benefit of this approach.  We were all coaches there to work with our client, not consult.  The coaches came from Indonesia, Australia, South Africa, Croatia, and Portugal. They included people who had been Mining General Managers, Mining Company Directors, Senior Mine Planners, Drill & Blast Managers, Mining Operations Managers, Mining Superintendents, Training Managers, and mining consultants who all brought their areas of expertise but, even more importantly, their passion to develop other people to be successful.

Core Elements of the Kumul Approach:

Frontline Focus Groups: Focus Groups were a cornerstone of the Kumul Approach, ensuring every worker felt engaged and valued. These sessions included:

• Introduction to the Operation: Providing a clear overview of the site’s processes and systems.

• Bonus Systems: Explaining how workers could maximise bonuses through improved performance and teamwork.

• Operation Value Chain: Offering a step-by-step understanding of the value chain and how each role contributes to the site’s success.

• Key Drivers and Metrics: Educating workers on critical operational drivers and metrics influencing performance outcomes.

• Operational Observation: Facilitating opportunities for workers to identify what is running well and what can be improved.

• Ideas Register: Encouraging workers to propose improvements, which were recorded and actioned through the Ideas Register, promoting a culture of continuous improvement.

Management Operating System: A structured system was developed to align operations, starting with hourly Short Interval Control and extending to Life of Mine Planning. An emphasis on Weekly/Daily routines ensures operational alignment and productivity.

Frontline Leadership Development: A robust training framework was created to empower frontline leaders with essential tools and techniques, including:

• Planning the Day: Understanding the daily plan and targets and structuring daily activities and resources for optimal efficiency.

• Preparing for the Day: Ensuring readiness regarding resources, personnel, and systems.

• Area Inspections: Conducting proactive checks to ensure readiness and safety.

• Effective Shift Starts: Setting clear expectations and goals for the shift.

• Hourly Short Interval Control: Monitoring progress and addressing deviations in real-time.

• Observation and Improvement Identification: Regularly observing operations to identify and implement opportunities for enhancement.

Development of Systems and Processes: Frameworks and tools were implemented to maximise utilisation and productivity, ensuring alignment between operational activities and long-term business goals.

Tools To support the implementation, the following tools were integral:

• Leadership Development Training: Equipping front-line and middle managers with the tools to practice visible felt leadership, fostering trust and inclusion.

• Smart Cards (Save Kad): Each participant in the leadership development program received a set of Smart Cards (Save Kad) that provided the frameworks and the tools required for their daily routines.  They formed a practical guide containing frameworks, formats, and step-by-step instructions to enable leaders and workers to use systems effectively.

• In-Field Coaching: Combining Focus Groups, leadership Training, and ongoing coaching to reinforce core values and develop skills.

The Impact The Kumul Approach delivered measurable operational and cultural improvements:

• Ex-Pit Material Movement Performance: A 40% increase in performance.

• Resilience: Recovery time from significant rain events was reduced from 2–3 days to less than 8 hours.

• Spatial Planning Compliance: Improved from 55% to 76%.

• Reduced moving vehicle incidents.

• More consistent production profiles.

Cultural Benefits: Beyond operational metrics, the program fostered a deeper sense of trust, collaboration, and inclusivity across the workforce. Focus Groups created opportunities for operators, maintainers, cleaners, barge operators, engineers, and cooks to engage in honest conversations, build connections, and understand each other’s challenges. These relationships often extended beyond the sessions, strengthening team dynamics and fostering a supportive community.

Additionally, the initiative created a more engaged workforce with a clear understanding of how each role contributed to the mining process. Supervisors were empowered to respond proactively to challenges, and the workforce embraced a shared responsibility for success. This comprehensive, bottom-up approach enhanced immediate performance and established a resilient foundation for sustained productivity and long-term success in a highly competitive and challenging environment.

Who empowers in the workforce?

Empowering Leaders and Workers:

A Google search of “Workforce Empowerment” will give you thousands of articles, definitions, and keys to success.  It is a buzzword that, like other buzzwords, is overused and misunderstood.  One article states that empowerment is management granting workers the right to make decisions.  It is much more than this.

Empowering leaders and workers is essential in today’s dynamic business environment. True empowerment is not just about giving individuals autonomy; it’s about ensuring they have the systems and processes to identify and drive improvements. For empowerment to be sustainable, leaders must create an environment where individuals feel encouraged to contribute and have the tools to foster continuous growth.

Empowerment Requires Feeling Empowered

True empowerment goes beyond formal delegation of responsibility. Leaders must ensure that workers feel empowered—confident in their ability to make decisions and enact change. Without this, no amount of autonomy will lead to meaningful contributions. It’s essential that leaders build trust, recognise contributions, and provide ongoing support. When employees believe their actions matter, they are more likely to engage in opportunities for improvement.

The Expectation to Act

For empowerment to be successful in the workplace, it can't be just something that workers are allowed to do or are granted; it needs to be an expectation.   Leaders and workers are expected to identify opportunities for improvement and act on them continuously. This proactive responsibility is crucial for fostering a culture of innovation. Empowered employees look beyond their immediate tasks to find efficiencies and enhance processes. Leadership must clearly communicate that empowerment means more than performing well—actively seeking ways to improve.  This then requires leaders to be more facilitative in their leadership styles.  Asking questions of the front line about what can be improved and how is a crucial task of an effective, empowering leader.  The role of the leader continues to be making decisions; however, they don’t need to have all the answers.

Systems and Processes for Continuous Improvement

While autonomy is essential, it must be supported by systems that facilitate improvement. Feedback loops, continuous learning programs, and structured methodologies like lean management provide workers with the tools to evaluate their performance and make necessary adjustments. These systems ensure that workers are free to act and capable of making informed decisions that benefit the organisation.

Continuous improvement frameworks, such as Six Sigma or Agile methodologies, enable employees to systematically engage in problem-solving and efficiency efforts. By embedding these frameworks into daily operations, organisations promote a culture of ongoing development and problem resolution.

Culture of Collaboration and Learning

Empowerment also thrives on collaboration. Workers need platforms to share insights, collaborate across departments, and generate solutions collectively. This open communication fosters an environment where innovation flourishes and ideas can be refined and implemented effectively.

Training and professional development are equally important. Organisations should offer learning opportunities that encourage critical thinking and innovation. An empowered workforce feels capable of meeting their current responsibilities and continuously evolving their role.

Conclusion: The Path to Sustainable Empowerment

Empowering leaders and workers is a continuous process that requires a careful balance of autonomy, responsibility, and structured systems. Employees must feel empowered and be expected to contribute to the organisation’s improvement. Organisations can ensure that empowerment drives long-term success by fostering an environment of trust, collaboration, and continuous learning. To answer the question at the title, people are empowered by the systems and processes that support the value chain in which they operate. Everyone is already empowered however traditional hierarchical organisations limit that empowerment. With the right processes, empowerment becomes the foundation for a resilient and adaptable organisation.

Pondering Common Mistakes

9 Common Mistakes companies make when embarking on business improvement programs

One of the benefits of recovering from COVID is that you have time to think. After evading COVID for two years but succumbing and being confined for a week, I started to ponder improvement programs that had not been successful and the common mistakes made.

I have been consulting since I left the military after 13 years of service and responded to an advertisement for an unknown management consultant role in 1996. During this time, I have worked for and with various companies, including more than four years with McKinsey & Company.  Being in consulting for this length of time has several advantages. The main ones are the experience in recognising issues and their related root causes, also known as pattern recognition. Another advantage is the ability to identify environments and situations that are causes of the failure of improvement programs.

From this introspection, I identified nine common mistakes that result in program failure. Can you recognise any of these in your own company?:

1. Improvement is conducted in isolation from the rest of the company/system/value chain

2. Stakeholders are not involved in the improvement process

3. Improvement is treated as an event rather than as a process

4. Senior Management is isolated from the improvement process

5. Improvement is based on the flavour of the month (what the boss is reading)

6. Improvement doesn’t start with the end in mind

7. Improvement teams are filled with people that leaders think they can release without losing production

8. Management believes that digital will solve everything

9. Solving the wrong problem

1.  Improvement is conducted in isolation from the rest of the company/system/value chain

Case: A mining company was having issues with achieving production targets.  Production and maintenance were separate departments run by different managers.   The production manager established an improvement team.   The problem to be solved for production was related to increasing utilisation and productivity.  The project was successful, with productivity increasing by around twenty per cent.  An issue arose with the increased tempo of operations in that it highlighted maintenance deficiencies with equipment frequently breaking down due to the quality of maintenance services. As a result of poor availability, the company failed to reach production targets.  The production improvement initiative was successful; however, the company wasn’t successful.

Considerations: When embarking on an improvement project, it is essential to consider the bigger picture of the value chain. In the case above, an analysis of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and a Value Stream Map for the equipment’s function rather than just the department’s role would have identified issues with availability that resulted in limited improvement.

2.  Stakeholders are not involved in the improvement process

Case: A manufacturer of electronic components embarked on an improvement project due to customer feedback on quality issues. The improvement team determined that the quality at the despatch loading dock was fine; however, the problem occurred during transit from the factory to the customer. The improvement team decided that if the components were individually wrapped, they would arrive at the customer in the same condition they were despatched. Upon implementing the improvement, the client contacted them to advise that they were considering cancelling their orders as the factory wasn’t providing service compatible with the customer’s requirements. The factory conducted a site visit and observation (Gemba) at the customer’s factory. They found that the customer had to engage extra staff to remove the components from the packaging so that they could be put into stock for feed into the production line. Not including the customer in the improvement process almost lost a critical and profitable customer.

Considerations: Ensuring that the composition of the improvement team and the related governance routines include the ‘right’ participants is essential to solving the right problem and that the solution is correct and sustainable. In this case, the correct answer is to minimise unintended consequences by ensuring that the improvement team contains diverse members. Members should include, at a minimum,  the Process Sponsor, Process Owner, Process Operators (front line workers), and the suppliers and customers of the process. The improvement routines should ensure that each stakeholder has the opportunity and expectation to provide input.

3.  Improvement is treated as an event rather than as a process

Case: This cause of failure is the most common that I have encountered. Often, a client has a performance issue, and management has decided what needs to be fixed. Previously this has included requests such as “we need to fix communication” and “production is unable to keep up with processing” (or vice versa). As a result, they bring in external consultants to fix the problem. The problem identified to be solved often falls into areas of Mistakes 1, 2, 6, 8, and 9 and fails as there are no internal systems or processes to identify opportunities for improvement as part of the way of doing business. An absence of internal improvement processes is good for consulting companies but not for the client.

Considerations: The main concern is ensuring that the workforce is empowered with skills and expectations to identify issues, offer suggestions for improvement, and have an internal process to prioritise and implement improvements. The internal processes require an integrated Management System and bottom-up improvement routines and procedures. An effective improvement process also shifts the expectation for solving problems from the leaders to the Process Operators.

4.  Senior Management is isolated from the improvement process

Case 1: A major mining company implemented a company-wide lean-based improvement strategy that integrated Management Systems and Lean Practices. During the implementation, the CEO asked, “what is all this about?”. When told, he commented, “so we are still trying to implement that”. The result was that there was top-down degradation of the implementation.

Case 2: A large mine site had undergone an improvement process resulting in the design and implementation of an integrated Management System that reflected the culture in place and solved some functional and responsibility silos. A new General Manager was appointed who directed one of the integration meetings between planning and production to be cancelled. The consequence was that production fell by around thirty percent due to the General Manager not understanding the purpose of the meeting.

Considerations: Establishing Improvement Processes requires the active and visible sponsorship of the highest appropriate level of leadership. For a company, this would be the CEO. For a Department/Function, the head of that Department/Function. Visible sponsorship requires developing and implementing Change Management plans and elements, including cascaded Change Stories. Senior Management needs to be included in Role Confirmations at the frontline to demonstrate support for improving processes and offering guidance. Integrating visible sponsorship into daily and weekly routines is imperative to make it a process, not an event, as per Mistake 3.

5.  Improvement is based on the flavour of the month (what the boss is reading)

Case: A finance company was doing well; however, the CEO had the habit of directing his senior leadership team to adopt particular approaches to managing their departments. During one meeting, he directed all areas to implement performance boards (Lean). This direction was accompanied by a template and a visit by the CEO to assist with the implementation. A few months later, he directed each department to adopt the DMAIC (Six Sigma) process to manage their internal projects. A few months later, he started talking about Herbie (Theory of Constraints. Around this time, the marketing manager realised that the CEO kept a library of business books in his office, and it was usual for the CEO to have a book on his desk that reflected his direction for that month.

Considerations: Consultants, advisors, and suppliers often come with pre-packaged solutions. Be sure that you engage with people who don’t have a vested interest in any one approach.  As Maslow said in 1966, “If the only tool you have is a hammer, it is tempting to treat everything as if it were a nail”.  A Lean consultant with little or no experience outside of Lean will have a limited ability to offer solutions other than Lean along with the Japanese terms. The truth is that Lean, Six Sigma, Theory of Constraints, Agile, and Management Systems (or Management Operating Systems) all have a role to play in the practical design and implementation of business processes. The primary consideration is that these are used to develop an integrated system supporting the organisation’s culture, structure and strategy, not just patch holes.

6.  Improvement doesn’t start with the end in mind

Case: A manufacturing company conducted an internal review of operations and identified several initiatives to be implemented to increase production. An external consulting company was engaged to integrate with the internal Business Improvement team to assist with the implementation. The team successfully ticked off the initiatives until it reached the stage where the consulting company effectively identified their own work with no specified end to the program.  In the end, the Program Manager advised the client’s General Manager that they had reached the end of the program. This also occurred with several other companies where the CEO started using external consultants as their own Business Improvement function with the related low probability of sustainability and high costs.

Considerations: This Mistake can include scope creep, where the original project or program keeps absorbing other problems to be solved with limited governance. It can also include implementing improvements without a corresponding business case. Typically, an improvement initiative will either be a sustaining or an aspirational initiative. The sustain initiative ensures that performance meets the budget, while an aspirational initiative aims to increase capacity and performance above the budget.

7. Improvement teams are filled with people that leaders think they can release without losing production

Case: A manufacturing company started a program of improvement. The program was to be led by an external consulting company with internal resources seconded to the team. When the team was formed and met on day one of the program, it was clear that the internal resources that had been released from their regular jobs were not motivated, nor were they particularly interested in the program or “making more money for the bosses”.  When the department heads were asked what the development objective was for each of their secondees, the common theme was that this was not a concern and they were the only people they could release without impacting production.

Considerations: Effective improvement teams are populated by the best people within the company. Those that have been identified for advancement. Having them introduced to improvement programs run by experienced improvement professionals enables them to be trained in a broad range of improvement tools and methodologies that they can then pass on to others as they form the seed of an effective improvement team.  The improvement program typically enables each team member to lift their view of the business out of their own section to see and understand the complete value chain.  The improvement program should be part of their development with set and agreed objectives.

8.  Management believes that digital will solve everything

Case: A large gold mining company was implementing an ERP. At the start of the blueprinting process, some outside Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) were brought in to observe and provide their views. The SMEs had expertise in ERP, Management Systems, and Business Process Reengineering.  After two weeks of observation, it was clear that digitising current disparate and inefficient processes would only result in embedding the same inefficient processes. Management stopped the project and initiated a business process improvement project to ensure efficient processes were in place. The ERP would be designed to support improved business processes rather than having to develop processes based on the requirements and limitations of ERP.

Considerations: Digital solutions are essential to modern companies and should support effective processes rather than being bolted onto a process. The sequence should be to identify the value chain, design processes, determine which elements of the process can be automated/digitally supported, and implement the processes.

9.  Solving the wrong problem

Case: A plastics company conducted a takeover of its main competitor. An integration team was established to unite the two companies and leadership teams. One of the areas of focus was integrating the customer database and scheduling systems into a master operational planning and scheduling system to be integrated with an integrated marketing function. During this process, the team discovered that the customers of the two entities were discrete and that the two companies were, and never had been, direct competitors.

Considerations: Determining the root cause of the problem is essential to implementing improvements effectively. It is part of what I call being creatively lazy or doing things correctly the first time. Using company-standard approaches, the ability to conduct Problem-Solving sessions, whether large and formal or intimate and informal, should be an essential skill of all company leaders, from frontline managers to CEOs.

This has been an introduction to common mistakes made when setting up improvement programs.