When it comes to processes, continuous improvement is the direct opposite of “one and done.” It is instead an ongoing journey of identifying, analyzing, and making incremental improvements to processes. By making continual changes, organizations are greater equip to drive efficiency and improve process effectiveness and quality.
What Does a Continual Improvement Process Look Like?
While different organizations may adopt different steps, continuous improvement should ultimately reflect the specific needs and goals of your organization.
APQC’s Process Lifecycle emphasizes 5 stages for sustainable and continual process management. These stages help create a systematic routine to continuously design, review, and refine processes so that improvements occur on an ongoing basis.
The typical stages of a process lifecycle include:
- Identify and Organize - When the organization identifies that a process exists—or should exist—and aligns it with other existing processes.
- Design and Document - Design and document the process including how the process works, the roles involved, and its associated business rules.
- Monitor and Control - Looking at measures and making any changes to how the process is being performed.
- Improve and Integrate - Making changes and staying aligned with other processes over time.
- Manage and Support - Provide oversight, support, and maintain the process over time.
Continually Improve Processes with Process Management
Although many organizations pursue process improvement without the benefit of process management, this typically results in fragmented, random acts of improvement. The improvements may look exciting individually; but without an overarching management strategy, they often breed unintended consequences that harm other parts of the organization.
Explore how including process management can improve your continuous process improvement journey.