Have you trained continuous improvement (CI) practitioners (i.e., Green/Black Belts, Lean practitioners) to see limited success with improvement project execution? Or are your newly-trained CI practitioners struggling to move forward in their improvement projects? Even if your organization employs a project selection method such as top-down, bottom-up, or a combination of both (see our blog “Are You Working on the Right Projects?”), both of these scenarios are common.
In my varied experience building and deploying CI programs in large and mid-sized organizations, I have often witnessed the ‘throw them to the wolves’ mentality when developing the CI skills and capabilities of people. Often organizations provide training in CI tools and methodologies, then expect newly-trained employees to successfully lead improvement work independently. Typically, less than half of a training group (wave or cohort) complete their improvement projects and achieve the intended benefits back to the organization when left on their own. The result is a low or negative ROI on the training efforts and the potential for the negative perception of CI’s value in the organization.
However, I have seen that when organizations provide consistent coaching support to their CI practitioners, and those practitioners actively engage with their coach, success jumps to over 90% (success here is defined as a completed improvement project/effort with benefits realized).
With many organizations still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations can’t afford to miss out on fully utilizing CI resources and realizing the full benefits of improvement efforts. Coaching is one of the most effective ways to elevate a practitioner’s range of CI skills and confidence in enacting improvement.
What Difference Does Coaching Make?
Formally defined, coaching is the art of facilitating the performance, learning, and development of another (Effective Coaching: Lessons from the Coach’s Coach). Within a CI context, a coach is a seasoned CI expert who guides others in practicing and applying a structured problem-solving process (i.e., A3, PDCA/PDSA, DMAIC) to improve the performance of critical organizational processes.
Using a coach helps someone expand and apply their skills, knowledge, and abilities, and ultimately boost their results. A common challenge for new CI practitioners is navigating the myriad of CI tools and methods learned through training. A seasoned coach guides a practitioner to apply the subset of tools and techniques that are practical and applicable to the problem solved—or more simply, using a hammer for a nail and wrench for a bolt.
A coach also recognizes and highlights another’s strengths and helps them work through their gap areas. For example, some practitioners are strong at leading and managing projects and facilitating teams but struggle with data analysis. Conversely, I have coached those with strong analytical skills but struggled to communicate and engage with senior leaders.
Coaching improves performance by cultivating confidence in the practice of CI methods and tools and a broader sense to find, clarify, and align personal objectives with overall organizational expectations.
Additionally, active coaching delivers a combination of tangible and intangible benefits back to the organization. The higher levels of success (success is defined as a completed improvement project/effort with benefits being realized) experienced with active coaching brings tangible project benefits such as hard or soft savings or increased revenues (reimbursements). Intangible benefits include increased employee engagement, elevated confidence, and ultimately more substantial CI competencies within the organization. In the blog post “Benefits of Coaching Employees to Improve Business Performance,” the website Intellect states that coaching is essential to businesses during times of uncertainty and economic turmoil, helping organizations better manage change.
With the abrupt changes that have already occurred, and unpredictability of what lies ahead, incorporating consistent coaching support into your CI efforts can boost CI your success, and help navigate these times of change and uncertainty.
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