Why do process improvement initiatives fail?

1. Lack of Support and Leadership by Upper Management

The leadership must be strong and fully committed to change. They must be good communicators and lead by example. The leaders of the organization should be the first to obtain new certification, or skills in order to build trust and confidence within the team.

2. Lack of Professional Development or Training

New certification programs tend to be too specific and focus too much on small fixes or training programs and not enough on a broader Human Resource development. Employees become frustrated when their training opportunities are not connected to a long term employee development strategy. So connect them with the right resources and the right vision for the future.

3. Poor Focus and Prioritisation

If there is not a particular focus on what improvements are priorities, disagreements about strategies will occur. Include your employees on prioritization processes, so that they feel connected to change and improvements.

4. Implementing the Wrong Tools

Get the right tool for your organisation. If not, you will be weighed down by the wrong process management tool which could be inadequate or too complicated for use. Before a large change, an IT department will spend a lot on a huge process management tool and will force their employees to use it, despite it not being quite understandable to all.

5. Poor Employee Engagement

Foster bottom-up improvement and commitment from your employees. If your organization is enforcing adoption of change upon your employees, with little room for communication from below, you are going to have difficulty. If you have not engaged your employees in your change processes, it is not too late, but you will have some work to do. Empower your employees to contribute to, and get involved with the process improvement.

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