Escape the Improvement Trap: Five Ingredients Missing in Most Improvement Recipes

Written by two experts who have dedicated their careers to quality improvement, Escape the Improvement Trap: Five Ingredients Missing in Most Improvement Recipes separates itself from other improvement books by looking at why most companies rarely achieve anything more than an average level of improvement maturity. They identify five critical ingredients required for successful improvement:
1. A meaningful business value proposition and strategy that drives key improvement actions2. An engaging environment where people can do their best work3. A focus on meaningful metrics while avoiding irrelevant details4. Process improvement efforts that maximize cross-functional process performance and foster deeper process understanding, innovation, and execution of best work practices5. An executive mindset that focuses on customer value, people development, process performance, and business improvement outcomes, not solely on savings

The authors consider a variety of situations at Independence Enterprise, a fictional company, based on their own very real experiences. They elaborate on the principles that should come into play, look at what Independence Enterprise is doing right and wrong, and suggest deployment actions to help you apply the principles to your own organization.

Michael Bremer has worked in the world of business process improvement since 1980. He led the creation of a company-wide improvement initiative for Beatrice Companies, a Fortune 30 Company at the time, where he had the opportunity to study under the tutelage of Dr. W. Edwards Deming and Dr. Joseph Juran. The Beatrice Improvement initiative was one of the models studied in creating the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award. Michael is currently the president of the Cumberland Group. In recent years he has served as a Senior Engagement Manager for Motorola University, is a past Chief Financial Officer for the Association of Manufacturing Excellence and has held a variety of other positions in industrial and service businesses.
Michael currently teaches a class on innovation and process improvement for the University of Chicago’s Graham School. He co-authored Six Sigma Black Belt Handbook (McGraw-Hill, 2004) and Six Sigma Financial Tracking and Reporting(McGraw-Hill, 2005), aka: I had a million dollars in savings, but my P&L did not change. Michael earned a BS in accounting, from the University of Missouri – St. Louis. He is a CPA, certified MBB, certified Lean Bronze expert and a CMC. He has worked with organizations in many countries to improve the way they go about the business of improvement.
Brian McKibben is a founding partner of The Cumberland Group–Chicago. He has thirty years’ experience in operations planning and management, helping business teams reduce waste, improve quality, smooth production flows, shorten order cycle times, and reduce inventories. His approach to business performance improvement includes four elements:


Clear definition of customer requirements, especially their loyalty factors
Lean business processes; add only value to products and services; no waste
Team-based methods for broad workforce involvement in improvement efforts
Measurement = the springboard to Continuous Improvement

Before joining Cumberland in 1991, Brian held management roles in several manufacturing companies. That experience and the insights he gained from them contribute to his effectiveness in a consulting role. Managing the manufacturing planning functions for 140 Beatrice U.S. Food plants and warehouses provided perspective on optimization of a large-scale enterprise while providing for autonomy and job satisfaction of local operating teams. Directing product design, manufacturing engineering, industrial engineering and manufacturing services for The HON Company, Wesco Manufacturing, and All-Steel proved that even complex processes like product and manufacturing process development can be streamlined (made Lean) to achieve results in a fraction of "expected" times. His experience in a turnaround situation confirmed the saying that "the impossible is often the untried," and that the technical issues in business are less important than the people issues. Business successes are the result of carefully nurtured teamwork; not the rah-rah fluff type, but rather the practical nuts-and-bolts approach that is focused on the team’s common goals and the mechanics of how they work together effectively to achieve those goals quickly.

Brian holds a BS in business and economics/industrial management from the Stuart School of Management and Finance at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. He is past president of the Chicago chapter of the Institute of Industrial Engineers, a speaker on operations planning and performance improvement to other professional organizations, and co-author of Six Sigma Financial Tracking and Reporting (McGraw-Hill, 2005).

IntroductionLook at Your Organization’s Ability to Improve Relative to Your IndustryMore Critical Thinking Skills Need to Be Learned and UsedWhy We Wrote This BookHow This Book Can Help You

The New Normal: Just Because Your Organization Is Better than It Used to Be Doesn’t Mean You Have a Competitive AdvantageIntroducing Independence Enterprise, Inc.The Reality of the New Business EnvironmentThe Performance Improvement DreamThe Reality of Most Improvement InitiativesImprovement Results and the Car You DriveImprovement Results within an IndustryFive Levels of Improvement MaturityQuick Test: Assess Your Organization’s Improvement LevelIndependence Enterprise Assesses Its Improvement LevelSo, Are Performance Improvement Initiatives Worthwhile?

What Does It Mean to Escape the Improvement Trap?Independence Enterprise Inc. Assesses Its Improvement LevelWhat Does It Mean to Be Average?Characteristics of Level 2 OrganizationsCharacteristics of Level 3 OrganizationsExamples of Level 3 OrganizationsWhat Is the Improvement Trap?Opportunities and RealityFive Common Missing IngredientsIndependence Enterprise Looks at What’s Missing in Its Improvement EffortsChapter Wrap-Up: A Checklist for You to Assess Your Organization—Are You Just Average?

The Pathway to Becoming a Level 4 and Level 5Organization: An Overview of the Five Key Ingredients to ImprovementIndependence Enterprise, Inc. Considers the Five Key Ingredients to ImprovementFollowing the Improvement PathwaySummary of the Five Ingredients Necessary to Break Out of the Improvement TrapWhich Came First at Toyota: The Tools or These Ingredients?Independence Enterprise Decides to Analyze the Value It Creates for CustomersChapter Wrap-Up: Execution—Following the Path

Ingredient 1: Customer Value Develop a Meaningful Business Value Proposition to Drive Improvement ActionsIndependence Enterprise Assesses Its Value to Its CustomersPrinciples to Consider Regarding How Your Organization Improves Value to Your CustomersCustomer Value Should Drive ImprovementA Strategy Is an Improvement HypothesisMake Sure You Have a Deep Understanding of ValueApply the 80/20 Rule: Which Customers Value What You Do?Understand the Rule of 16Understanding Customer RequirementsIndependence Enterprise Applies the 80/20 Rule to Its CustomersIndependence Enterprise Reassesses How Well It Delivers Value to CustomersEvaluating Policy Deployment at IndependenceReviewing Independence’s MojoIdentifying Strategic Value and Improvement Opportunities at IndependenceSeeing Reality: Independence Enterprise’s Improvement Activities Weren’t EffectiveChapter Wrap-Up: Deployment Actions to Apply Customer Value Principles
Ingredient 2: Engage PeopleLeaders Create an Environment Where People Can Do Their Best WorkIndependence Enterprise Evaluates How Engaged Its Employees Are Principles to Consider Regarding Whether Your Organization’s Employees Are Truly Engaged in Their WorkMaking the Case for Improving Employee EngagementCreate an Environment of TrustChallenge People to Improve Their Critical Thinking SkillsEmployees Who Are Engaged in Their Work Will Actively InnovateEmployee Engagement at W. L. Gore: A Case StudyEnsure Fairness in Compensation and RewardsProfit-Indexed Performance Pay SystemsWhen Employees are Engaged, Phenomenal Results Can Occur: A Case StudyAssessing the Engagement Level of Independence EmployeesChapter Wrap-Up: Deployment Actions to Engage Employees
Ingredient 3: Key Metrics Focus on the Vital Few, Meaningful Metrics; Avoid Drowning in Irrelevant DetailsIndependence Enterprise Evaluates Its Key Performance MetricsGetting the Metrics Right: What You Can Learn from Baseball StatsPrinciples to Consider Regarding How Well Your Organization’sKey Metrics Reflect Overall Performance True North Performance MetricsHow Do Goals Fit into Performance Metrics?The Ugly Side of Performance MetricsThe Month-End PanicThe Purpose and Use of MetricsCustomer Value and the 80/20 RuleCustomer Value and the Net Promoter ScoreCustomer Value and Target CostsEngage People MetricsProcess Thinking MetricsCascading the Metrics from One Level to the NextGet the Right Metrics Visual MethodsMetric Development ToolsLean AccountingIndependence Enterprise Develops New Insights into the Use of MetricsChapter Wrap-Up: Deployment Actions for Better (More Useful) MetricsMetrics Evaluation ChecklistMetrics Development Steps
Ingredient 4: Process Thinking Maximize Cross‑Functional Process Performance and Foster Deeper Process Understanding, Innovation, and Execution of the Best Work PracticesIndependence Enterprise’s Functional Groups Did Not Work TogetherPrinciples to Consider Regarding Whether Your Organization’s Departments Are Truly Working TogetherStretch Your Thinking beyond Your Direct Roles and ResponsibilitiesRedefining Our Mental Models for Business ProcessesStep A: Clarify Customer RequirementsStep B: Streamline Value Creation ProcessesStep C: Align Support SystemsTypical Support SystemsWhat to Avoid with Support SystemsManaging Support Systems for Overall Business PerformanceA Support Systems Improvement Case Study: The JK Manufacturing CompanySupport Systems ConclusionsMaintaining a FocusThe Process Improvement Menu: Tools, Concepts, and MethodsProcess Thinking StoriesTotal Costs and Process Thinking (Cost of Outsourcing)Developing Process Thinking at Independence EnterpriseChapter Wrap-Up: Deployment Actions for Better Process Thinking/Understanding

Ingredient 5: The Executive Mindset Focus on Customer Value, People Development, Process Performance, and Business Improvement Outcomes, Not Solely on SavingsIndependence Enterprise Assesses Its Own Executive MindsetPrinciples to Consider Regarding Your Organization’s Executive MindsetUsing Strategy Deployment to Find True NorthBasic Steps for Strategic DeploymentCase Example of Strategy DeploymentDon’t Go Nuts with It: Too Much of a Good Thing Is Not a Good ThingConducting Gemba Walks—A Reality CheckStrength of Character Is a Litmus Test for Leadership CredibilityBeing Part of a Larger PurposeA Radical Whack at Who Adds ValueTransformation at Nissan Motor Company: A Case StudyGovernance Should Focus on the Big Picture, Not a Narrow Slice of the Business (Savings) Developing a One-Page PlanIndependence Enterprise Develops Its One-Page PlanHow Independence Enterprise Has ChangedChapter Wrap-Up: Deployment Actions to Apply the Principles
Assessing Your Organization’s Improvement Maturity LevelAssessing Business Progress within an IndustryTake the Quick Test Again to Assess Your Organization’s Improvement MaturityAssessing Improvement MaturityFive Missing Ingredients Are Not a Magic PillCalibrating the ScoringRating Standards for the Improvement Maturity (IM) AssessmentAssessing Your Organization’s Improvement Maturity (IM) LevelSummarizing the Assessment of Your Organization’s Improvement LevelInterpreting the Results of Your AssessmentUsing the Assessment ResultsA Few Closing Thoughts