Page 194 - Just Promoted A 12 Month Road Map for Success in Your New Leadership Role

Assessing Your Organization’s Health 179

■ Sensitize others to the impact of process and variation in their areas
of responsibility.
■ Involve, train, and enlist others to be part of continuous improve-
ment efforts.
■ Solicit continuous improvement ideas from customers and other
internal and external stakeholders.
■ Ensure that process and quality measures are current as well as compli-
ant with government regulations.
■ Use continuous improvement methods to streamline and remove waste
and variability work processes.
■ Use evidence-based data to analyze, measure, and improve work
processes.
■ Learn and implement changes from errors, breakdowns, and near-
miss events.
■ Learn and implement changes based on selected best practices from
other organizations.

The following are additional ideas related to work flow systems and over-
all quality effectiveness. Consider these ideas as well as targets in your orga-
nizational analysis.
Work flow systems analyses describe how the work gets done. They are
important to help ensure consistency and quality among those responsible for
the major departmental tasks.
Examine written procedures. Are they up to date? Do they reflect depart-
mental policy? Are they consistently followed? Do they seem efficient, and do
they make sense? Does the work get done efficiently even though or because
written procedures exist? Is the informal way of communicating procedures,
from experienced people to inexperienced, adequate for getting the job done,
or are there inconsistencies and inefficiencies? Are people confused about
what they are supposed to do and how management wants it done?
Analyze the work flow. Trace a sample of work through the system. Follow
the process. Does the work flow follow well-documented procedures? Is it effi-
cient and on schedule? Are resources available when needed, and are they up
to quality? Is output of the required quality, and is it on time?
What is the effect of breakdowns on quality, efficiency, and costs? What
are the causes of breakdowns? Are people in the right place at the right time?
Does the equipment function as it should?