Page 119 - Solid Waste Analysis and Minimization a Systems Approach

SUMMARY 97

■ Time based—The goal is tracking performance for 1 year based on last year’s
reported results.

It is also important to examine why projects fail. Oftentimes many projects fail
because a team is not properly empowered or supported. Below is a list developed by
John Kotter (1994), in his article “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail”:

■ Not establishing a great enough sense of urgency
■ Not creating a powerful enough guiding coalition
■ Lacking a vision
■ Under-communicating the vision to stakeholders
■ Not removing obstacles to the new vision
■ Not systematically planning for short-term wins
■ Declaring victory too soon
■ Not anchoring changes to the corporate culture

Sharing lessons learned within the organization can lead to stronger future projects
and results and at the same time reduce committing the same mistakes twice. When
communicating lessons learned, the sessions should not be treated as a blame game
session, but a true opportunity to improve processes and increase project speed. Some
methods to examine lessons learned include, benchmarking with competitors, holding
regularly scheduled best practice review meetings, and collecting information on project
performance in a database.

5.9 Summary

Planning, top management support, and proper resource allocation are the three keys
to a successful solid waste minimization program launch. Of these three, top manage-
ment support plays the most important part because they lead the planning and resource
allocation process. Establishing SMART goals are also critical to ensure the program
is meeting targets, progress is being measured, and that team members buy into and
understand the program.