Process improvement can seem a dry subject that is ‘down in the weeds’, however given processes are a key foundational aspect of all organisations, getting them right is critical to an organisation being able to deliver its services in the most efficient and effective way, maximise the client experience and deliver real, ongoing cost savings.
Prominence delivers Lean process improvement facilitation services to organisations and their teams to review and map key processes that they have identified as needing improvement, identify inefficiencies, and deliver more effective, efficient and streamlined processes. The outcome not only eliminates waste in all its forms; it also delivers improved internal or external client experience and service delivery time, and human resource and cost savings. It can also improve staff morale and internal staff relationships that may suffer due to inefficient, unclear and duplicative processes, or the need for frequent reworks or repetitive manual tasks.
We have worked with a range of health and community service organisations, including public sector hospital, disability, aged and residential care services, who have recognised the need to implement changes within the organisation to enhance the culture, levels of innovation, growth potential, productivity and efficiency. We have delivered Lean process improvement projects to in a range of areas including:
- core HR processes such as recruitment (where it had been recognised as a process which is blocking growth and presents a significant risk to the organisation)
- various types of staff rostering – in a residential division, for late cancellation and meetings and training
- restricted practice reporting
- invoicing
- cash handling
- improving the patient transition process between the Queensland Ambulance Service and a hospital emergency department, which delivered real and sustained positive impacts for both ambulance services, patients and staff.
We facilitate bespoke services which include designing an approach to suit the specific needs of our clients or using our proven FLIP (Facilitated Lean Improvement Program) approach – a simple Lean Six Sigma approach that uses a project based approach with a team of staff involved in delivering a process, to resolve issues and increase problem solving skills.
FLIP projects work involve 5 stages aligned with the Lean Six Sigma project management approach:
- Define stage – sets the project for success and ensuring a common understanding of the problem
- Measure stage – focuses on mapping and measuring the current state performance
- Analyse stage – uncovers the root causes of the problem
- Improve stage – focuses on brainstorming, choosing and building the solution
- Control stage – transitions the solution to business as usual and checks that the improvement is sustained.
Our approach to delivering process improvement services has the added benefit of upskilling participants in the methods used. Participant and organisational feedback is consistently positive, resulting in new ways of thinking about how they do things that they can apply across other processes in simple but effective ways.
As a foundation for undertaking specific projects, we have worked with teams of identified ‘ambassadors’ or similar within the organisation who help facilitate and champion a range of business improvement areas, to enhance their knowledge and skills in business improvement through a combination of tailored learning and by immersing some of the Ambassadors within a ‘proof of concept’ improvement project. This has resulted in a range of improvement areas being identified and progressed, with the support of an internal staff member, and support from Prominence if required, either to assist with facilitation or provide coaching to internal resources.
Our certified Lean and Six Sigma consultants also provide coaching services where we work with one or a few staff within the organisation, where they first participate in, observe and debrief on the facilitation process, and then we coach and shadow them as they plan for, deliver and follow up on the Lean process workshops themselves.
Following the facilitation of an individual process improvement initiative, we have been re-engaged to conduct a project to upskill, using a coach the coach model, new roles within the organisation – including a Manager, Process Excellence and an Innovation Manager – to lead the continuous improvement agenda, program of work and culture development across the business and facilitate process improvement projects using Prominence’s Facilitated Lean Improvement Program (FLIP) process. We also facilitate the attainment of Green and Yellow Belt certification where an organisation or an individual considers this to be of benefit.
We have also established a licencing agreement whereby clients are able to continue to use the Prominence Facilitated Lean Improvement Project (FLIP) materials (PowerPoint presentations, Word and Excel templates and PDF documentation) to support their ongoing internal improvement projects.
