Many times I see perfectly good improvement projects cancelled due to the plan going off track from the vision.
Consider the outset of the project:
The vision for the improvement looks great. The changes would be amazing. Everyone on the team seems bought in.
Then you get the reality:
Certain bits of the project are harder than expected. Some bits haven’t worked out as planned. The vision isn’t being realised.
And then you get this decision (informally, often in our heads):
Do we create an alternative vision or do we call the whole thing off?
Four options to consider
I find it interesting that so many great improvement ideas fall foul of this problem. The improvement made is still good but not quite as good as originally hoped for.
So, if you find yourself in this predicament what can you do?
One option is to let it fizzle out, but that’s not the suggestion of this post.
Another option is to salvage what you can from the improvement, cut the vision down to something that is still better than what we have now and aim for that.
Option three is to review what is happening with the improvement and see if you can correct it.
My final option for this post extends the second option and is to put a reminder on your project list / diary / tracker (or whatever you use to track your improvement projects) and plan how you can extend the cut down vision into something big and better later on.
Make the improvements count
The key message here is don’t lose the work and effort you have invested into your improvements. Don’t let them slip through your fingers.
A reasonable improvement is better than no improvement. Don’t let your ego dictate the rate of change!
This is the reason why continuous improvement is called continuous; it doesn’t stop!
If you find you have a history of failed improvements, mull this post over and see if you can take a different approach in the future (or dust off some failed improvements and get them over the line).
