E02 – Capture lessons and plan for improvements
This management activity belongs to the Monthly Closure group. This group of activities are done at the end of each month to close the cycle and prepare us for the next one.
After aggregating the responses to the satisfaction evaluation, invite all team members and facilitate a workshop for them to plan improvements based on the results of the satisfaction evaluation, and to share the lessons they’ve learned during the month. Record all items in the Follow-Up Register and assign a custodian to each item for its follow-up activities.
Purpose
This workshop has two main purposes: designing effective improvement plans and team building.
It’s helpful to use a workshop for planning improvements instead of planning everything by yourself, because the Wisdom of Crowds can help you generate better plans, and you will also have the team members’ buy-in.
Common pitfalls
Consider the following to avoid some of the commonest problems in this area:
- You can only get proper results from a workshop when it’s facilitated properly. You can use techniques such as Delphi in your facilitation.
- When possible, gather the opinions anonymously to ensure that participants are comfortable and can freely express their opinions. You can use a proper software application to ensure anonymity, and also to speed up the process.
- Avoid anchoring people to one or a few ideas, and use a neutral framing for problems.
Principles
The following principles play a significant role in this management activity: