Featured Improvement Technique

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This page contains a technique (which is changed regularly) from our library of over 200 techniques to improve business performance.

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Technique 039

Driving continuous improvement: 1.The Problem Board (Identifying, capturing and publicising hidden problems)

This article, the first in a series of articles on continuous improvement, highlights one of the several techniques we use to drive improvement in our first stage of continuous improvement implementation "Organising for Operational Improvement". The purpose of this technique is to identify, capture & publicise hidden problems.

In continuous improvement, chronologically the second and probably the second biggest barrier to continuous improvement is understanding the reasons for poor performance by capturing hidden problems. Each individual has them on a daily basis, but unless they are highlighted, they will remain hidden. We believe this is a key constraint to be overcome &:

1. We believe it is unreasonable to expect everyone to come up with a solution to their own problem. But they do know they have problems!

2. It is stupid to expect people to come up with great ideas in a vacuum. Adversity is the mother of invention, so lets understand adversity first!

We liken the use of this technique to a road traffic accident. We certainly need to clear up the wreckage, but we also need to get into accident prevention activity!

This method "the problem board" invites everyone to write down those problems as they occur so they no longer remain hidden and are not forgotten! Any problems written here can then be fed into a problem management process to prioritise and create a short term work-around, but also into a Focused Improvement System to prevent a recurrence of the problem and drive improvement.

There are 4 prerequisites:

1. The ability to write

2. A flip chart placed in a handy position near the place of work (to make it easy to do)

3. A marker pen (and a spare)

4. Chronologically the first and probably the biggest barrier to continuous improvement, which is giving people a reason to participate, for example an understanding that:

   • continuous improvement is a part of everyone's job;

   • they are allowed and encouraged to do it;

   • help is available if they can justify it and need it;

   • any problem written here is not an invitation to blame someone;

   • any problem written here is an opportunity for improvement and not necessarily a way of offloading the problem onto someone else! (Problem ownership remains with the author.);

   • there will be a follow up (and that this is simply a method of getting the process started).

In a future article we will also describe the valuable contribution to team working that the problem board can make.

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Speed of Beneficial Impact

Short term

Type of benefits

• More participation in problem solving
• Revealing the big problems that you did not know existed

Ease of Implementation

Easy

Prerequisites

See above

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Further Reading: The following further best practice articles were mentioned in this paper:

There are many more articles you can request from our archives at "Previous Best Practices of the Week", "Previous Question of the Week", "Previous Malpractices of the Week", "Previous Techniques of the Week", or from the links below.

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© SM Thacker & Associates (Consultancy and Training Specialists) April 2010