Operations process tip for the quarter: Detailed process maps are the key to process improvement success. If you are facing an operations problem, have your team map out each step of the process that isn’t working well. By doing so, you will gain a clearer understanding of what it will take to fix it. In addition, you will achieve greater buy-in by having your team be invested in the solution.
People Are at the Heart of Improving Process and Outcomes
People are the most important factor in achieving process improvement success. Learn more: People Are at the Heart of Improving Process and Outcomes
Process Transformation Concepts and Tools Virtual Training™ for Community Foundations
September 25–28, 2023; 1:00 pm–3:00 pm CT each day.
Do you want to be part of your foundation’s initiatives to improve how work is done, leading to a stronger community impact? Do you want to be a change agent who makes such improvements happen?
If your answer to either of these questions is yes, please join our virtual Process Transformation Concepts and Tools Training™. In this training, you will learn and practice the skills to identify common operational pain points that slow down workflow and hamper results. This workshop is specifically designed for new community foundation employees who want to be part of their organization’s process improvement culture.
The cost of this training is $1,500 per attendee for organizations that are accessing our culture-changing training and coaching for the first time. Registration will be limited to eight attendees, so register soon by emailing Lee Kuntz.
Case Study: Nonprofit Builds Muscles to Deliver More Community Assistance
Is doing more for your community one of your organization’s goals? Read how one foundation successfully met increasing demands despite being short-staffed: Nonprofit Builds Muscles to Deliver More Community Assistance
Throughout the 23 years I have been a process improvement coach and trainer, I have learned that people are the most important factor in achieving process improvement success. Yes, methodologies, training, and tools are important. But engaging the people doing the work in a way that increases their readiness for improving the way they work is the most important element.
In a recent conversation with one of my clients, I was reminded of the power of engaging and readying staff for process improvement. This leader moved from the CFO role in one foundation to a similar role in another. Both foundations are huge and healthy with big growth ahead of them. This experienced leader had brought my firm in to the first foundation to help him create capacity to take on that big growth. He anticipated the busy season ahead and knew the workload would be unmanageable unless he took action.
During our training, we built both the skills and will to improve how work is done. See how this looks in this video: Energized, Inspired, and Engaged.
My firm also conducted a process deep dive with this leader’s team to recapture capacity in their donor advised fund (DAF) grants operations. See how a deep dive looks in this short video: IPD Process Deep Dive Experience. The team redesigned their process to cut the time to do a DAF grant by 40 percent. That meant delivering grants and confirmations faster to donors and freeing employees up to enjoy the year-end holidays.
Last month I reconnected with this leader to congratulate him on his new CFO role. He mentioned that he brought the language of process improvement with him to his second organization. He said, “We constantly look for and talk about finding unproductive tasks, exactly as I learned to do in your training.”
Because this leader identified the challenges ahead, learned key process transformation concepts, and took action to implement them, he has now been able to lead two teams to improve how work is done. As a result, both he and the two organizations he has worked for have streamlined their operations and increased employee satisfaction. You and your organization can achieve these favorable results too.
Contact Lee Kuntz at lee@improveprocess.net if you see pain points in how your organization’s work is done or if you seek to improve the outcomes your organization delivers to your community.
About Lee Kuntz and Innovation Process Design
As founder and president of Innovation Process Design, Lee Kuntz has spent over two decades using process improvement to solve the unique challenges faced by leaders of complex service organizations. Through expert training and coaching, she helps teams look at their work with new eyes, transform how work gets done, and create real results. Contact Lee with questions or to talk about your situation and what you want to achieve.
Contact Lee today to discuss your challenge.
