The parallel paths of fitness and process excellence

Announce to the room that you’ve invested in a gym membership and you’re likely to see a few smirks. But why is there such a big discrepancy between gym contract holders and actual attendees? According to Exercise.com one of the leading reasons why people stop going to the gym is simply a lack of commitment or enthusiasm. Anyone who has had an unused gym fob hanging accusingly from their car keys for several months knows exactly what that’s like.

One reason that isn’t on the list is that people decide they’re ‘fit enough.’ No one cancels their gym subscription because they’ve reached peak fitness and don’t need it any longer. Even those at the pinnacle of their physical health know that it’s not something you achieve and put to rest, but something you constantly work at.

Process excellence is similar to fitness excellence in that way. We talk about continuous improvement, but many businesses still treat the pursuit of better processes as some kind of goal to be checked off and shelved, leaving their organizations asking, “Are we there yet?” far too often.

This Forbes article recognizes that process excellence requires constant vigilance, and a commitment to seeking better ways of working at every turn. Continuous improvement isn’t a certificate to achieve and hang on the wall, but an ongoing effort that holds peak performance up as a state of being instead of a destination. Constant progress requires an organizational fitness regime, a habit that strives for the best and when those results start to show, doubles down and refines the practices that have the best impact.

What kinds of exercises do diligent businesses need to focus on for the best results?

Don’t skip leg day

Sometimes, an exercise regime will focus on a specific type of fitness or a certain muscle group. This type of program tends to be remedial, and focuses on healing an injury or addressing prior neglect.

Conversely, in the absence of these hurdles many health programs will work the various parts of the body fairly evenly. That’s the model your process excellence program should take, too. If there has been a problem - process breakdowns, inefficiencies, or runaway costs - then of course there needs to be a focus on those procedures to restore operations and customer confidence.

For an organization that is running relatively smoothly, the emphasis should be on overall health. That means including all your processes, from supply chain to finance, from communications to HR. Improving only some processes is a recipe for more breakdowns as those procedures run into others that haven’t been given the same workout.

Eliminate those gaps and weak points by making continuous improvement everyone’s concern and ensuring that your processes support each other.

Lift to your level

Any gym junkie will tell you that if you want to get strong, it’s about consistency. Going to the gym once a month to lift the heaviest weight you can possibly manage isn’t going to do anywhere near as much good as going twice a week and lifting a moderate weight in a sustainable number of reps.

Business processes are the same; they work best when there is internal consistency across a division, location, and organization, with steady, methodical attention given to the processes throughout.

Continuous improvement is about reducing waste and inefficiency, minimizing variations and breakdowns and increasing the effectiveness of business activities. Having one process ticking over at maximal efficiency only to relegate its outputs to a series of manual handoffs and data processing steps wastes the efforts put in to perfect the earlier protocols.

Look at the whole system and take methodical steps to lift the performance at each point. This approach also allows for efficiencies of scale as you deploy solutions like process automation and robotic process automation (RPA) bots. These capabilities can better tackle similar actions or related systems when they’re deployed across the process group, rather than piece-by-piece.

Listen to your body

Not everyone has the same frame, metabolism, or genetic structure. There’s no true one-size-fits-all approach to fitness, beyond a few basic principles. Sometimes you need to understand the best approach for you, and monitor your comfort and results rather than compare yourself to any ‘ideal.’

Organizations come in all shapes and sizes too, and while it’s great to gather inspiration from successful businesses, their methods might not be right for yours. Instead, keep in close contact with the people who know your processes best - the teams using them. They’re your subject matter experts, and the ones who have to put your improvements into practice.

Build great feedback channels into your continuous improvement programs, and pay attention to what that feedback tells you. Those pain points, potential savings, and creative solutions are the best indicators of where you can reduce costs, increase efficiency, and improve customer outcomes. Out-of-the-box programs might have the fundamentals to get you started, but listen to your business to make the most of any continuous improvement initiative.

Whether you’re just starting your process fitness practices, or are a dedicated continuous improvement champion, complacency will always be the biggest challenge on the horizon. However, the key to success is recognizing that process excellence is an ongoing mindset, not some mythical goal to reach. Keep that focus at the forefront of your organization’s efforts. Like a healthy gym routine, the results will speak for themselves.