Joe Dager
Business901
Fort Wayne, IN 46845
Phone: 260-438-0411

Website:http://www.Business901.com
Website:http://www.FundingYourNonprofit.com
Twitter:http://www.twitter.com/business901
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/business901
Email: jtdager@business901.com

Some may have been thinking that we have been wasting our time. But changing the process without the data is cause for failure. You have heard it time and time again, JUST DO IT! We have been trained that way, action is accomplishment. But the wrong action may accomplish little or drive you deeper into a hole. Without the data from the previous steps, you will not be able to make as effective and dramatic improvements that you desire. Seek 200% procees improvements and cost reductions of half!

If you have Defined, Measured and Analyzed, if nothing else you
are one smart cookie. More importantly, if your team has
survived, this is the stage they will come back together and the
excitement can be re-kindled. Let\u2019s put it all into action: In the
Improved stage, we must find and implement solutions that will
eliminate the cause of problems. We typically go through a five
step process.

1. Generate ideas.
2. Refine ideas.
3. Select a solution
4. Test.

5. Implement
I have a tendency to use two different tools at this point: One being an impact/effort matrix and the other
being a tree diagram. As we are generating ideas are refining ideas. If we can place the ideas in
impact/effort matrix it simplifies the solution process. So, after we are done brainstorming using the
famous posted notes method, just post the notes into their appropriate squares, as we see fit. You may
even segment them in the squares themselves as your reviewing them. Ask yourself is this easier to do
than this? Or will this have minimum impact from a customer standpoint. It is even great to have an
online focus group of customers, operations, sales, etc., that are willing to participate and pick which
solutions will have the greatest impact.

So let\u2019s say we have narrowed our solutions but we have 2 or 3 really good ideas but have difficulty
deciding on which one to test. A tree diagram is what I use. The reason I wait to this stage is that I did not
want to limit any ideas at the beginning. Using the tree diagram allows me to expand on each idea and
drill down on how difficult it will be to implement and the exact strategies and tactics and even resources
that may be needed.