Continuous Improvement Toolkit

The Left Side of the A3

The Right Side of the A3

Results

In continuous improvement, learning from identifying what works and what does not work is the primary goal. To do this, you must first identify the problem you want to solve and the high level result you want to achieve. This allows you to set the direction for your work.

In this step, key questions to consider are:

• What is the problem?
• Why is this a problem?
• What measurement are you using to know the problem?
• Does the data show this is actually a problem?

Current Condition

Developing a deep understanding of what is currently happening and past trends in the area you are focused on is essential to making an impact. To do this, take time to collect and study the data that is available to you. Disaggregate it by different demographic populations to identify the existing gaps and disparities. Talk to students, parents, families, educators and program providers who live or work in this space to get a sense of what is and is not working. Identify the partners that you are working with and determine if you have the right group of partners or need to include additional people/organizations.

In this step, key questions to consider are:

• Where are you now?
• What are your current conditions?
• What are the symptoms?
• What impact is it having?
• Who is involved in the work?

Sample Tools & Techniques:

Cross-Functional Process Map Symbol Legend – Use to map a process that occurs.

Key Insights Template – Use to collect insights from students, parents, families, educators, and other stakeholders who live or work in this space to get a sense of what is and is not working.

Results at the Center Template – Use to identify the partners that you are working with and determine if you have the right group of partners or need to include additional people/organizations/sectors.

Target

Now that you have a good understanding of the current situation, you have enough information to narrow your focus and develop a target (a.k.a. a goal or result) that you want to achieve. Setting a target helps you to maintain a focus of your work. It should be specific, measurable, attainable and focus on a demographic population that is experiencing a disparity.

In this step, key questions to consider are:

• Where do you want to be?
• What is the target you want to achieve?
• What is your goal for improvement?
• Consider both long-term and short-term targets.

Factor & Root Cause Analysis

A factor is something that helps produce or influence the result, in this case the indicator or outcome data. You cannot change or improve a system unless you understand that factors that are contributing to the result. A factor analysis is a way of identifying the factors that contribute to why an outcome is trending and helps you to understand where you can focus your energy in order to impact and improve that outcome. Factors can be identified in a variety of ways – national research, local data, local expertise/knowledge of the outcome of problem.

In this step, key questions to consider are:

• Who is needed to help achieve your target (Results at the Center)?
• What factors are preventing you from getting there?
• What are your root causes?
• Where will you focus your work?
• What is within your sphere of influence and control?

Sample Tools & Techniques:

5 Whys Template – Use to identify root causes.

Cross-Functional Process Map Symbol Legend – Use to map a process that occurs.

Key Driver Template – Use to organize systems and process factors as they impact your target.

Key Insights Template – Use to collect insights from students, parents, families, educators, and other stakeholders who live or work in this space to validate the factors and root causes you’ve identified.

Pick Chart Template – Use to determine what is within your sphere of influence and control.

Results at the Center Template – Use to identify the partners that you are working with and determine if you have the right group of partners or need to include additional people/organizations/sectors.

x

Interventions/Strategies

Interventions should connect directly to a factor that you believe will have the greatest impact on the outcome and that your group can directly influence. Interventions can be identified in a variety of ways – national best practices, knowledge of local initiatives, brainstorming, speaking with the parents and students or by getting recommendations from educators and program providers.

In this step, key questions to consider are:

• What is the current process for your target population (macro process map)?
• What will you work on (choose your intervention)?
• Be specific about the steps you will take.
• How will you know it’s working?
• Identify what specific data you will collect to measure the impact of your intervention.
• Who will do what and who is responsible (RACI)?

Sample Tools & Techniques:

Cross-Functional Process Map Symbol Legend – Use to map a process that occurs.

Key Driver Template – Use to organize interventions as they impact your factors and root causes.

Pick Chart Template – Use to determine what is within your sphere of influence and control.

RACI Template – Use to designate clear roles and boundaries. Who is responsible? Who is accountable? Who should be consulted? Who should be informed?

Results at the Center Template – Use to identify the partners that you are working with and determine if you have the right group of partners or need to include additional people/organizations/sectors.

Status

Test each intervention by using Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles. PDSA cycles allow you to document each step of the process in a way that allows you to quickly learn about what works and what needs to be improved. While testing interventions, it is critically important to identify and track data during each PDSA cycle so that you can understand the success of your intervention.

In this step, key questions to consider are:

• What happened?
• What were your results?
• Collect data to quickly test your theory about your problem.
• Use your data to adapt, adopt, or abandon.

Learning

Allowing time to monitor and improve each intervention ensures that you develop the best intervention possible and deeply understand the challenges that can occur. Tracking data as frequently as possible (weekly or bi-weekly data points are best) is a key part of this step because the data will allow you to understand if the intervention is working. As you work to improve your interventions, you can build from one PDSA to another based on the key learnings from previous PDSAs, this is known as building a PDSA ramp.

In this step, key questions to consider are:

• Did everything go according to plan?
• What did you learn

Action Commitments

Now it’s time to take what you’ve learned and move it to some sort of action.

In this step, key questions to consider are:

• Based on what you learned, what will you do next?

Action Commitment Template – Use to track tasks and next steps, assigning an individual to carry out each task or next step and a due date for when to expect each task or next step to be complete.