Escape the Improvement Trap : Five Ingredients Missing in Most Improvement Recipes

Despite performance improvement initiatives such as Lean, Six Sigma, and Supply-Chain Management, only a handful of companies actually break out of the pack to transform their enterprise. This problem is not unique to today's improvement methodologies; the same issues existed when organizations first adopted TQM, re-engineering, and other popular improvement methodologies. Providing helpful methods and metrics for effecting true change, this book highlights how to avoid common improvement traps that inhibit many organizations from rising above the rest.

List of Exhibits
Acknowledgments
Key People at Independence Enterprise, Inc.
Introduction

Chapter 1 : The New Normal : Just Because Your Organization is Better than It Used to Be Doesn’t Mean You have a Competitive Advantage
Chapter 2 : What Does It Mean to Escape the Improvement Trap?
Chapter 3 : The Pathway to Becoming a Level 4 and Level 5 Organization : An Overview of the Five Key Ingredients to Improvement
Chapter 4 : Ingredient 1 : Customer Value Develop a Meaningful Business Value Proposition to Drive Improvement Actions
Chapter 5 : Ingredient 2 : Engage People Leaders Create an Environment People Can Do Their Best Work
Chapter 6 : Ingredient 3 : Key Metrics Focus on the Vital Few, Meaningful Metrics; Avoid Drowning in Irrelevant Details
Chapter 7 : Ingredient 4 : Process Thinking Maximize Cross-Functional Process Performance and Foster Deeper Process Understanding, Innovation, and Execution of the Best Work Practices
Chapter 8 : Ingredient 5 : The Executive Mindset Focus on Customer Value, People Development, Process Performance, and Business Improvement Outcomes, Not Solely on Savings
Chapter 9 : Assessing Your Organization’s Improvement Maturity Level

The Authors
Index