Client Results

Production Unit

Organization Profile

A highly successful production laboratory located in the United States holds major contracts in high profile DNA analysis programs. The organization acquires labor primarily from students at a major university. Public image is crucial for the success of the organization as DNA donors and contract holders hold high expectations of control, consistency, and accuracy of lab results and interpretations. Any loss of credibility would be devastating to the program and resulting revenues.

Challenge

Quality disasters shutting down productionProductivity meeting 50% of demand with high overtimeLow morale, high absenteeismGrowing production backlog placing contracts at risk

Results

Resolved quality problems; eliminated shutdownsDoubled productivity with fewer staff, minimal overtimeCreated highly motivated and engaged work teamsRectified absenteeism problemEliminated backlog; contracts saved and soon expanded

The Need

Quality problems—particularly sample contamination—were common often causing entire operation shutdowns several times each week. Demand had doubled nearly overnight and staff members were buried in work working overtime nearly every night and weekend. Emotions often ran high and social breakdowns were common as morale plummeted and absenteeism reached an all-time high. These problems, coupled with a growing backlog extending to nearly a year, threatened the organization’s ability to retain existing contracts.

The Need

Quality problems—particularly sample contamination—were common often causing entire operation shutdowns several times each week. Demand had doubled nearly overnight and staff members were buried in work working overtime nearly every night and weekend. Emotions often ran high and social breakdowns were common as morale plummeted and absenteeism reached an all-time high. These problems, coupled with a growing backlog extending to nearly a year, threatened the organization’s ability to retain existing contracts.

The Need

Quality problems—particularly sample contamination—were common often causing entire operation shutdowns several times each week. Demand had doubled nearly overnight and staff members were buried in work working overtime nearly every night and weekend. Emotions often ran high and social breakdowns were common as morale plummeted and absenteeism reached an all-time high. These problems, coupled with a growing backlog extending to nearly a year, threatened the organization’s ability to retain existing contracts.

Health Clinic

Organization Profile

A large non-profit health clinic located in a sizable metropolitan area struggles with patient satisfaction and community image. The clinic supports a large base of uninsured patients as well as insured patients. The clinic board of directors is composed of diverse representatives from across the community. Loss of community support would damage the ability of the clinic to remain a viable institution serving the local community, which would deal a heavy blow to the large population relying on the clinic for care.

Challenge

Patient wait times often exceed four hoursSome appointments end in day-long wait with no doctor visitPatient dissatisfaction tarnishing clinic community imagePatient referral system is broken creating confusion and frustration for both doctors and patientsStaff in-fighting causes mix-ups and delaysSupport for patients is secondary to obeying supervisors

Results

Created clinic-wide culture shift to create excellent careReduced patient wait times to 45 minutesCreated breakthroughs in patient referral system and several other departments increasing patient satisfactionImproved clinic image in the community substantially

The Need

Patient satisfaction had been falling consistently for several years. Community dissatisfaction with the clinic had become quite public prompting a call to action from the clinic’s board of directors. Even though employees had received training in several customer service programs, problems persisted. Staff felt they had no latitude in their work and feared to take extra time to assist patients. In-fighting was common, and patient ‘horror stories’ were being circulated throughout the community.

The Solution

We trained leaders in new, customer-centric practices that empowered staff. We created a steering committee to support and drive quality care solutions. Through large group meetings that shifted the culture, staff and leaders identified barriers to success and opportunities to improve processes, and confronted choices that harmed patients. We created process improvement teams and trained them to address specific patient needs, addressed in-fighting and held special integration sessions to break down silos.

The Outcome

The new culture provided staff freedom to assist patients and participate in process improvement teams. Such teams discovered causes of excessive wait times and addressed them with new processes and procedures. Improvement teams eliminated frustrating mixups associated with sending patients to specialists. The shift from in-fighting to collaboration allowed staff to work together and support improving the whole patient experience.

Functional Support Team

Organization Profile

A major U.S. university has a strong tradition of research in medicine and pharmaceuticals. Research is important for the institution’s reputation and provides a substantial revenue stream that supports essential university programs. A new university president shared his vision of a university ranked in the top ten among renowned research institutions. This vision is threatened by the failures of a struggling research support team.

Challenge

Organization losing millions in research dollarsHigh profile departments rejecting in-house supportLengthy research approval delays; large backlogHigh levels of employee frustration and internal discord

Results

Slashed cycle times; eliminated backlogEnabled millions in new research fundingInternal customers applauded remarkable resultsReduced internal conflictsRestored commitment to retain the staff function

The Need

Internal staff groups responsible for servicing researchers felt overwhelmed by the workload and unable to process research requests in a timely manner. Antiquated work systems and processes segregated employees into narrow ranges of tasks causing bottlenecks. Delays and conflicting answers from staff frustrated researchers causing loss of key contracts. The relationship between staff and internal customers was strained and high profile departments threatened to establish their own staff group if their demands for change were not met.

The Solution

We led learning sessions to help the staff group understand its charge from senior management relating to the institution’s research goals and helped the team forge a new future. We led staff group-to-customer meetings to identify and capitalize on quick opportunities to improve work practices and processes, which also strengthened previously strained staff group-customer relationships. We helped staff groups analyze work processes and flow, and redesigned systems to overcome customer identified deficiencies. Broad building of whole system literacy and cross training supported greater competence and accountability to researchers as well as senior administrators. Staff group members replaced central decision-making with visible tracking and direct accountability.

The Outcome

Staff groups reduced processing and approval times dramatically—from months, to days, in some cases—and quickly dispatched their backlogs without compromising standards. Once staff groups committed to work redesigns, the turnover problem was rectified. The loud and frequent complaints to senior leaders that motivated the turnaround ceased and were replaced by unsolicited accolades for remarkable improvements made by the staff groups. Calls for bypassing the university system disappeared altogether as a higher volume of research—including privately funded studies—moved quickly through the system.

CONTACT INFO

Location:

330 E. Glenhurst Drive
Oro Valley, AZ 85704

Contact Numbers:

Phone: 520-742-7300
Fax: 520-742-9236

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