Quick Win Projects™

Simultaneously affect organizational change in the “real world” while delivering short-term results

Issue

In all organizations, the challenge is to achieve results that further the goals of the organization. In today’s world, results must be accomplished in shorter and shorter timeframes using fewer and fewer resources. At the same time, most organizations are plagued with numerous complexities—a variety of internal cultural challenges, scattered plant locations, incompatible work patterns, competing programs, and activities—that get in the way of achieving timely results. A model for quickly identifying, organizing, and achieving results that must be achieved in 30 to 90 days using existing resources and authority is essential to organizational success. Business as usual is no longer adequate if the organization is going to meet its goals.

Solution

The Quick Win Projects approach is a methodology based on the seminal Harvard Business Review articles, “The Discipline of Teams” by John Katzenbach and Douglas Smith and “Successful Change Programs Begin with Results” by Robert Schaffer and Harvey Thomson. In this process, cross-functional teams focus first on the results that must be achieved within 30 to 90 days and then on how to accomplish them. This approach differs from traditional activity-oriented project work because the teams do not lose time and energy talking about how to do the work, but instead the teams learn quickly what approaches work.

How it works

Quick Win Projects must be:

Urgent and worth while. A successful outcome should really matter to the organization;
Results driven. The focus must be on measurable performance not on a step towards a result, recommendation, or plan;
Short-term time frame of one to three months;
Achievable with existing resources and authority;
Based on staff interest. What people want to do, not what they resist doing; and
Team based requiring four to eight members.

Using the Quick Win methodology shifts the focus from activities to the short-term results that must be achieved to meet a larger business challenge. The results do not change, but with creativity and ingenuity, the activities required to achieve the results change!

The process has three key phases:

Setting up the project
Business managers working together for one to two days identify the 20% of business challenges that must deliver 80% of the results needed in the next four to six months. From these results, they select those Quick Win projects that will have the greatest impact.
Project launch
In a high-energy, two-day working session based on key practices from the GE Work-Out approach, managers present the compelling business challenge and teams define aggressive business results to be achieved in 30 to 90 days. Then the team, along with management, resolves all open issues in real time before beginning to execute the plan. Everyone is on board; everyone is motivated; and everyone experiences the challenges and successes. It is not “business as usual.”
Executing and sustaining the plans
Teams hit the ground running with positive results beginning to occur immediately. The teams quickly resolve any open issues, challenges, and team dynamic issues that surface, through an execution model that leaves no room for the normal power plays, politics, and risk avoidance. The link between the team, project leader, and senior manager is direct. When issues are raised, the team or manager makes decisions in hours, versus days or months.

"Quick Win Projects" are not just about results but also about shifting staff capabilities and the way people work. These projects create a new way of working that generates ongoing results leading to:

Higher levels of performance
New solutions for doing the work
New levels of understanding and confidence

Results Achieved

Pharmaceutical Company

Example of results achieved within two to four months and maintained over time:

Reduced Clinical Drug Report Forms backlog from 160,000 to 10,000 per month
Reduced software development time by 50% on three critical path projects
Reduced cycle time for clinical trials by 30-50% while increasing dramatically the number of studies

Computer Company

Example of results achieved within three to four months and maintained over time:

Implemented Outsourcing project management program
Sold $1 million new outsourcing project within three weeks to an SMS subsidiary. Follow on projects resulted in approximately $100-200 million in new business over the past three years.
Created Internet/WWW service with two paying customers. Follow on is now a successful business
Implemented world-wide network management system
Created new sales channel for training that generates $1 million to $2 million a year in new revenue
Increased number of participants in technical training programs by 25%
Created new mobile training program resulting in $2 million a year in new revenue

Utility Company

Example results achieved by project teams within two to three months and maintained over time:

Reduced OSHA “recordables” by 60 %.
Reduced time to restore power during emergencies by 40%.
Reduced time to restore accidental cuts in power from 24 hours to less than 4 hours.
Reduced IT system development time by 30%.
Reduced IT customer fix time from 10 hours to 2 hours

Case Studies

For further information about Quick Win Projects or to talk to someone about implementing this process in your organization, please contact us.