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FREE WORKING TEMPLATE

Operations Improvement Worksheet

Turn a recurring operational problem into a defined pilot with an owner, clear handoffs, and useful measures.

This worksheet is a discussion aid for leaders and teams. It does not score organizational maturity or diagnose the cause of a problem. Use evidence from actual work and adapt it to your policies.

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How to use it

Bring the process owner and people involved in the work together. Pick one workflow, use recent examples, and distinguish observed facts from assumptions. Leave unanswered questions visible and assign someone to investigate. The aim is a clear next experiment, not a completed form for its own sake.

1. Define the work

  1. What recurring workflow are you reviewing?
  2. What event starts it, and what evidence marks completion?
  3. Who receives the result, and what do they need?

2. Trace recent cases

  1. Review a few recent examples. What steps actually occurred?
  2. Where did each case wait, return for correction, or require a decision?
  3. Which observations are documented, and which still need checking?

3. Clarify responsibility

  1. Who owns the overall outcome?
  2. Who accepts the work at each handoff, and what information do they need?
  3. Which exceptions require approval, and who has that authority?

4. Choose one test

  1. What single change will you test, with which request type or team?
  2. Who will implement it, and what support or access is needed?
  3. Which existing controls must remain in place? What would pause the test?

5. Define useful measures

  1. What result do you want to improve? Define the population, start, and finish.
  2. What process step will you check, and what unwanted consequence will you watch?
  3. What reliable baseline exists? Who collects and reviews the information?

6. Decide what happens next

  1. When will the pilot be reviewed, and who makes the decision?
  2. What would support continuing, adjusting, expanding, or stopping?
  3. Who owns the next action, and when is it due?

Illustrative example: purchase-request rework

A fictional team finds that requests often return because the budget owner is unclear. Its proposed test is a completeness check for one purchase category. The team names the reviewer, defines required information, and retains the existing spending approval policy. It measures first-review completeness and total requester waiting time, while checking whether clarification work simply shifts to another team. These are suggested steps, not client results or claimed savings.

Use the result to have a better conversation

If the main barrier is ambiguous responsibility, explore organizational effectiveness. If the steps and handoffs need redesign, explore process improvement. For unclear definitions and reporting, explore performance measurement.