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1. Seven Lessons from
Farming for Process
Improvement
Contributor: Pratik Shah Linked In Profile
Posted: 05/31/2011 12:00:00 AM EDT
Weeds are troublesome plants that divert precious soil resources away from
more valuable crops. Sound familiar to waste in processes? Pratik Shah says
that process improvement practitioners could learn a lot from farming.
Farmers have to adapt to changing conditions year on year: different weather
patterns, changing soil conditions, new technology, more resistant pests and
viruses etc. Farmers must upgrade their processes and working methods
each year to get the best outcome.
This scenario could be compared to the challenges facing global
organisations - regardless of whether it’s an IT company, a bank, or a
manufacturer. The core business will vary, the processes will be different, but
the need to continuously upgrade existing processes and adapt to changing
conditions is the same regardless of your industry.
But the problem is that many businesses struggle with adapting processes to
change. Here’s what process improvement practitioners should learn from
farming:
1. Involve Workers in Decisions
Farm workers know the soil best. They know what is good for different seeds
and how the climatic conditions will affect those seeds. A farmer would be
crazy to make decisions without the input of those working in the fields as
they will best understand the impact of any proposed changes.
Similarly in an organization, employees are the best candidates to suggest
what sort of change they expect, what needs most attention, propose
solutions, and identify unnecessary work that is a waste of time and money.
We must not forget that processes are human driven and engaging workers is
the key to successful process improvement.
2. Pick Out Weeds
Weeds are troublesome plants that divert precious soil resources away from
more valuable crops. They are often fast growing, hardy, and pop up just
about anywhere at any time. A farmer will invest considerable effort in
removing weeds because he realizes that unless he weeds his field regularly,
they will diminish the success of the overall crop.

2. So it goes with companies – there will always be unwanted waste that crops
up in the processes of a company - processes can become redundant
overtime, or include unnecessary steps that eat up time, resources and
concentration.
Organizations need to carefully identify what is needed and what is not
needed. But tinker at your peril - some processes that may look unnecessary
in one part of the company could be crucial for another. A farmer won’t pull
anything that’s green and growing out the ground and neither should you strip
out everything that looks wasteful without first understanding why it exists.
3. Prepare the field
Once the weeds are picked, the farmer tills the field, confident in the
knowledge that he has removed the vast majority of weed seeds that would
interfere with the success of his crop. Now that the weeds have been picked
he is sure that his labor and other inputs are going directly to improve the
prospects of the desired crop and not to weeds. He tills the field in straight
lines as he understands that this is the most efficient way of farming, enabling
access to the crops while they’re growing, and making it easy to harvest the
crop.
Similarly in a company, once unwanted processes are identified and removed,
you want to make sure that the remaining processes are organized in the best
way and aligned with the overall goals of the company. If not, restructure
them, make changes, until they’re aligned and ready for further improvement.
4. Choose Treatments Carefully
Farmers use fertilizers and other chemicals to boost harvests and ward off
pests. Selecting the right product for the climate, soil and seed is essential to
its success. Similarly, organizations need to leverage technology to make
substantial efficiency improvement in processes. Evaluate the advantages
and disadvantages of each option according to business requirements.
5. Understand What You're Trying to Achieve
What is the farmer hoping to achieve from all this work? That’s probably fairly
self evident – a successful crop. Other outcomes – like improved soil quality
and reduced weed growth – are mechanisms to achieve the overall outcome.
If the farmer was not clear on the fact that his success would be determined
by the abundance of his overall crop he may make different decisions along
the way. For instance, if he defined and measured his mission as “reduced
weed growth” he would observe that he could achieve this by not applying
fertilizer – but in doing so he would harm the success of his crop.

3. In business, clearly defining and understanding the objective of process
improvement is essential. What is the overall outcome that we are wanting to
achieve? What are the smaller outcomes that will help us get there?
If you are not clear what your process improvement is trying to achieve you
may be focusing on the wrong processes and achieving outcomes that do not
contribute to what actually matters most.
6. Maintain the Crop
Would a farmer ignore his field for a month? Of course not, weeds would start
to crop up all over the place, pests could attack, and the entire crop could fail
if he did!
Processes - new and existing – must be monitored to ensure that they
continue to function as designed. Keep an eye on them and set up a
governance system that overlooks all processes and makes sure they are
being followed appropriately.
7. Have Patience & Measure Your Progress
The final thing that process improvement practitioners can learn from farmers
is the importance of patience and measuring your progress. Process
improvement is not a one-off activity or not something which can be rushed
through in a couple of days. It is an ongoing activity.
That's why it is important to measure your progress. You want to make sure
that you're heading in the right direction (i.e. is the farmer's crop growing and
how quickly?). As improvement is a long term activity, you want to baseline
your measurements and review them often to see how well - or badly - you're
doing.
Prepare the ground well, don’t neglect your crop while it’s growing, keep an
eye out for recurring and perennial weeds but no matter how well you’ve
prepared the soil don’t expect your seeds to mature overnight into a fully
grown plant.
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critical knowledge on the development of Process Excellence including
Business Process Management (BPM), Lean, Change Management,
Operational Excellence, Six Sigma, Risk Management, Customer Experience
and more. We provide the forum where key industry experts and
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practitioner peers connect with one another all over the world, both face-to-
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