How to Choose a Process Improvement Consultant for Your Business

Process improvement is one of the most important things you can do for your business, especially if you're a small start-up or an established company with limited resources. With the proper process improvement framework, you can get innovative ways to reduce waste and increase efficiency in your operations. But how can you choose a process improvement business consultant or firm? Here are three ways to do that!

1. Identify the Problem

Identifying the problem is a critical first step in choosing a process improvement consulting firm for your business. You can transform your business by identifying areas where your current processes need to be fixed and then developing strategies for making them more effective.

Ask yourself what you want your new process to improve. Are you trying to reduce costs, speed up your production processes, or be more efficient overall? The kind of improvements you are looking for will guide you in choosing the right firm for you!

2. Decide on the Goals and Deliverables

Once you've identified your business needs, it's time to decide how much time and money you're willing to invest. This decision will help you determine how many iterations of your new process will be needed before it's perfected and how long it might take to complete them. You may also want to include certain features—like quality control tools or flow charts—that will help make sure that there is no wasted effort during the improvement process.

3. Select a Firm with the Right Experience and Expertise in Your Industry

Process improvement consultants are more than one-size-fits-all. Depending on the nature of your business, you may choose a consultant whose specialty is improving employee relations or another industry-specific skill set. Selecting an experienced process improvement business consultant tailored to your needs will help you identify areas where improvements can be made to keep up with the competition and cultivate an efficient and sustainable work culture.

Conclusion

A process improvement business consultant can help your business get back on track. But while it can be challenging to know where to start when you want to improve something in your business, you must know how to choose an effective process improvement consulting firm for your business needs. Selecting an excellent consulting firm is essential to ensure that all processes work effectively and efficiently. Remember these three tips can help you make the best consultant choice! Identify the problem, decide on desired deliverables, and select a firm that has the right experience and expertise for your organization.

Happy First Birthday OHC!

WoooHooo! We survived our first YEAR! Thank you so much to all of you for your unwavering support! A huge shout out to all my clients this year; you're the real MVPs! Thank you for trusting me with your vision and allowing me to develop and manage your organizational needs.

To my friends and family, I appreciate your referrals and efforts to connect me with ALL the right people and resources! I will never be able to express how your support and love have fueled me in my lowest moments.

I can't believe I launched Omani Hope Consulting one year ago today! It has been a wild journey full of joyful highs and uncomfortable and doubtful lows.

I knew starting my own business wouldn't be easy, and honestly, that excited me about the idea. I had grown stagnate professionally and was eager to get out of my comfort zone and chase this crazy dream. I had no idea how uncomfortable I would actually get over the next year.

I learned real fast that patience is EVERYTHING for your business, your clients, and mostly your sanity. There is no such thing as sending too many emails, and my ability to follow up and chase down leads was going to be a significant player in the success of OHC.

I dove into my research, taught myself how to create content, and worked on mastering Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram—ironically learning that I am not a social media person.

A big eye-opener this year has been coming to terms with the discomfort and uncertainty of being a small business owner. I quickly realized that networking is a massive trigger to my nervous system and makes me ridiculously anxious despite years of training and presenting to crowds. I am much better at this a year later, but I've learned that my mood and mental health impact my ability to take risks and put myself out there, and that is the definition of owning a small business!

So yea, our first year has been a doozy. I have felt every emotion possible; I have laughed, cried, and prayed more than ever! I have been let down and lifted up in ways I never knew possible, but I weathered the storm, kept my head above water, and now here we are one year later, celebrating the success of surviving our first year!

I love a good vignette....

On our website and one of my recent blogs, I provided a vague overview of our process and services. Today I want to dig a bit deeper and shed some light on what Omani Hope Consulting can do to help your business improve in areas you might not even be thinking about. When training on client care and documentation standards in the behavioral health and social work world, we use vignettes. When used correctly, they can be a fantastic tool to build competency in specific areas. If you’re unsure what a vignette is, it is a brief description of an incident or issue. It allows the reader to review the case or scenario and present possible solutions. When training on documentation, we offer a client case and then ask staff to write the clinical note, which is then reviewed, and feedback provided. I also use vignettes to cultivate conversations in training and while building rapport with staff.

I figured what better way to create a vignette that makes it simple to see how we put improvements in action for your business.

Vignette #1

The Situation

A small not-for-profit organization serving at-risk youth through after-school care programming and mentoring services just received a grant to expand their efforts and reach a larger catchment area while also impacting specific subgroups on the populations they serve. The grant requires an array of data metrics, and the organization must submit a monthly report presenting the progress, barriers, outcomes, and supporting data. The organization lacks the insight and staff capacity to take on this project. The organization must consider the cost of hiring a new employee to carry this task out for the organization or hiring an outside contractor to manage the grant and reporting requirements.

The Solution

OHC meets with the organization for their free consultation and reviews the grant details and the pros and cons of hiring internally instead of externally. After reviewing with leadership and accounting, the organization decided to hire OHC to avoid hiring and training new staff during the changes and because it was fiscally more responsible. Hiring someone would have included the salary for this position and the onboarding, training, and benefits costs associated with new staff.

OHC contracts to provide project management services within this grant. OHC works with staff monthly to obtain the needed information to create the monthly reports and submits them to all required agencies. OHC also reports to the organization’s board of trustees quarterly to provide insight on the grant’s successes, barriers, and ability to meet and measure outcomes.

Vignette #2

The Situation

Your facility provides long-term psychiatric care and recently underwent a Joint Commission audit. During the audit process, it is determined that the organization is noncompliant in a few areas and has a 90-day window to correct these things. Leadership is concerned that they will lose their funding and credibility if these areas do not improve quickly and effectively.

The Solution

OHC meets to review the audit findings to establish the needed areas of improvement and barriers, expectations, and resources for the project. OHC shares that they can create the Plan of Correction and assist your team with implementing, tracking, and reporting the needed improvements to meet the CMS/Medicaid requirements and standards.

OHC contracts to develop and implement a Plan of Correction for the facility. OHC supports the facility through the POC and assists in recognizing possible gaps, barriers, and solutions that will increase compliance and the quality of care provided. OHC also guides the organization through the submission process and prep for the resurvey.

If you have a need, contact us, we will shoot it straight with you and if we are suitable for the job, GREAT, if not, that is ok too, we just want to help you get closer to your goals.