A problem well defined is a problem half solved
A company wants to reduce its employee turnover. It uses the following five problem solving steps.
- Define the problem.
- Measure the current state.
- Analyze for the root causes.
- Implement solutions and achieve improvement.
- Plan and execute ideas to sustain the gains.
As a first step it sets up a project charter to define the problem. A Project charter is a one – page snap shot of the project.
A Project charter
A project charter contains
- The Business Case – Why this project?
- The problem statement – What is the problem faced?
- The goal statement – What is the goal of the project?
- Team members names.
- Team leaders name.
- Sponsor(s) name.
- Process owner name.
- Primary and secondary project metrics.
- Project completion timelines, financial and/or customer benefits and what will / will not be in scope.
Find below an example of a completed project charter focused on reducing attrition.
| PROBLEM SOLVING PROJECT CHARTER – REDUCE EMPLOYEE ATTRITION | |||
| Problem Statement High attrition. It is more than the benchmark in our industry! |
Financial & customer benefits summary Potential annualized savings of Rs. 57 lakhs PA. |
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| Business Case Attrition, means loosing our employees, who are trained and skillful resource. When a trained employee leaves. Hard losses include:
Other losses include:
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Project completion – Start and End dates | ||
| Define the problem | September 2018 | September 2018 | |
| Measure the current state | September 2018 | September 2018 | |
| Analyse for vital causes | October 2018 | October 2018 | |
| Improve the process | October 2018 | November 2018 | |
| Control and sustain gains | November 2018 | Till at least 3 months. | |
| Project constraintsAchieve the solution without negatively impacting worker satisfaction, with least or ROI justifiable investments. | Executive sponser: Venugopal
Project sponser: Svaboda Project Leader: AGM – HR Project team members:
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| In Scope / Out of scope – Category of employees – Workers | |||
| Goal statementReduce attrition to = or < 9%; Retention period of LSL = or > 90 days, Min target – 180 days. | |||
| Project metrics:
Primary: Worker retention in days, attrition in % Secondary: Worker satisfaction |
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