At SPARK, we have unique approach to ‘ignite’ and create ‘brightness’ in organizations. We call it a 5D’s approach. The lifecycle of improvement initiatives is holistically addressed in the approach.

The journey for improvement begins with ‘discovery’. It always is needed for organizations to know ‘where’ to improve and ‘what’ to improve. It’s never good enough to be satisfied. A need to seek to improvement opportunities need to be ‘discovered’. A comprehensive appreciation of the current state of the organization often is a good start point for improvement initiatives. ‘SPARK’ often lights one corner which then goes on to brighten the entire organization. Discovery hence is an important element in organizational improvement.

Having discovered the organizational challenges, one need to ‘define’ what is to be achieved. Discovery may also have identified absence of important processes or structures which have to be ‘defined’. This phase in the improvement cycle lays down the organizational foundation at each subsystem level for identifying ‘where’ to reach. Knowledge of subsystems (people, process and technology) and their parameters of performance help identify the potential difference between where we ‘are’ as compared to where we ‘intend’ to reach.

The appreciation of ‘what’ to improve and ‘where’ to improve is to be followed with ‘how’ to improve. The mechanics of improvement initiatives has ‘design’ at the heart of it. This phase in the overall lifecycle will lay down the ‘design’ to bridge the gap of we ‘are’ as compared to where we ‘intend’ to be. It involves an approach towards re-arranging (sometimes incrementally and at times radically) the individual pieces of the organization