We had success transforming a high-value target area in our corporation! People can see the changes and improvements, and now, they want a piece of it. They like what they hear from the workers in the redesigned space.

Now what? Where do we go from here? Who do we help next? Most importantly, how do we sustain the advancements, and progress we made in the first area?

This is an important question.

Sustainment can easily be the hardest part of any change initiative. When the extra people involved in the transformation go back to their areas, the leadership team presence fades, and the dust settles, we might be left with unanswered questions. Maybe we are taking hourly “temperature checks” to make sure our process stays healthy and on track. People can sometimes feel forgotten and question the new steps they are taking.

Why am I gathering this data if no one is doing anything with it?

This is a critical time in a department’s transformation. We must keep the spotlight on the high value target area and its new improvements.

The folks that live in that area deserve our utmost attention and confidence in their abilities. This is our chance to listen to their questions and not just answer them, but to guide them to answer the questions themselves. We need to let our associates know that they have the power to not only participate in the improvement, but to change the course of the improvement, because they are the subject matter experts in the field. Our goal should be to replicate the learnings from our high-value target area to other areas, and we can’t do that alone. We could use a small army for that. We should identify associates who were part of one successful high-value target area and have them take part in the development of a new high-value target area. Our workers are the frontline solders that live there every day. We need to make that house feel like their home, and in a neighborhood they are proud to call their own.