From Planning to Execution: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Process Improvement Cycle

The PDCA cycle is a simple yet powerful tool for process improvement especially for service-based businesses. There are many ways to implement process improvement, but the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle offers five main advantages that make it more effective than other approaches.

It’s systematic. It guides organizations through a logical sequence of steps, ensuring that improvement efforts are well-planned, executed, evaluated, and adjusted as needed.

It’s focused on continuous improvement so you’re getting better over time.

It’s data-driven, so you can make decisions that are backed by evidence.

It engages employees, so everyone is on board with the changes.

And it’s flexible, so you can adapt it to your specific needs.

Here’s how the PDCA process works:

Step 1: Plan

The first step in the PDCA cycle is planning. On average, Toyota spends 60% of its time planning. The principle behind this is that if you spend a little bit more time upfront with thorough development and deliberate intention, you will save time on the back end from mistakes.