Member-only story

How to Convince Leadership to Invest in Process Improvement

Hilary Corna
4 min readJan 28, 2025

You see the inefficiencies. Missed deadlines. Repeated errors. Processes that require constant firefighting. But when you propose solutions, leadership hesitates. Sound familiar? Convincing decision-makers to invest in process improvement isn’t just about pointing out the problems — it’s about presenting a clear, actionable, and low-risk path forward. One effective way to do this is by leveraging the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle. This structured framework not only guides improvement efforts but also builds confidence in leadership. Let’s break it down.

Plan: Build a Data-Driven Argument

Leadership thrives on evidence. While you may instinctively know where the bottlenecks are, an emotional appeal isn’t enough. You need to quantify the problem.

Start by collecting data on inefficiencies. Look for metrics that resonate with leadership, such as:

  • Missed deadlines and their impact on revenue or reputation.
  • Error rates in processes and the cost of correcting them.
  • Customer complaints and churn due to service failures.
  • Employee turnover caused by frustration with broken systems.

Create an account to read the full story.

The author made this story available to Medium members only.
If you’re new to Medium, create a new account to read this story on us.

Or, continue in mobile web

Already have an account? Sign in

Hilary Corna
Hilary Corna

Written by Hilary Corna

CEO | Founder of The Human Way | Bestselling Author | New book #UNprofessional out 9/21 | Host of the UNprofessional podcast | As seen in Forbes, Fortune, WSJ

No responses yet

What are your thoughts?