When organizations talk about improving processes, they often jump straight to solutions.

New tools. New roles. New workflows.

The real challenge is rarely how to improve — it’s where to start.

In my experience, the starting point is not a framework or a methodology, but a small set of well-placed questions. The answers to those questions reveal more than any diagram ever could.

Why most process improvement efforts stall

Many process initiatives fail not because people resist change, but because:

  • the real problems are misidentified,

  • symptoms are treated instead of causes,

  • and effort is applied in the wrong place.

When improvement starts without clarity, energy gets diluted and progress feels slow.

The right questions create focus.

Question 1: “Where does work actually slow down?”

This question is deceptively simple.

It shifts attention away from:

  • individual performance,

  • isolated mistakes,

  • or vague feelings of inefficiency,

and toward systemic friction.

Look for places where:

  • work waits for approval,

  • information is missing,

  • people repeatedly ask the same questions,

  • tasks bounce back and forth.

Delays rarely come from lack of effort. They come from unclear structure.

Question 2: “Who owns this step — really?”

If ownership is unclear, improvement is impossible.

When you ask who owns a process step, pay attention to answers like:

  • “It depends.”

  • “Usually it’s…”

  • “We all look at it.”

These are signals of shared responsibility without ownership — a common source of rework and delays.

Clear ownership doesn’t mean rigid control.
It means someone knows when a step starts, when it ends, and what “done” looks like.

Question 3: “What defines ‘complete’?”

Many processes exist in a permanent state of “almost done”.

If people can’t answer:

  • what information is required,

  • what criteria must be met,

  • or who confirms completion,

then work will loop, stall, or be reopened later.

Undefined completion criteria create invisible work — and invisible work is impossible to optimize.

Question 4: “What happens when something goes wrong?”

Exceptions reveal the true shape of a process.

Ask:

  • What if information is missing?

  • What if a deadline is missed?

  • What if a decision is delayed?

If the answer is:

  • “We handle it case by case,”

  • “Someone steps in,”

  • “We figure it out,”

then your process depends on heroics — not structure.

Improvement starts by making exceptions explicit, not by pretending they don’t exist.

Question 5: “Where do people compensate for the system?”

Watch for places where people:

  • double-check data manually,

  • maintain personal lists,

  • create parallel spreadsheets,

  • or “just know” how to fix things.

These compensations keep the business running — but they also hide structural weaknesses.

Every workaround is a clue.

Question 6: “If this step disappeared, what would break?”

This question challenges assumptions.

Some process steps exist because:

  • they once solved a problem,

  • they were added temporarily,

  • or no one remembers why they’re there.

Asking what would break if a step were removed often reveals:

  • obsolete controls,

  • redundant approvals,

  • or unnecessary handoffs.

Process improvement is as much about removal as it is about optimization.

Question 7: “Who benefits from this step?”

If a step benefits:

  • no customer,

  • no internal team,

  • and no decision-maker,

it likely exists to compensate for a deeper issue.

Improvement means aligning effort with value — not just making existing effort faster.

The pattern behind the answers

These questions tend to surface the same underlying issues:

  • unclear ownership,

  • missing rules,

  • fragmented information,

  • and processes that exist only in people’s heads.

Once these patterns are visible, improvement becomes much more straightforward — and far less overwhelming.