Step 7: Launch the Improvement Program
This step is a significant milestone. The level of achievement at this point can either make or break your relationship. It is important to keep the key people in both organizations up to date on progress and you need to seek their support.
Plan to launch the program at the start of remedial work. Make sure that you present any actions positively and constructively. This is a blueprint for the future.
It might be a good idea to think of a clever name for your improvement program to catch people’s attention. Your goal is to actively manage the improvement program and promote each key achievement within both organizations.
Step 8: Monitor Progress
Monitoring progress carefully and frequently is very important at this stage. Since the relationship has been strained, it is safe to assume that normal process for reviewing performance and introducing service improvements has not been working effectively.
In previous steps, we recommended that you investigate Maintenance Management Software or Janitorial Management Software. These systems can be extremely helpful in monitoring your progress without doing any extra work.
Your improvement task force should meet on a regular basis to review progress, agree on additional actions, and modify the program where it isn’t producing the desired outcome. As communications and services are brought back in line with the agreed upon standards, ongoing monitoring duties should be passed back to normal contract management mechanisms.
Look out for potential problems in the transfer process. There is a possible conflict between actions started while improving the relationship and actions that are considered part of the normal contract.
It is important for both organizations to recognize the significance of this improvement program. Give the program firm priorities and don’t override its activities. Support from your senior management is extremely helpful in this situation.
In the final part, we will review steps 9 and 10. Step 9 deals with communicating your achievements and step 10 covers what to do after you have successfully established a excellent relationship.