ABSTRACT

Conducting, implementing, and sustaining the Rapid Improvement Event (RIE) encompasses a broad set of activities where the RIE team, led by a skilled and experienced team facilitator, learns to see, diagnose, and improve the process targeted for improvement and prepares a clear plan for implementing and sustaining the improvement. The facilitator should lead the team through a full discussion of the baseline performance of the process targeted for improvement. The identification of numerous “broken” processes may lead some individuals to infer that university administrators or their staff are inept, uncaring, or both. The visual map of the “current state” process, coupled with a clear understanding of what the beneficiaries of the process value and expect, provides the RIE team with critical information to begin their disciplined approach in applying Lean Higher Education to identify waste and impediments to flow.