Whether your organization is currently managing a crisis or you’re simply trying to prepare for potential setbacks, learning how to develop a corrective action plan (CAP) is key to identifying, investigating, and resolving issues throughout the life of your business.
A CAP is a step-by-step, specific procedure that can help businesses accomplish their desired outcomes for error or conflict resolution. CAPs are:
Perhaps most importantly, high-fidelity CAPs can help prevent future crises.
Below, we’ll explore some of the benefits of developing a CAP, six steps for creating one, and how partnering with a professional employer organization (PEO) can help support your crisis resolution process.
While businesses must tweak their CAPs to adequately address specific conflicts as they arise, having a baseline CAP at the ready can help companies prepare for the worst, shorten their response times, and display a commitment to continuous improvement.
There are a host of potential benefits of developing a quality CAP:
While creating and implementing a corrective action plan may require time and resources, preventing future issues and ensuring the organization's long-term success make it a worthwhile investment.
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While each conflict poses unique challenges to business owners, managers, and team members, this general six-step procedure can help companies prepare a CAP when issues arise.
Businesses must identify the issue they’re facing before they can make a plan to tackle it. Consider the following tips:
Perhaps most importantly, use data to your advantage. Once you catch wind of a problem, collect all of the information you possibly can to develop a thorough understanding of the issue.
A root cause analysis is a critical component of your corrective action plan. It’ll help you treat the problem at hand instead of simply reacting to the consequences.
Your root cause analysis procedure might look like:
Throughout this process, remember to avoid some common pitfalls of root cause analysis, like jumping to conclusions or skipping potentially relevant data.
Good ideas don’t just materialize out of thin air. To develop comprehensive, efficient, and cost-effective solutions, you and your team must invest time in the brainstorming phase. Two tips that might support your business during the brainstorming phase are:
Before implementing one or more of the plans developed during the brainstorming phase, assess how the costs associated with each plan will impact your bottom line.
Financial forecasting can be difficult, but cost-benefit analyses typically include:
While it can be difficult to predict every element of your conflict resolution plan (especially customer response, if applicable), you should use a cost-benefit analysis to prioritize your potential resolution plans based on cost-effectiveness.
Once you’ve chosen the most cost-effective action plan, it’s time to put it into action. Be sure to flesh out two key elements of your plan:
To set realistic goals and deadlines, incorporate perspectives from the teams that will be impacted. For instance, if your HR team needs to accomplish various tasks during the resolution process, ask them what those tasks entail and how much time they expect to spend on them.
Collaborative scheduling and goal-setting will help you accomplish tasks efficiently and effectively.
Quality control is crucial to conflict resolution. If you don’t implement high-quality solutions, you may not effectively prevent future conflicts.
One way to monitor quality control is to evaluate the plan’s progress as you reach each milestone. That might look like:
Monitoring can also help you tweak the plan as needed as you accomplish each benchmark. If you discover a redundant or unnecessary step or realize that you forgot a critical item, you can modify the plan to reorient the team toward a successful outcome.
While large businesses with experienced internal staff might be able to confidently tackle a conflict without outside support, small and medium-sized businesses may benefit from advice from seasoned professionals. Professional employer organizations, or PEOs, can help businesses confront and resolve issues in numerous ways:
PEOs offer a wealth of knowledge to companies managing current crises or preparing due diligence plans. Their professional staff and wide networks can offer support to businesses of all sizes.
Creating and implementing a corrective action plan can be complex, and having the right support can make all the difference. At BBSI, we have a team of HR professionals who can provide guidance and support throughout the entire process, from assembling the corrective action team to evaluating and monitoring progress.
Our services include HR compliance support, risk management, and HR technology solutions that can help you streamline the corrective action plan process and improve efficiency. BBSI is committed to helping you and your business overcome challenges and achieve long-term prosperity.
Contact us today to learn more about how our HR professionals can help you ensure a successful corrective action plan implementation.