The model for team organization known as GRPI (goals, roles and responsibilities, process, and interpersonal skills) began in the field of social science and has since been adopted into Six Sigma’s change acceleration process (CAP) tool kit. Let’s start our discussion of GRPI by establishing the context around CAP.

Change Acceleration – The Roots of GRPI

CAP is a process and set of tools focused on helping Belts drive change successfully at a desired speed. The root of CAP lies in Kurt Zadek Lewin’s Force Field Change Model. Lewin, one of the modern pioneers of social, organizational and applied psychology, highlights the following:

• There are forces driving change and forces restraining it.
• When there is equilibrium between the two sets of forces there will be no change.
• In order for change to occur the driving forces must exceed the restraining forces.

As shown in the figure below, Lewin’s change model defines three stages in the process of change:

1. Unfreezing: This is the shakeup phase triggered by a problem. The result is the acceptance that the existing structures and ways are not working.
2. Moving: This is the process of devising and implementing the change.
3. Refreezing: This is the phase of sustaining the change.

   

Lewin’s force field analysis is used to distinguish which factors within a situation or organization drive a stakeholder toward the desired state, and which factors oppose the driving forces.

Typically, when trying to bring about change, discussion focuses on managing the stakeholders, particularly stakeholders external to the project. But it is also important to focus on the team that is driving the change. The executing team must have a strong belief in and be motivated to enable the change. That belief and motivation derive from a team’s clearly defined objectives.

What Is GRPI?

GRPI is used to ensure practitioners gauge the factors critical to team development in a structured way – and act on these factors throughout the project. Teams and organizations can be viewed through GRPI based on four fundamental dimensions:

• Goals: Are the mission and goals of the team clear and accepted by all members? Are they in tune with the team’s environment?
• Roles and responsibilities: Are the roles and responsibilities clearly described and understood? Do the defined roles fully support the team goals?
• Process and procedures: Are there processes and procedures operating in the group (such as problem-solving methods, communication procedures, decision-making processes, etc.) that are 1) understood and acceptable and 2) supportive to the group’s goals and roles?
• Interpersonal relationships: Are the relationships among team members healthy and supportive of good team work? Is there an appropriate level of trust, openness and acceptance in the group? The I of GRPI is a function of the G, R and P. In order to achieve the I, there are two important items to keep in mind: 1) effective communication and 2) conflict avoidance and resolution.

GRPI is a simple framework for any project and should be used 1) when initiating a team and planning the first steps and 2) when a team is not working well and it is not clear why not.

During a process improvement project, GRPI can be initiated in any phase but for optimal use should be deployed in the Define phase of a DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) project, and be modified and updated as needed as the project progresses.

A GRPI Example

A sample GRPI checklist is shown below in Table 1. For each of the checkpoints, a current state is evaluated. (The current state is highlighted with blue, while the desired state is highlighted with green.) The ideal desired state is a perfect 10, but a desired state is also determined by available time. Table 1, for example, shows the current versus desired states for a situation based on a one-month timeframe.

The model should be reviewed periodically to monitor team performance.