Corrective Action Program Best Practice 18 – Due Date Extension Authorization

Implementing performance improving actions can dramatically enhance the organizational results achieved. Unfortunately, many identified actions go unfulfilled, the victims of never ending delays. Establishing robust corrective action due date extension protocols, complimented by associated management metrics and reports, helps curtail unending activity deferment.

Management establishes the organization’s priorities and assigns activity due dates and resources accordingly. To meet this responsibility, managers must continuously monitor and control activity due dates and resource assignments after they are made; adjusting them accordingly as new information and/or opportunities become available.[wcm_restrict plans=”48939, 25542, 25653″]

All too often, managers abdicate this follow-on monitoring and control function to the individual assigned to perform the work. These individuals, under pressure to perform a myriad of tasks and often unaware of ‘the big picture’ focus on those jobs receiving the most direct attention. Consequently, these individuals begin the cycle of corrective action due date extension potentially resulting in undesired deferment of priority activities in order to accomplish more visible ‘nice-to-do’ items.

Breaking the Cycle

Programmatic policies reinforcing management’s role in setting the organization’s priorities can mitigate the unending extension of corrective action due dates. Common principles of a corrective action due date extension policy include:

• Corrective action due dates cannot be extended by the individual assigned responsibility for the activity.
• The first corrective action due date extension can be approved by the responsible individual’s manager for up to a defined number of days or percent of the original corrective action period.
• The second corrective action due date extension can be approved by the responsible individual’s manager’s manager for up to a defined number of days or percent of the original corrective action period.
• The third corrective action due date extension must be approved by the business unit or organization’s senior executive.
• The fourth corrective action due date extension and beyond are not allowed or must be approved by the organization’s Chief Executive Officer or C-suite executive responsible for the activity.
• Second and later corrective action due date extensions are reviewed by the Corrective Action Review Board (CARB). The CARB challenges the extension and provides input to the final decision-maker on whether or not the corrective action due date extension should be granted. (See StrategyDriven Corrective Action Program Best Practice, Corrective Action Review Board)
• Performance metrics and detailed supporting reports monitor managers’ approval of corrective action due date extensions.
• When used, corrective action program supporting software applications reinforce the corrective action due date extension policy through the use of workflows and securities.

Final Thought…

As with all work, individuals assigned corrective actions should notify their manager of issues preventing on-time work completion early enough for an effective resolution to be made. (See StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Best Practice, Timely Reporting of Activity Status)[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember plans=”48939, 25542, 25653″]

Hi there! Gain access to this article with a StrategyDriven Insights Library – Total Access subscription or buy access to the article itself.

[/wcm_nonmember]

About the Author

Nathan Ives is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.