CONSTANT IMPROVEMENT

Continuous improvement is, as the name suggests, a practice of constantly re-examining and improving processes. At a glance, the whole concept might seem a bit of a buzzword. You keep hearing the word thrown around, but no one really mentions what it involves doing. And as we all know; the theory does not get you too far in the business world.

All the confusion with continuous improvement is because it is not something that you 'do'. Rather, it is a way a company operates. Adopting continuous improvement in a company means two things…

·         Focus on Growth - The company should have an ongoing focus on incrementally improving their processes, services or products. Meaning, perfecting the way you do things on-the-go instead of carrying out one-off change initiatives.

·         Creating a Culture of Improvement - More often than not, it is the employee on the shop floor who is an expert on company processes, not the management. Continuous improvement should be the responsibility of everyone in the company (not just for the process improvement team).

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PRINCIPLES OF CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENTS.

Improvements are based on small changes, not only on major paradigm shifts or new inventions

This concept is important, because large changes often feel frightening and destabilizing to organizations. By approaching change in small, incremental steps, the continuous improvement model reduces the fear factor and increases speed to improvement. When following this principle, the organization does not need to wait for a strategic shift or a new product release to begin to advance.

Employee ideas are valuable

The continuous improvement model relies greatly on employees, not only top management, to identify opportunities for improvement. This bottom-up improvement is effective because employees are closest to the problems, and thus better equipped to solve them.

When thinking of these two principles, consider the value of engaging your staff. If you were to ask everyone in the organization for ideas to create a new product line or revolutionize the way they care for their patients, you are not going to get anything; staff are focused on their own day-to-day work. They understandably cannot come up with monumental ideas at the drop of a hat!

Instead, ask people what improvement they could make that would save them 5 minutes a day. Then empower them to implement that improvement, and spread it to everyone else in the organization doing the same process. In this way, you can take a small idea that anyone could come up with and drive a big impact. For example, say get one idea from ten employees, each of which saves them five minutes per day. That is ten ideas. Share all ten of those improvements with one hundred other employees, so that every one of them is now saving fifty minutes per day (10 ideas x 5 minutes each).

By asking people for a small idea that shaves 5 minutes off their day and propagating their ideas around the organization, you are about to save 83 man-hours per working day with the ideas of just 10 people. Imagine how much you would save if you extended the 'ask' of a five-minute idea to your entire organization!

Another way to encourage employees to spot opportunities and implement improvements is to ask 'what bugs them?'. 

Most complaints involve a delta between the current state and the employee's idea of how things should be. Sometimes the gripe includes a specific recommendation. It might go something like, 'If they would just do X, Y, and Z, the problem would be solved'. Sometimes there is no solution included. You might hear, 'There is got to be something they could do to fix this!' 

Did you notice the operative word in each of these examples? 'They!' When employees are dis-empowered and disconnected from the improvement process, all they can do is wait for 'They' (management) to recognize and correct problems. When that does not happen, it is natural (and probably healthy) for people to express their frustration.

Leaders who adopt the continuous improvement model do not shy away from employee complaints. Quite the contrary, they embrace them as opportunities for improvement. If a team member notices something amiss and says something about it, that is a good thing. That is the beginning of the improvement cycle. Companies with a culture of improvement take it even further. They give employees a process for reporting and acting upon ideas to save money, improve processes, satisfy clients, and improve quality. What is more, they provide systems and structure for doing so and they recognize those who contribute to making the organization better one small initiative at a time.

People are often told not to complain about something unless they are willing to do something about it. That is only fair when there is something they can do. Good leaders give people that opportunity.

Incremental improvements are typically inexpensive to implement

Employees tend to focus on small changes that can be accomplished without a lot of expense. In fact, many ideas from employees involve eliminating processes, rather than adding them, which is an excellent way to be sure that every activity adds some value to the customer and reduces wasted effort.

A close look at the detailed improvement data of thousands of organizations at every stage of their improvement journey around the world, in nearly every industry showed that 1.4% of improvement ideas have an impact of over $100,000 - and each employee has an average annual impact of $25,000. So, not only are these ideas inexpensive to implement - they can also have a huge impact on the bottom line.

Employees take ownership and are involved in improvement

Getting people to change the way they have always done things is hard. Do you know what makes it easier? Rolling out changes that originated from the front lines. When people come up with the ideas to improve their own work, they intrinsically see the value of the changes. Knowing that improvements come from their peers inspires faith in the necessity of the changes much more so than does a decree from senior leadership who has never actually done the process in question.

By engaging your staff in the continuous improvement model, you empower them to take charge of their own work (but you help them as leaders). They are able to identify problems or opportunities for improvement, follow through on implementing their ideas, take credit for the work, and see a measurable impact from their efforts. In this way, the sole burden of improvement is lifted from managers, who can spend their time more effectively coaching staff on improvement techniques and removing barriers to implementing changes.

Because the continuous improvement model relies on employees for ideas for improvement, they become more invested in the outcome of the change, and employee engagement increases. This increases the chance of successful, sustainable improvement.

Improvement is reflective

Constant feedback is an important aspect of the continuous improvement model. Open communication during every phase of executing an improvement is critical to both the final results of the improvement and to the maintenance of employee engagement.

Admittedly, this is tough to pull off in a traditional improvement culture. Coaches do not have the visibility they need to keep up with everyone doing the improvement work, senior leaders cannot engage without a major time commitment, meetings are tough to schedule, and communication gets buried in inboxes.

Organizations with a more modern approach to improvement use continuous improvement software to improve visibility and team collaboration, giving coaches access to the reports they need to evaluate performance and target coaching. Senior leaders can follow the improvements that matter to them and engage quickly and easily. Staff can get the help they need from their managers without having to wait for a meeting or an email. Essentially, continuous improvement software gets everyone on the same page by improving visibility and streamlining communication.

Improvement is measurable and potentially repeatable

It is not enough to simply make a change and call it improvement.  To achieve real improvement, the impact of change must be measured.  This makes it possible to determine if the change can be applied successfully to other problems. Proving positive return on investment also helps keep the organization aligned around improvement.

Making continuous improvement part of company culture is an excellent and cost-effective approach to tackling an organization’s most difficult challenges.  When supported by improvement technology, results can be achieved quickly and success can be sustained over time. 

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