S6 E10 Continuous Improvement can be something your People love, while driving your business to greater success- Lisa Askwith- Engaging Your People for Success

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Introduction

Continuous improvement is an ongoing effort to improve all elements of an organization such as processes, tools, products, and services, etc.   The improvements can be small and incremental, or they can be more breakthrough in nature. Continuous improvement itself is a key ‘hidden area’ that many businesses miss out on, losing the massive gains it can give. Not because they don't want it, but because they don't understand how easily it can be included in the business structure. How it can be part of the people make up of the business, allowing it to take on a life of its own that benefits everything, people, culture, bottom line and success. In fact Continuous improvement can be one of the best tools for engaging your people for success, and it costs you nothing but can give back more than you can imagine.

One of the key issues to grasp is that this should be an “ongoing” process if you really want to get maximum benefits for your people and your company. It should be part of the DNA of your company, embedded into the culture, not just an activity that your organization undertakes to tick some boxes and move on.  The most successful organizations can instill a culture of continuous improvement, which adds benefits and cost savings to all areas of the business. While actively engaging your people and creating sustainable success.

According to a seven-year study by GiANT Worldwide, the average team functions at just 58 percent of its potential because it is not intentionally capturing the genius of each person. Instead, it relies on the drive of just one or two "leaders." This is just the tip of the iceberg! Imagine what that means for your business. How many more clients could you serve, and what would revenue and sales look like, if you harnessed more of the team’s capacity? This is what focusing on Continuous Improvement as part of your business culture and people engagement strategy can achieve for you.

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Show Objectives

Today’s we will not only talk all about continuous improvement, I will also review the more interesting and engaging ways in which you can make this part of your culture and staff mindset.  After all Continuous Improvement is an ongoing, consistent effort to improve products, processes, or services, and the reason we are focusing on it is because it reduces waste and increases quality in a business, while also having the opportunity to fully engage your staff and take your business to the maximum level of success.  

Sometimes Continuous Improvement gets a “bad-rap” as being just another process where people are going to critique a department or someone’s work. It should never be presented this way. In fact if done well it can be fun, and engage your people to greater utilisation of their skills and ideas. This ultimately benefits everyone! The key is to tie the Continuous Improvement process to business needs, and the engagement of your people. Doing this will give your organisation an edge, as it will lead to a competitive advantage for your business and an improved culture for your people. 

Key Issues
Owner/Manager

1. What is continuous improvement?
2. Why continuous improvement?
   1. Does this process only look at things that are not working?
   2. Why do we need to improve if what we are doing is already working?
3. What level of impact can continuous improvement achieve?
4. What areas can continuous improvement be applied?
   1. Areas of possible Improvement
   2. Business Strategy
   3. Business Results
   4. Customer Service
   5. Customer Relationships
   6. Internal Relationships (Employee)
   7. Relationships with Suppliers
   8. All standardised process that have been running unchanged for more than 5 years
5. How difficult is it to start a Continuous Improvement process? Is the process complicated?
6. Are there existing Continuous Improvement models in place that I can use?
   1. Deming or Shewhart Cycle: (PDCA)
   2. Six Sigma
   3. Lean
   4. Theory of Constraints
   5. Total Quality Management (TQM)
7. Who is responsible for continuous improvement?
   1. Owner
   2. Executive/Management team
   3. Leaders
   4. Frontline workers
8.  How do I create a culture of continuous improvement, so that this approach is part of my company culture and not just another task that we do?

 
Key Issues – Employee Perspective

1. What is my role in the Continuous Improvement?
2. Do I have an opportunity to make a difference and be recognized? This is key!
3. How does my role in the organization impact the organization as a whole?
4. From my perspective, what could improve my job, department, division?
   1. Are the tools available that could increase my/our productivity?

What You Need to Do

Your Leaders need to focus on Continuous Improvement and ensuring it is part of the People Engagement Strategy.
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This is actually easy, and comes back to great communication and Authentic Leaders.

​Steps to Support you

1. Identify the problem that you are trying to solve
2. Determine if Continuous Improvement can help you solve the problem.
   1. Is there a Continuous Improvement framework that is better suited to help me solve my problem?
      1. Deming or Shewhart Cycle: (PDCA) – General CI Framework
      2. Six Sigma – intended to improve business processes by greatly reducing the probability that an error or defect will occur. (Very Data focused)
      3. Lean – focused on reducing activities that don’t add value
      4. Theory of Constraints – Identification and elimination of bottlenecks
      5. Total Quality Management (TQM) – General program that pulls from different models.
3. Create a culture of Continuous Improvement.
4. All hands on Deck – Continuous Improvement is everyone’s responsibility
   1. Engage all employees in the continuous improvement process.  Continuous improvement should be the responsibility of everyone in the company (not just for the process improvement team).
   2. Continuous Improvement has to become part of the identity of your organization, not just something that you do. This should be a part of training programs, hiring, and the performance evaluation process.
5.  Key steps to help embed the process

1.    Commit throughout the organization. ...
2.    Make kaizen 9 (drilling down to the route cause) part of the new routine. ...
3.    Tie it back to everyone's job. ...
4.    Measure the results. ...
5.    Communicate. ...
6.    Be deliberate and patient. ...
7.    Repeat.
 
 
Sounds easy right, there are just 7 steps…….but remember we want this a living part of your culture in order to generate you success year on year, not just as a once off.

Sending a memo asking for it will not work, it will just get lost in the noise. We need to think a little bigger and really plan for it and then embed it.

CI in itself is one of those projects that causes people to think what do I have to do now, but we want to turn that on its head and make it fun….sound a bit strange? Well it should be fun as we are letting people think outside of the box, and even encouraging them to share their wildest ideas…..it needs to be fun to break down the barriers of judgement or fear so people can really start to offer ideas and thoughts that can have real impact.
 
So make it fun, and it will also become done!!!

Your people will gravitate to the task or tasks that they feel rewarded for and enjoy completing….even if those rewards are not financial……remember a key part of engaging your people for success is allowing them to feel valued. So  give them some fun and value at work and create a self-fulfilling embedded CI program.

1. Think Big – start small

Small consistent changes lead to transformational results.

In order to really capitalise from Continuous Improvement being a core of your business model, you need to embed it properly. A big part of doing this is to use diverse cross functional teams to investigate issues and solutions. This gives you back so much more value, and literally costs you nothing. An organization that has diverse team members encouraged to work together across organizational areas and role scopes, is the best way to really start to embed Continuous Improvement, as it functions across all key areas of potential success- breaks down barriers, increases communication and knowledge throughout the business, supports and generates new ways of thinking, and ultimately leads to new solutions, ideas, and possibilities that would not have represented themselves previously. This also greatly engages your people and helps establish the culture of success and continuous improvement for you. Every individual brings in their way of thinking, operating, solving problems, and decision making.This increases the overall value and potential outcomes.

Nurturing a culture of continuous improvement is a groundwork of employee engagement and favorably triggers growth and success as an organization. Don't miss out on utilising this key people practice in your business.

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Written by Lisa Askwith

Director of ApexBRS | ApexBRS, Regional Director of See Global Media, Chair of  EGN Singapore, and Associate Professor Cambridge Corporate University | At the Age of Change, providing the HR component of the Global Executive MBA and BBA. Lisa has worked for some of the largest companies in the world and successfully led restructures and change management programs in order to improve the bottom line through engaging the people for success, while developing exceptional leaders who can make a positive impact on Culture and long term business sustainability.

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