Continuous Improvement: The Path to a Better Future

“There is always space for improvement, no matter how long you’ve been in the business.” — Oscar De La Hoya

We all desire for the teams we influence and lead to be successful — both now and in the future. How can we ensure our teams achieve the results that will lead to success and a better future? I suggest an important key is to embrace the philosophy of continuous improvement (CI).

CI can be defined as a philosophy that we need to continually strive to get better at what we do, such as making never-ending improvements to our work processes. The roots of the CI philosophy can be traced to the father of quality management — W. Edwards Deming — and the Japanese, who refer to the philosophy as Kaizen. The contrast to traditional thinking can be illustrated as:

• Old thinking: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
• New thinking: “Just because it isn’t broke doesn’t mean it can’t be improved.”

Respected management expert Brian Tracy sums up the philosophy: “Practice the philosophy of continuous improvement. Get a little bit better every single day.”

Benefits of Continuous Improvement Philosophy

Why bother with striving for CI? Studies have shown some of the benefits include:

• Boosting productivity. CI improves processes and eliminates waste, leading to increased efficiency.
• Improving the quality of our products and services, leading to less re-work and more satisfied customers.
• Creating a competitive advantage. CI gives your team an edge over competitors.
• Improving the team culture. As your team experiences improvements, satisfaction, engagement, and morale will all increase. Employees will feel empowered to make a positive difference.
• Increasing teamwork. CI encourages all employees to contribute ideas and work together to implement value-added improvements.

Key Principles Supporting Continuous Improvement Philosophy

Here are some of the key principles underlying the CI philosophy, which I also refer to as a CI mindset.

Make an Intentional, Long-Term Commitment

It is said that nothing good happens by accident. To be successful at CI, we need to have a long-term view and commitment. CI should not be a mere management “flavor of the month,” but an enduring, never-ending quest to strive to make things a little bit better. Deming, in his classic 14 Points for Management, emphasized the concept he called “constancy of purpose” — an unrelenting, unwavering focus on process improvements.

Focus on “Proactive Fire Prevention” Rather Than “Reactive Firefighting”

Many managers and their teams are constantly distracted by putting out a series of “fires” (i.e., being reactive firefighters). Being caught in this reactive mode distracts from solving the root causes of the problems, and causes people to work harder rather than smarter. The CI approach encourages us to intentionally work smart and prevent fires (problems) in the first place. Related to this approach is the emphasis on preventive maintenance rather than corrective maintenance. To illustrate this approach, think about why we do regular oil changes in our cars (i.e., preventive maintenance). The alternative if we don’t is that somewhere down the road (pun intended), we will face a major repair bill.

Ask for and be Receptive to Feedback

Asking for feedback and input is very important to the success of a CI philosophy. We need to encourage lots of communication and ideas to be shared, then be open to evaluating and acting on those that can help us improve.

Work as a Team

Here is a key truth: We are better together. If our goal is to improve together as a team, making sure we are working as a team is important. It’s also wise to expand our concept of “team” to include our work team, as well as internal service provider support teams like IT and HR and external vendors and suppliers.

Choose Small, Manageable Improvements

CI by definition is all about making ongoing, small, incremental improvements. Consider the 1% rule, which says to strive for modest 1% improvements at a time — and realize that many 1% improvements over time add up to significant long-term improvements.

Measure Progress, Celebrate Improvements

As management expert Peter Drucker taught, “What gets measured gets improved.” We need to track our key performance measures to ensure that targeted improvements are taking place. And when there are improvements, we need to celebrate the progress. Two key principles I teach are “success breeds success” and “celebrated small wins over time lead to big wins.”

Some Useful Tools Supporting CI

One useful tool that has been used by many organizations for many years is the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle. There are four basic steps:

• Identify an improvement and plan for change.
• Complete the activities to implement the change, which may be on a small scale or trial basis initially.
• Once implemented, check the results to ensure they align with expectations.
• If the change was successful, implement it on a wider basis and continually assess your results. If the change did not work, begin the cycle again.

Another useful set of tools involves benchmarking and best practices analysis. Benchmarking involves comparing our systems and processes with other teams that are high-performing. Benchmarking can reveal where our operations are performing well, as well as identify areas where we have the most room for improvements. Best practices analysis involves identifying the practices used by the top performers of a given process. We then use a tool like PDCA to implement our improvement initiatives and bring us in line with those best practices.

Sources of Potential CI Improvement Ideas

We need to be constantly looking for potential ideas to make our operations better and practice the CI philosophy. Here are some of the idea sources we should consider.

• Front-line employees. The people who do the work often have the best ideas on how to make processes more efficient and easier. Let's ask them on a regular basis for their ideas.
• Benchmarking and peer comparisons. Developing good relationships with other teams and organizations that do similar work is extremely valuable. Plugging into trade associations can support our efforts to benchmark and learn the best practices of others.
• Conferences. Many of the best ideas I have learned and implemented came from participating in conferences like the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association, the National Postal Forum and MAILCOM. We can learn from the speakers, peers, and experts we meet at conferences, as well as the trade floor vendors and suppliers.
• Trade Periodicals. We can collect good ideas from business trade journals, which feature articles and stories with practical ideas that we can learn from. These journals also highlight leading vendors that may be helpful to our operations.
• Consultants. Sometimes it is worth the investment to bring in a proven consultant to analyze our operations and suggest improvements. A good consultant can bring value-added suggestions that more than cover any fees.

A final closing quote to consider by Pat Riley, a successful former NBA coach and current president of the Miami Heat: “Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better.”

My best to you and your team as you improve your excellence by practicing the CI philosophy.