Continuous Improvement (CI) is a process for improving your products, services, processes and systems. It is a continuous effort to identify, analyse and implement ongoing incremental improvements to an organisation. Also known as kaizen in Japanese (kai – change, zen – good), it typically involves all employees to continuously improve. Whilst not completely in lieu of radical innovation, the ongoing nature of improvement may give rise to substantial long-term gains. Therefore, CI is borne of a philosophy that everything is in scope to continuously improve and refine. The top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top nature of the process is perhaps less congruent with Western societies. However, this misses the huge benefits on offer from this approach with reduced waste, error and cost. If this sounds like a huge deal, it always has been. Keep reading as we discuss embedding a culture of continuous improvement for business performance.
Organisational culture and continuous improvement
Clearly, all organisations behave a little differently. The principles, beliefs and rules that an organisation shares influences the behaviour of employees. This framework guides work etiquette, values and outcomes, however loosely or rigidly it is defined. In larger organisations, there may also be a particular function that carries enormous sway over policy and the actions taken. In a beauty business, marketing may hold the conch. For telecoms, it may be finance or procurement that hog that hallowed mollusc. Pharmaceutical or biotech organisations are commonly led by scientists. Without going down the rabbit hole into other forms of diversity and the domestic market, each organisation has a combination of influences that shape a culture.
Unfortunately, unlike our Japanese counterparts, not every UK organisation is willing to accept kaizen or continuous improvement. Some experiment with it. Others use it for a short-term ‘big bang’ improvement and then discard it. Some local practitioners use it in their work or in their own department to limited effect. The truth is that the humility practiced in Japanese education and business management may sit uneasily with some leaders. The idea that a new CEO will turnaround the fortunes and reignite the culture of the organisation is well-embedded. The idea that frontline and factory-floor workers can show you the way forward is perhaps less accepted. Compare the top-down approach in the West to Honda’s waigayas, or boisterous meetings, designed to combine the wisdom of associates across many areas.
Embedding continuous improvement
Many will have heard of Plan, Do, Check Act. This is a simple process with 4 stages to identify and analyse a problem, test ideas and solutions, check it works as expected and then implement the solution. ISO 9001 organisations will be familiar with continual, or step-wise, improvement in quality management systems. Lean, Six Sigma, and Lean Six Sigma are all continuous improvement models. However, where CI or kaizen focuses on broader organisational improvement, lean focuses on reduced waste and inefficiency in processes and Six Sigma focuses on reducing variability and defects. Neither are as overreaching to the organisation’s approach and culture as CI, which helps to improve the employee and customer experience as well as financial performance.
In general, CI is a cultural change to support the long-term health of the organisation. Arguably, this cultural change is needed more than ever to reinvigorate work after COVID. Many organisations are still grappling with change after the pandemic and how to curate a better experience for staff. Apart from cost savings, CI is also a change that employees and customers can get behind. Striving to get better? Striving to improve? Reaching for perfection? Assuming that the benefits are successfully articulated to all stakeholders and the support exists to train and embed the tools and techniques, it represents a promise to get better. Better products and services. Better employee and customer experience. Simpler processes and easier to use systems.
Collective performance
In some ways, CI may conflict with greater individualism in the West. The desire to bring your whole self to work may be part of the cause of quiet quitting and challenging recruitment. Stuffy corporate cultures, rigid rules and norms, dull ivory towers and long-hours. Winning the battle of hearts and minds is crucial to embedding a kaizen approach. We have previously written about the power of the collective mind and this also befits CI. Psychology studies have shown that a group of average intelligence individuals displayed a higher ‘collective intelligence’ than a group of high general intelligence individuals.
Returning to the example of Honda’s waigaya meetings, this state of ‘perpetual dissatisfaction’ is a mindset. Their democratic approach takes the collective mind into a spontaneous meeting, where nobody has rank and everyone is encouraged to shout out ideas. This requires humility on the part of the individuals, a culture that supports innovation at every level and flexibility in work modes to enable agility in meetings. Many organisations are designed so rigidly that an impromptu meeting or getting an external point of view is impossible.
Continuously improving your organisation
One of our services is to offer workshops and hot house sessions. For management teams that need to bounce ideas and shoot the breeze, we bring people together to encourage collaboration. We also support you with our transformative services including CI, Lean and Six Sigma.
If you would like to speak to us about CI, workshops or hot houses, simply email us your details. Alternatively, why not ask us to arrange a free initial introduction via our website.
Finally, why not read a related piece about going beyond controlling what is ‘controllable’.