Championing Continuous Improvement

The most important factor in an organization’s ability to improve and sustain high performance is the extent to which executives champion continuous improvement (CI). So, what does it take to become a CI Champion?  A personal desire and commitment to align your words and actions with CI principles and practices.  Before divulging actions that leaders can take to champion CI, it is important to understand what we mean by some key terms:

• Champion (Noun): a person who fights for a cause or on behalf of someone else.
• Continuous improvement (CI): an ongoing effort to improve performance and enhance customer value by modeling CI principles and using best practice approaches (e.g., Lean, Six Sigma, Balanced Scorecard, TQM, Baldrige Framework, etc.).
• Continuous improvement (CI) champion: a person whose words and actions align with CI principles and who applies and advocates use of best practice approaches to improve performance and enhance customer value.
• Continuous improvement principles:
  • Customer focus: Design and improve products and services based on the needs and preferences of customers and relentlessly drive out process waste.
  • Results: Set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound goals, measure and communicate performance, and follow through on commitments.
  • Respect: Listen to and involve employees in improving performance, and develop processes for employee success.
  • Equity: Eliminate bias and ensure equal opportunity in the design and delivery of products and services and in the work environment.
  • Excellence: Strive to be the best, innovate, apply best practices, and learn from successes and failures.
  • Data-driven decisions: Verify assumptions, and validate results and inform decisions with data.
    

    Ways to Grow your CI Competence

Below are actions leaders can take within three key CI focus areas.

Improving Product, Service, Process, and System Effectiveness and Efficiency

1. Sponsor improvement projects that align with strategic priorities.
2. Go to the Gemba (area where value is created or where the work gets done) – 1) Observe and learn; 2) Ask questions: “How well are we meeting customer/stakeholder requirements?” “What gets in your way of improving services to customers and for the people doing the work?”; 3) Share observations and best practices; and 4) Express and show appreciation.
3. Challenge the status quo – Ask questions “What are we doing to improve performance? “Why are results declining?” “Is this the best way to do the work?”  “How have other organizations tackled this challenge?” “What’s next?”
4. Eliminate low value work and reprioritize work load.
5. Give staff permission to experiment and take risks.
6. Appropriately resource improvement projects, remove barriers, and manage change.
7. Follow-up with staff to assure solutions are implemented and desired results sustained.

Building Skills and Organizational Capability to Improve Performance

1. Learn about CI – visit the Accountability and CI website’s Skill Building page.
2. Train, coach, and involve staff who are closest to the customer in improving the work and developing solutions.
3. Capture lessons learned and leverage solutions.

Sustaining Improvement and Creating a CI Culture

1. Model CI principles in your words and actions and coach others to do the same. For example, delegate decision making and eliminate signature requirements whenever possible.
2. Establish infrastructure (i.e., ICI strategy, roadmap, governance structure and roles, project portfolio, performance measures and dashboard, toolbox, process inventory, training plan, communication plan)
3. Verify and communicate results and hold people responsible for performance.
4. Create safe conditions for people to speak up about what is not working and share ideas.
5. Recognize and reward employees who lead and participate on improvement projects. Celebrate success!