Blog. Continuous Improvement Culture | Performance Improvement

Continuous Improvement Culture

Key elements leading change and succesfull transformation

Change Better. We support companies to structurally improve their business…

Today in a world characterized by sky-high inflation and several crises multiple companies are struggling to strike the right balance between control (“mopping”) and improvement (“turn of the tap”). Companies who deploy a continuous improvement culture successfully secure competitive advantage. Based on our experience, we share key elements leading change and successfull transformation.

Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations. The best is yet to come

A structured approach to realize leading change and successfull transformaton is, as follows :

Burning Platform

Set the scene, develop awareness and establish a sense of urgency to emphasize the need for immediate change.

Vision

Inspire and create a compelling vision of the future, which gives people something to strive for. Aim for best in class. In case you miss, you might land among the stars.

Walk the talk together and use kanban as visual management tool.

Empowerment

People are the real assets. Empower everyone to act on the vision and team up to excel. Utilize the full potential of your workforce and develop their skill set. Challenge, develop and teach people every single day. Monitor in which emotional stage of change the team is

- Denial -> This isn't true

- Frustration -> This is not going to work

- Bargaining -> I will not cooperate

- Depression -> There is nothing I can do about it

- Acceptance -> Lets give it a try

- Understanding -> This is good for me

Quick wins

Plan slowly and act quickly. Organize brainstorm sessions and create short term wins driven by the Kaizen PDCA Cycle.

In case you are interested in quick wins maximizing effort versus impact see below.

Accelerate

Consolidate improvements in relation to safety, quality and productivity and optimize work processes with “fit for purpose” IT systems

Training and Coaching

Institutionalize new behaviors and the (new) way of working by training and coaching. Grow leaders within and engage everyone in the elimination of waste and continuous improvement. Go look and see at the production line. Walk the process (backwards). Improve flow to minimize resources and lead time and encourage communication. Break down silos and territories within and initiate cross functional communities.

Illustration

A picture says more than 1.000 words. A video is worth 30k pictures, but an experience is worth much more. In case you are interested in building a continous improvement culture, see below.

…with our head in the sky and feet in the mud