Thinking about continuous improvement the other day I tried to figure out what makes a continuous improvement process work and what makes it stick, these are my thoughts:
- It should be a slow, gradual process of change, no “sudden movements”.
- It should be a continuous flow of change, no settling down into a rut.
- It should be a culture, not a bunch of individuals with ideas.
- It should be unanimously accepted.
- It should be measurable.
- It should be celebrated.
- It should be evangelized.
- There should be room for failure, and for success.
- It should be rewarded.
- It should be encouraged.
- It should become default behaviour.
- It should be transparent.
What else?
Make it part of the KPA. …Just kidding….
See how quickly good ideas can go bad. It should be measurable so the team can see progress not so the managers can measure the team with this.
I think it can be quick. Why does it have to be slow? It depends on the peoples ability to accept change.
I suppose yes, my experience has always been with teams that haven’t been able to accept change quickly though but I guess if everyone is OK with it you can move ahead pretty quickly. I would say though that for a pre-existing team this would be difficult because any practices they have in place would be entrenched already, and changing entrenched practices (for me) is never a quick process. Probably easier for new teams and if you strike it lucky with the right people and mindsets 🙂