Challenges and Remedies of Shifting To Continuous Improvement
Common misunderstandings regarding the benefits of continuous improvement create significant challenges to success. Following are some of those challenges and their remedies:
Challenge: A persistent myth is continuous improvement only benefits underperforming companies. However, the facts suggest otherwise. In McKinsey’s Organizational Health Index (OHI) of almost 2,000 companies, 38 percent of companies pursuing a continuous improvement culture were doing so in a turnaround context. But the other 62 percent were pursuing continuous improvement as a means of moving from good to great.
Remedy: Recognize the value of investing in continuous improvement. Develop an organizational ethic of striving and constant tinkering to become and stay best-in-class.
Challenge: Valuing Continuous Experimentation – moving from “giant leaps” to “small steps.” There is a common mindset that expects improvements to be giant leaps. Often no action is taken until such innovation is considered necessary. The downside of this mindset is that innovations become risky, expensive, and slow. This dynamic can also become part of the daily work resulting in little improvement until it is time for a “giant leap."
Remedy: “Continuous Improvement is better than delayed perfection,” says Mark Twain. Encourage everyone to make small changes every day that make their work better. Use frequent communication and role modeling to clarify expectations. Provide training in critical thinking and structured problem solving, along with providing basic tools like, digital dashboard and applications, that enables everyone to make improvements easily and quickly.
Challenge: Continuous Learning – moving from “know it all” to “always learning.” "There are many experts on how things have been done up to now. If you think something could use a little improvement, you are the expert," – says author and poet Robert Brault. When behaviors focus on “knowledge is power,” the climate can be unhealthy for continuous improvement and learning. When expertise is consolidated into a few heads it stops debate and disempowers most others from making decisions. To an extreme, this can become a significant risk to the company.
Remedy: Remove the barriers to sharing knowledge. This allows the emergence of our intrinsic tendencies to learn and improve. Create mentoring and cross-training programs. Include time in the role of senior leaders for coaching team members.
Making the shift to continuous improvement will not occur on its own. It is based on the premise that those doing the day-to-day work know a lot about how to improve that work. Addressing these challenges removes the barriers to this shift. Proactively encouraging the change requires providing the skills and tools for success. Kure provides the latest knowledge and technology to enable everyone to make easy, fast, and impactful improvements.
Source: McKinsey & Company
