The Power of Continuous Improvement

No matter what the scale of your company and which sector it’s based in, we believe that there’s always room for continuous improvement. This isn’t a criticism, quite the opposite, as the ongoing success of any business relies on it remaining agile, responsive and open to positive change.

Why is continuous improvement important?

Continuous improvement (CI) is a never-ending process that focuses on every aspect of your daily operations. From ways to improve products and services, to the fine-tuning of how your staff go about their roles, there will always be an opportunity for incremental enhancement.

By adopting this mentality, your business gains the freedom to achieve existing goals and set even more ambitious objectives, as you’ll soon find that longstanding barriers crumble under its influence.

Whilst comparing your successes and shortcomings to those of competitors can help to pinpoint areas that require focus, a continuous improvement culture driven through visual management involves internal comparisons. By analysing where the business was in the past, considering where it is today, and then envisaging where it should be in the future, you can develop a tailored approach that evolves as the company grows.

The benefits of continuous improvement

The very nature of CI seems self-explanatory, in that your business will constantly get better and better. However, it’s crucial that specific criteria are taken into account so that your continuous improvement process can be accurately monitored and gauged.

With this in mind, there are multiple examples of what an in-depth CI strategy can bring to your business:

Increased productivity across all departments
Improved quality of products and services
Lower costs due to more effective systems
Shorter delivery times thanks to efficient processes
Higher levels of morale, wellbeing and employee satisfaction
Greater employee allegiance and retention
Less waste in terms of materials, skills, time and energy usage
Better levels of creativity, innovation, communication and problem-solving
Stronger understanding and dedication to health and safety practices
Improved customer satisfaction, as a business that’s continuously improving will always deliver the very best products and services

Why does CI sometimes fail?

Whilst continuous improvement is guaranteed to bring exceptional results when done well, it’s equally as likely to fail if there are gaps and discrepancies within the system. This is because CI has to be embraced across the board and ingrained into your company culture just as much as any other ethos.

For instance, if the management team encourages CI but doesn’t actively enable individual workers to join in, the system will break down before it even has chance to take effect. Likewise, if continuous improvement is welcomed by employees but the managers don’t commit to it themselves, the exact same applies.

This is why a continuous improvement strategy needs to be personalised to your business, designed to be clear and manageable, regularly monitored to determine its effect, and integrated into schedules so that it doesn’t get left behind.

Continuously improve with Clarity

We’re a team of visual management and Lean management specialists who believe that every business should have its own continuous improvement strategy. To discover how we can help you to be more efficient in what you do, get in touch on 01482 296451 or fill in our contact form.