Let's keep it simple
What does every company have?
It's strategy, it's product or services, it's people and it's processes.
How is the company performing? You could answer here profits are up on last year, profits are down on last year, but either way is there always room for improvement?
Like any machine if any of the parts are not operating effectively, or if the parts added together are not aligned then the machine cannot operate at peak performance.
Continuous Improvement
If we have an ethos of continuous improvement company wide, and manage operational change across the whole machine we are more likely to keep the individual parts aligned and working effectively.
At the core of operational effectiveness are your people and most of the golden nuggets of continuous improvement can be found within the knowledge of your people.
Developing the Ethos
Most companies need to get a return on any investment they make, and an investment in developing an ethos of continuous improvement does not have to be expensive.
You do not have to immediately train all of your staff on the methods or strategies for improvement such as Six Sigma, Lean, CMMI, TQM amongst some.
However you do need to have a simple improvement process defined that sits across the company and ensures that any series of actions taken keep the components of the machine aligned.
Your staff will drive the ethos of continuous improvement, if you encourage them - and you know what it makes their job better as well as the company better as well as the profits better which all leads to a great company to be part of.
