The continual quest for perfection, while it may never be fully realised, is not a futile exercise, since the continual process of identifying, executing and evaluating our goals is more likely to move us towards where we want to be within our organisations.
But, when our goals and process are not aligned, it will undermine our progress, and thereby, our success.
This is where implementing a framework for the improvement process is essential, providing a formal structure for our decisions and actions. Coupled with an advisory board, or even, for smaller organisations, one or more “critical friends”, we can create a powerful tool for analysis and critical thinking.
The styles of framework available vary by breadth, depth, complexity, and, often, fashion, from the tried-and-true SWOT analysis to the more expansive STEEPLED. At their most basic, they all follow a similar Plan-Do-Check-Act formula.
Even this most fundamental iteration can clarify and constrain our CIP to ensure that our focus and efforts are maximally utilised.
For example, we may have a long list of changes that we would like to implement, but with the usual time and resource constraints we all face, we need to decide the priorities, identify and simplify the steps to be taken, and try to anticipate outcomes, both positive and negative, and weigh these in the balance of benefits.
How long are we going to need to see results, where are our low-hanging fruit, are we looking for an immediate pay-off, or are we in it for the long haul?
Perhaps we’re looking at new products and want to see how they perform in the market. We wouldn’t introduce them all at once, we would take one that our research suggests would do well, market, release and then assess market response by sales.
If it wasn’t successful, could the marketing have been handled differently? Have we misjudged the audience? Is there a better product to offer.
The change could be introducing a new step into a business process. Has this improved efficiency? How have our team responded? Does this move us closer to our overall goals?
The framework can be applied to any number of scenarios. The crucial part is that it’s built-up step by step and is overseen in a logical and structured way. Approval and validation of the steps to be taken, and assessment of outcomes is as key to overall business activity as the implementation phase itself.
For this reason, even unexpected, contrary, or disappointing results arising from our Continuous Improvement Process should be positively viewed as an opportunity to tweak, or even radically reshape our strategy.
What we cannot underplay, however, is the importance of consistency and regular evaluation.
