SUSTAINING IMPROVEMENT is all about MEETING EXPECTATIONS…

In countless conversations with employees about why prior initiatives failed, without exception the primary reason given for failure was “top management dropped the ball – they did not drive the process.” Employees in the middle of the organization CANNOT DRIVE CHANGE without the support of their superiors.

Often a senior management team does not see their actions and words as the defining factor for success with continuous improvement programs, so they direct people reporting to them to drive new initiatives and step back and watch, rather than openly talk about the importance of the effort and demand regular progress reports.

Note the desires shown at the right. If management really wants the four things listed for employers, they will create a culture to cultivate them. In response, employees will work hard every day to make “today better than yesterday”. It must be OK to talk about failure. Problems or surprises must be framed conversationally as “process failures and opportunities for improvement”. They are not used to “beat people up”; instead, the response to process failure should be on prevention of future events.

The key messages are:

• Management must take responsibility for driving change from Day 1.
• If a proactive desire for improved productivity, costs and communications proliferates an entire organization, the chance of success with any improvement initiative goes up exponentially.
• Honest conversations about process failures, their impact and plans for improvement must become part of daily communications – again driven by top management.
• Employees will rise to the occasion in response to management’s enthusiasm for change and a structured process for reporting progress.
• Measuring the impact of change will remove the fear of change and help sustain the desire for change and additional dollars are brought to the bottom line.
• Connecting people to the right tools at the right level in the organization will help employees focus on the things they can control. This is especially important in a resource-constrained organization.
• There are more hidden opportunities for improvement waiting to be converted to cash flow than anyone in the organization recognizes until the asset and process potential is measured. Understanding the magnitude of this number gives everyone a sense of the dollars currently being left on the table and the “size of the prize”.