Continuous improvement in the workplace starts with you.

And then with your team, right?

1. Seek continuous improvement: Step by step

Continuous improvement isn’t about setting a high pace.

It’s about finding a rhythm that works for your organization.

It’s about changing everyone’s mindset to a systematic way of finding better ways to do things.

Above all, to find out how to work better as a team.

What we hear from our users is that over-explaining the Why helps.

Consequently, why do you want to continuously improve?

To begin with, it has to be clear for your employees what’s in it for THEM.

Other examples involve showing, hands-on, that employees are important and that their thoughts, ideas and questions all matter.

But how do you best show this?

By listening and taking action to fix the stuff their employees think needs fixing at work.

Successful management teams use the process to measure, talk, improve it. Then repeat.

Everything will be more fun if you get your team to take a greater interest in the group’s results and achievements, instead of just the individual members’ goals.

Additionally, many employ the KISS principle. Keep It Simple Stupid!

To begin with, forget the 80-pages super-plan that no one is going to read.

Simply make small incremental changes to your workplace, step by step.

Avoid buzz words if you can. Leading with “change management”, Lean, Kaizen or abstract concepts like “Continuous Process Improvement”… what mental boxes are your employees or fellow coworkers putting this in?

Use plain language that everyone in the business can relate to.

Then build an inclusive vocabulary so employees associate positive things with lean and continuous improvement.

To summarize, be a doer and show practically the benefits to be gained.

Build trust, and adjust as you go along.

Above all, truly listen to your team and help them understand.

Our best leaders share progress and result with everyone. They embrace a transparent leadership attitude at work.

They have a tenacious commitment to continuous improvement. Therefore, they encourage everyone to make their voice heard and chip in.

From the smallest ideas, all the way to business strategy input.

Sometimes the loudest voices aren’t the ones that need to be heard the most.

Neutral data helps to deal with employees who feel that “everything sucks“. Our users do their best to find formats where everyone feels confident to share.

It could be an informal chat with the first colleague you meet in the corridor, all-hands meetings, group meetings…

In fact, our people data that show that companies that use face-to-face interactions are the ones that improve their employee morale the fastest.

Generally, an ongoing dialogue where everyone shares their finding will help your team to learn from others mistakes and wins.

This way you can improve your effectiveness and productivity to meet both internal and external needs.

Above all, don’t fear conflict, not speaking up can result in more conflicts later on.

Just address it in the open.

• Related: Examples from companies that use continuous improvement

 

Do you have a company culture where people have more ‘green’ days or ‘red’ workdays?

You as an employer have the obligation to provide the conditions for people to thrive at work. But let’s face it, you can only take it so far: Motivation also has to come from within. You can’t force people to be motivated at work, right?

People need to want to be held accountable.

We are driven by intrinsic motivators, not the stick and the carrot.

Great teams and leaders make sure that everyone in the group is held accountable to their commitments – no one wants to let down a coworker.

What would happen if you paved the way for people to find their voice within the organization? If you could get themselves to start defining both problems and solutions at work to continuously improve?

In other words, don’t just criticize, try to suggest an improvement.

Well, it would probably give them a sense of ownership. This in return would lead to a higher level of achieved business objectives.

How can employees be involved in continuous improvement?

We love it when we see leaders that give up some of their control and empower their employees! More continuous improvement examples and showcases here.

Best-selling author Daniel Pink lists the three elements of true motivation.

Performance increases dramatically when these three elements are present and promoted:

• Autonomy, or the desire to be self-directed, assuming we are built with inner drive;

• Mastery, we want to get better at things that are important to us; and

• Purpose, people who find purpose at work unlock the highest level of the motivation game. We get more motivated by connecting to a cause that’s larger or more meaningful beyond ourselves. This is when money isn’t an issue any longer (e.g. provided your team gets a decent paycheck, that they have “enough”). Motivated staff will dramatically smooth the process of continuous improvements.

What would you improve to make your workplace better?

Would your team pick the same?

When you understand what motivates your employees, it’s easier to promote continuous improvement in your business.

It’s not the same to have worked in a factory for the last 11 years, to have started last week.

You will need different strategies.

The first group comes with a lot of luggage. They might have seen many managers come and go over the years, or perhaps many failed initiatives.

Put yourself in their shoes for a moment!

Then talk with them to find out what would motivate them.

You’ll need to take regular actions to convince this group that change is really coming.

Seeing is believing.

Being better than we were yesterday is a nice goal for an organization.

So how can you know if your team is really going in the right direction?

Is real progress being made?

Are your initiatives working within your business?

If you start heading in a downward spiral, what mechanisms do you have to detect the trend in time so you can quickly take action and get the plan back on track?

It’s hard to start changing things without knowing if the actions you take have an impact or not.

You need analytics and you need a solid baseline to know where you’re at, as you start.

• Related: Continuous improvements examples: enhancing productivity in the workplace

An ongoing Employee Morale KPI means you can monitor staff morale trends in your business while testing new ideas to see how your employees react.

This way you can experiment!

The baseline will help show you and fellow leaders if your improvements are working.

Team leaders are key when it comes to organizational change.

With a mindset of continuous workplace improvement, you can improve your company’s bottom line while getting a company culture with more ‘green’ days at work.

Hence find new ways to improve team building and areas to improve on at work.

So when is the best time to start promoting continuous improvement at your workplace?

Well, just go for it.

 

Promote continuous improvement and start measuring if you’re improving employee morale! Get a Celpax device and start building a positive work culture today.

 

Hej! I’m Rebecca. Co-owner at Celpax, a for-profit helping workplaces promote continuous improvement. We develop simple technology to make it happen. What would you improve to make your workplace better? Let’s share some continuous improvements examples on Twitter!