On the fence about health and safety, continuous improvement in your company? We cover some key points.
Health and safety continuous improvement is so much more than increasing productivity; it’s a culture changer. Why is it a culture changer? It’s because a continuous improvement approach involves all employees; it’ humanises businesses. The employee involvement facet of the continuous improvement cycle is what has the most influence because it empowers employees; it encourages them to believe that their ideas count. This intrinsic motivation is what leads to greater employee satisfaction and enjoyment. This directly impacts the general and ohs performance of a company.
But to ‘skyrocket’ success CI is on the slow burn. Imagine CI as a rocket on it’s way to outer space for a year-long mission. CI is all about taking small steps over time to achieve big results. It’s constant; CI focuses on accuracy, efficiency and effectiveness. Don’t expect drastic changes early in the piece.
The primary objective of CI is to reduce waste and streamline processes. CI encourages employees to spot waste in business processes but how you implement CI in your business determines how much money and time is spent on implementation and how inclusive processes are of employees. For example, a quick and cheap approach may be that you work and make a change without consulting employees. On the other hand, it may take more time and money to include employees in the process, but the benefits may be far greater considering the inclusion.
Why is continuous improvement important in the workplace?
The ‘same old, same old’ approach can only get you so far, particularly considering today’s current advancements. CI can give you the competitive advantage your business needs, particularly when it comes to saving money on waste. CI reduces risk and poor decisions; instead, building confident and empowered teams with a focus on growth.
Implementing CI in your business could be the difference between getting a product out to market ten weeks earlier, streaming well ahead of your competitor’s thanks to the changes you and your team made to processes, the implementation of knowledge sharing and employee involvement.
Yes, we as humans are creatures of comfort and resist change, but in business, change is good and necessary. Technology means our marketplace is global; there’s more competition and, information is abundant. Companies everywhere are adapting to the changing landscape, and CI is what will help you keep up or, even better, stay ahead.
Source: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_89.htm
Continuous improvement vs lean: are they the same?
Continuous improvement and Lean have similarities, but they’re not the same.
Lean or Lean manufacturing predominantly focuses on production and the elimination of waste. It pays attention to reducing and controlling manufacturing and production costs to increase efficiencies, profits and value to the customer. Lean is all about improving processes, increasing output and becoming more flexible at the same time as reducing costs. The Lean approach is a short term cost savings strategy which can, unfortunately, increase the risk of workplace injury, overworked employees, employee dissatisfaction and use of underskilled workers.
Continuous improvement also focuses on the elimination of unnecessary waste but instead, focuses on incremental, everyday improvements to the production process. This small steps approach reduces the risk involved with making significant changes in one go, like in Lean. The small daily changes intend to have the same effect over a more extended period. Although continuous improvement policy responsibilities should start with the Managing Director, CI involves all employees from the ground up, introducing a sense of ownership and pride.
How can continuous improvement be applied to sustainability policy?
What use is CI if it’s not sustainable? Not much. For a process that is most effective as a slow and methodical progression of incremental changes, ensuring CI processes meet sustainability requirements is essential. CI isn’t just something you implement because you read a blog about how good it is; it has to align with your overall strategy.
No company wants their CI efforts to go to waste and who wants to relaunch CI processes over and over because they’re not sustainable? That’s why you need to apply your CI to your sustainability policy or get a sustainability professional to help you. Here’s how:
· Have a communication strategy, create a plan to communicate CI throughout your company.
· Build CI goals into operation and compensation objectives – it has to be more than just talking about it.
· Provide training and resources for managing change.
· Reinforce performance – graphs, celebrations etc.
Remember, the changes involved with CI can only be sustainable if you implement training at the right time. Don’t let resources go to waste by training employees weeks before they need to use the actual skill; they won’t retain the information. Instead, consider just-in-time training whereby you use a ‘learn-go-do’ style so that knowledge is retained and training does not have to be repeated. It’s also a good idea to allow workers to lead other people in their team using the skills they have acquired.
As safety consultants in Brisbane, we’ve helped many clients across various industries gain greater value with health and safety continuous improvement. Are you looking to gain a performance advantage for your company? Get in touch with us and check out our upcoming blog posts for more on sustainability.