How to Develop a Culture of Continuous Improvement

culled from:wikihow.com

Steps

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Communicate expectations. In a school environment, expectations may include regular attendance, class participation and completion of homework. In a corporate environment, individuals may be required to be punctual, attend regular meetings, deliver projects on time and contribute to the enhancement of products and processes. All expectations should be communicated clearly and regularly in order to develop a culture of continuous improvement.

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   Deliver information and training. Continuous development requires advancement in knowledge and skills.
   • Schedule ongoing training sessions. Identify the individual skills required for continuous improvement and provide opportunities for group members to strengthen those skills. Training sessions may take place daily, weekly or periodically, depending on the particular skill.
   • Answer questions. As people learn new information, they will have questions. Make yourself available for providing guidance and feedback.
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   Assess knowledge and skills. Whether you are teaching a group of students or managing a corporate team, use assessment tools to gauge the progress of individuals. In a school, you might gauge progress by administering regular exams. In corporate environments, skills assessments may take the shape of computerized skills tests or informal observations of employee knowledge.
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   Explain to everyone why they matter. People need to know that their contributions make a difference. Their ideas, questions and thoughts are all important contributions that can potentially generate new and more productive ways of doing things.
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   Provide encouragement in order to develop a culture of continuous improvement. Praise individuals when they show progress in the mastery of a specific skill. This is especially important when they have worked hard to learn and improve.
   • Hold recognition ceremonies. Publicly praise individuals for their excellence in a particular achievement to increase motivation. Be specific about what they have achieved and why this is important. This also encourages others to work harder to improve their skills and knowledge.
   • Establish incentive programs. The potential of being awarded with money or gifts can motivate individuals to work on continuous improvements.
   • Offer promotions for continuous improvements. In a school environment, performing well on a test may mean that the student is allowed to lead a particular activity or have special privileges. At work, a promotion may mean greater pay or the opportunity to work on more interesting projects.
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   Show consistency in your approach. Whatever strategies you use for engendering growth and development, stick with the plan if it is working. Individuals need to know that the rewards program they find so motivating will, in fact, be present 6 months down the line when they have finally developed the necessary skills.
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   Allow room for experimentation and mistakes. People learn through a process of trial and error. Let students or team members feel that while excellence is the ultimate goal, achieving it may involve experimentation and imperfection. For example, a computer programmer may have to develop a dozen different versions of a product before he creates the most ideal version.