Pillars of Excellence Series: Nurturing Success With Continuous Improvement
This past spring, my husband and I decided to clear out the weeds in our garden to get ready for planting new flowers and veggies, as we do each year. As we started digging, we stumbled upon this massive tree root that had taken over the entire garden bed in front of our house. Every time we tried to plant something new, we’d hit more of that stubborn root that needed to be pulled out.
We don’t do much in our yard during the winter except shovel paths of snow to make running to the car out front or the trash bins in the back - and to give some mercy to our mailmen! Other than that, our yard doesn't get much attention from the end of fall and the beginning of spring. And our front garden bed in particular doesn’t get a lot of love - we clean it up to plant new flowers in the beginning of the season and then just water it throughout spring and summer.
Leaving the garden bed unchecked for so long leaves a lot of opportunity for weeds to take root and for other plants to expand their roots without us realizing.
Our businesses are like our gardens. Left unchecked, things will grow, but not always the things you want. Weeds can take over, and roots can spread, making it tough for the flowers you actually want to thrive. For a garden to flourish, you’ve got to keep pruning and nurturing it. And it's not just a one-time deal in spring – just like your business can't thrive if you only focus on it during end-of-year strategy retreats with the executive team.
We have to prune and nurture throughout the entire year to keep those weeds out and only let the right roots grow. Embracing this strategy - the concept of continuous improvement - sets us up for the best possible success by keeping us constantly focused on all aspects of excellence in our business.
Nurturing Growth: Understanding Continuous Improvement
Continuous improvement does not mean constant change. Rather it’s a steady commitment to making things better in small, manageable steps. It is all about consistently evaluating where you stand and making the right tweaks and changes to drive excellence, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. Not just change for the sake of change.
When we have that steady commitment to excellence, we experience more than just happy customers and more than an efficient ease to our day. We also experience a boost in employee morale and culture (which decreases turnover), better profit margins (with decreased expenses) and a more resilient business overall.
When everyone is committed to improving, the entire organization benefits from a positive, proactive environment.
Section 2: Simple Ways to Prune The Weeds
The first step in embracing continuous improvement is to create opportunities to actually assess and address potential issues. These opportunities don’t need to be complicated. At Auxo, we preach the power of simplicity. Keeping things simple, especially when discussing possible change, will keep things manageable and decision making easier.
Here are some straightforward strategies to creating these opportunities:
Team Feedback Meetings: These are reverse town halls. In a town hall, leadership shares their updates, wins, and thoughts. In TFM’s, employees share their perspectives with leadership. These can be awesome team-building meetings too!
Reviewing KPIs on Set Dates: In a previous blog, we broke down how to pick the right KPI’s that match your goals. Now it’s about regularly checking these KPIs in an appropriate cadence - weekly, monthly, etc.
Regular 1:1s with Employees: Getting your employees in the habit of speaking up could look like encouraging them to share ideas, be honest about challenges, and jump on opportunities during regular 1:1 meetings, not just scheduled strategy sessions.
Monthly Strategy and Goal Check-In Meetings: Hopefully, you’re already doing monthly and quarterly strategy meetings. The point here is to make sure these meetings start with reflection. Strong strategy meetings don’t start with ambitions and next steps. They start with reflecting and assessing where you are to determine where you go next.
The Most Important Steps in Pruning
Creating a culture of continuous improvement involves more than just identifying issues and collecting feedback. It’s about taking decisive action and ensuring that every step you take is communicated and followed through. Just like in gardening, the right pruning techniques can make all the difference in helping your business flourish.
Action: Follow-up and follow-through are critical in creating a culture of continuous improvement. You can’t just ask your employees for feedback and then do nothing about it. Communicate the steps you’re going to take or explain why some things might not change (legal or compliance reasons, customer satisfaction taking priority, etc.)
Leadership Commitment: Leaders play a vital role in driving continuous improvement. They need to set the tone and lead by example, showing that improvement is a priority.
Recognition and Rewards: Recognizing and rewarding improvement efforts can motivate ongoing participation. Celebrate successes and show appreciation for the hard work that goes into continuous improvement.
Cultivating a Thriving Business Year-Round
Continuous improvement is like tending to a garden. It requires regular care and attention to keep things healthy and thriving. By embracing this strategy, you can drive excellence, efficiency, and customer satisfaction in your business.
Curious to see how your business measures up? Take our "What Kind of Business Hero" quiz to discover whether you have a flourishing garden or some weeds to pull. Get insights on how to nurture and grow your business into its full potential!
