What do you think when you hear the words continual improvement? Perhaps you think slow and steady, or maybe it is a constant drive for betterment? The reason I called my company Improve Consulting was that I wanted to help people improve the way they do business.
Now implementing ISO standards is one of the ways businesses drive improvement. But compliance with a standard is an external motivator. You can use internal motivators for continual improvement too. Setting objectives for your team should stir up a desire within the team to reach those goals and subsequently drive improvement.
Giving your team an opportunity to suggest improvements is another source of internal motivation. All too often we focus only on the “stick” of compliance and forget the importance of asking people how they think we could do it better. Remember the good old Suggestion Box? Turns out it’s still a great way to engage people in the quest for continual improvement.