One of D&H United’s core values is Continuous Improvement but what exactly does that mean?  Continuous improvement is a constant, ongoing effort to improve something such as a person’s skill set, a team’s way of working, or a product or service.  As the name suggests, these efforts are not one-time initiatives but rather sustained work.  The results of continuous improvement may be incremental or subtle or they may be highly noticeable.

Companies and individual employees need to continually look for ways to improve even if everything seems to be going well. A good way to do this is to create an environment or company culture that encourages employees to look for ways to enhance the business’s operations. When creating an environment of continuous improvement, it is important to included everyone from the CEO all the way down for it to succeed and become commonplace in the workplace.  Examples of continuous improvement included training and skills development for employees, improved communication, and processes for teams, and using customer’s reviews to help determine areas where improvement is needed. 

Companies should start with small, manageable improvements and monitor them to determine if goals are being met.  It’s important to communicate the plan so everyone knows the requirements and to provide timely feedback on the progress of the initiative. For continuous improvement to succeed, the company also needs to step back and evaluate its new processes or changes to old ones.

Continuous improvement is a process that can help all aspects of an organization. Not matter what your position is in a company, you should strive to look for way to improve efficiencies and current processes, and finding opportunities to enhance the business’s operations.