Continuous Improvement Projects Fail Because of 3 Things

Editor's note: this transcript was generated by AI and has been lightly edited for clarity and relevance — some sections have been shortened or removed, and minor transcription errors corrected.

Full transcript

00:00:05Host

This video looks at some of the main reasons continuous improvement projects fail, and how these can be avoided. Continuous improvement is an ongoing, long-term approach to improving processes, products, and services, instituted gradually with small, incremental changes over time. The ROI usually comes in the form of efficiency and cost reduction.

00:00:35Host

There are three main reasons continuous improvement projects fail: lack of stakeholder engagement, failure to implement a culture of continuous improvement, and the QMS not supporting continuous improvement.

00:00:59Host

One: lack of stakeholder support. Not being able to get buy-in from senior stakeholders is likely to be the biggest stumbling block. Key stakeholders — the senior executive sponsor, the project team, the process mappers, the process experts, and IT — need to be involved and engaged from the very beginning. Change must come from the top down.

00:01:53Host

Two: failure to implement a culture of continuous improvement. Change causes a huge amount of friction in the workplace, so it's essential to address the "we've always done it this way" mentality as soon as possible.

00:02:34Host

At Triaster, we believe the best way to implement a culture of continuous improvement is to ensure your employees are actively involved in capturing what your business does, and encourage them to regularly make suggestions on how things can be improved.

00:02:53Host

Three: the QMS doesn't support continuous improvement. Getting the right system to support your business needs and strategic objectives is crucial. A good process-led QMS will primarily allow you to document and share your business processes with the rest of your organisation, but will also have some business analysis capabilities — helping you model changes so you can make improvements based on data-driven evidence.