In circles of people discussing continuous improvement methodologies and approaches, there is often talk about the need to engage employees in these activities. That is of course true, after all, people doing the day-to-day work are most likely to know how to delight customers, cut unnecessary expenses, make processes faster, and so on. They understand the details and when given the right support (time, tools, expert help, encouragement etc), they can make huge improvements. So, we need to engage them in the activities, right?
Well yes. But I think that’s the wrong way round of looking at it. Being involved in continuous improvement and making processes better for you, your colleagues, and your customers can be enormously satisfying. I see this again, and again in improvement teams. Once a team is truly empowered, they love to take time to think more deeply about the processes they work in, and how they can modify them to work better. And to actually make a difference. I was reminded of this at the recent MCC summit. There was real excitement in the live discussions on how to understand and use metrics to improve processes. Indeed, I was contacted afterwards by someone who told me it had reignited his passion in this area and brought a real bright spot into what had become a dull job. Involving people in this way will also improve process ownership, buy-in for change and can improve the measurement of processes too.
According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report 2021, only 20% of employees worldwide are engaged in their jobs – meaning that they are emotionally invested in committing their time, talent and energy in adding value to their team and advancing the organization’s initiatives. In Western Europe, engagement is at 11%!
Rather than thinking about how we can get employees engaged in continuous improvement, maybe we could get employees more engaged in their roles by supporting them to be involved in continuous improvement efforts? How can you free up your employees to improve processes and, at the same time, engage them more in their daily work?
Text: © 2021 Dorricott MPI Ltd. All rights reserved.
Picture: RobinHiggins, Pixabay