What is Continuous Improvement (CI)?
As its name implies, Continuous Improvement (CI) is an ongoing effort to improve products, processes, or services by reducing waste or increasing quality. CI is a method to make sure that your processes, techniques, and practices are as efficient, accurate, and effective as possible.
This is done by regularly examining and improving your processes to smash bottlenecks, use the best software, and take advantage of the most efficient methods.
How can Continuous Improvement improve business operations?
Continuous improvement is a way of thinking. Implementing a culture of continuous improvement help organisations by giving them the tools to simply provide their services in shorter time with reduced cost, to a more satisfied client.
Companies that promote this culture will see:
- Improvements in quality
- Reduced lead and process time
- Improved morale
- Better employee engagement
- Reduced staff turnover
- Increased capacity
- Higher quality
- Growth by providing additional services or capabilities.
How PetroStrat has adopted CI
Continuous improvement is one of the 5 Core Values that form the foundations of PetroStrat as a business and is taken very seriously. In PetroStrat, CI is practiced based on two disciplines: incremental change, and breakthrough change.
Incremental change happens constantly, in all of processes. It is based on small changes that can be implemented easily, and most of the time by any member of staff. We are all responsible to identify flaw and take steps to improve them. All employees are encouraged to be proactive and have input in their day to ay activities. They are allowed to take ownership of their process, make decisions and implement them. Communication has been a key in this route, so employees are reminded frequently that continuous improvement is everyone’s responsibility, and that their input is valued.
We also have started breakthrough changes, which are those that make significant impact on the business. One good example of such improvement project is when we analysed our current project management system meticulously, getting input from all involved employees, to improve the system into a business management platform, created a Software Requirements Specification which is ready to be sent to potential developers.
For this, we consulted staff from all parts of the business to answer these questions from different points of view:
- What is working already?
- Is this still relevant and required?
- What is not working?
- Do we need this to work?
- What needs to be changed?
- What needs to be added?
The consultation with different groups of staff was essential, as on one hand it helped answering the above questions, and on the other hand, no change project will succeed if those who are affected do not have an input in decision making.
We at PetroStrat are proud of our core values, and our continuous improvement reminds us everyday that we will actively seek out ways to learn and improve ourselves, and we have freedom to speak our minds and demonstrate self-reflection.
Further Reading about Continuous Improvement
https://blog.triaster.co.uk/blog/what-is-continuous-improvement
