There’s a reason humans often resist change. There’s comfort in what we know. While the call of the unknown is appealing to some, it is a natural and reassuring thing to resist putting ourselves in new situations. In the business world, this is no longer possible – success begins at the end of your comfort zone.
Dynamics are changing, there’s more competition than ever, information is everywhere. These days, for most industries and businesses you not only have to be concerned about local competition but also with foreign competition. In today’s competitive climate, you don’t get a moment’s rest. If you don’t watch what’s going on elsewhere in the world and prepare for it, you won’t be prepared to deal with it when it does arrive.
That doesn’t mean traditional and local businesses are finished – it just means they need to evolve too. Consumers are connected 24/7. They have access to information at their fingertips. It’s important to use the speed of information flow to your advantage. A continuous interaction with your audience is critical. Listen, learn, constantly develop.
Make excellence a habit.
Continuous business improvements are the basis of your competitive advantage. The most successful businesses are businesses that are always different today from yesterday, and that bring something else tomorrow.
In an increasingly competitive marketplace, continual improvement is the key to your business success. It’s not finding a method that works and sticking with it. It’s looking at where you are today, setting a goal and doing what needs to be done to reach that goal. It should be a habit that once that goal is met, you start again, finding ways to improve further. It doesn’t matter what kind of industry or business you’re in — a continuous improvement approach is necessary to keep ahead of the game.
Carefully calculating risk, going beyond the expected and creating an environment for innovation are what generate the excellence needed to create that edge. Continuous and unrelenting effort to improve business systems and processes is the only way to develop excellence in people and organizations. All organizational improvements begin with personal improvement, a passionate desire to learn by individual study, education, experience and mentoring.
Culture eats strategy for breakfast.
Experience teaches that the more successful businesses imbed best practice holistically across the entire organization. It’s easy to get lost in corporate-speak and boardroom slogans. This is where the notion of a culture of continuous improvement comes into play.
Initiating such a culture change can be a challenge. An effective and successful transition requires a bold well-planned, demonstrable commitment to enhance systems and critical processes that drive long-term sustainable performance and create a gateway to excellence.
When you first broach the subject of continuous improvement with your employees and collaborators, most will agree in the necessity but not necessarily know where to begin. Creating a formalized plan that works for your structure is critical. Formalizing your continuous improvement strategy is important – it’s gets everyone using the same language.
When continuous improvement permeates all levels of your organization, it stops being one person’s job and becomes part of everyone’s job. Knowing that your business never stops evolving helps your employees see where they can be an active part of continuous improvement.
We help you find your ways to improve your business each and every day. Schedule an invigorating consultation with us.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juha is a husband and father, passionate thinker, doer and collaborator, world class people connector, innovator in business development, creative branding and marketing expert and a founder of Pure Innovation company. He has achieved success working for national and international organizations, while being rewarded more than 30 time both nationally and internationally with awards such as Cannes Lions, Clio, New York Festival, Rebrand 100, etc.