Constant Change

In the heart of excellent operations is a commitment to not just provide high quality products or services, but to continually improve the way products and services are delivered. It's my privilege to share a model that encapsulates the path towards continual improvement—a model designed not just to meet standards, but to set them.

Using the old comparison to the high jump, the bar is set at a comfortable yet challenging height and the high jumper consistently trains, and practices, and improves to regularly raise the bar to greater and greater heights. The same thing is done with excellent operations in delivering products or services. And when these organizations fail to clear the bar, they learn from those failures and improve knowledge and practice to provide better products and services in more effective and efficient ways.

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The Foundation of Improvement: People and Purpose

At the center of this model are people—customers, staff, and community members—interacting within the operational framework of the organization, a.k.a. "what we actually do." This interaction is the pulse of operations, fed by mission, vision, and deeply-held principles and values.

?Two Vital Questions Guide the Journey

1. Are we doing the right things?

2. Are we doing things right?

Answering these two questions forms the crux of improvement cycles—strategic and operational.

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Strategic Cycle: Ensuring We Do the Right Things

The strategic cycle begins by gathering diverse data, including observations, indicators, unfolding circumstances, and unfolding interactions with the environment. This information is then filtered, compared to expectations, and aligned with mission, vision, guiding principles, and values. This comparison and alignment help prioritize actions and ensure strategic decisions steer towards "doing the right things." It’s about making decisions that not only respond to immediate needs but also anticipate future challenges in revolutionary and exploratory ways.

This cycle isn’t specific to annual strategic planning by executives. It should be done daily and weekly by front-line staff and managers and in other natural cycles with cross-functional departments to challenge assumptions, stay agile and fit, and consider new perspectives and viewpoints.

The strategic cycle is synonymous with: innovation, revolution, exploration, transformation, pioneering, vision, disruption, creativity, risk-taking, trailblazing, breakthrough, radical, leaps forward, and experimentation.

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Operational Cycle: Ensuring We Do Things Right

On the flip side, the operational cycle focuses on internal audits, reviews, and lessons learned to gauge adherence to what the organization claims to be doing. This introspective loop helps maintain integrity and accountability by continually comparing actions and outcomes against stated policies, standards, roles, and predicted or expected results. It answers the question, "Are we doing things right?" and involves raising the bar of performance continually.

This work can be done by managers, coaches, and mentors to assess the effectiveness of policies and barriers to following those policies. It’s about making decisions that improve documentation on what the organization claims to be doing to better comply in evolutionary and foundational ways.

The operational cycle is synonymous with: optimization, evolution, exploitation, improvement, refining, practical, systematic, methodical, risk-managing, efficiency, incremental, steps forward, enhancement, proven, and foundational.

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Implementing Change: Communication, Connection, and Compassion

The answers to these two questions are ever-evolving to better match the dynamic, evolving environment. To navigate this constant change, the key to adaptation lies in organizational consistency—consistent communication, fostering human connections, building community, demonstrating compassion, and commitment to mission, vision, and guiding principles and values. If something becomes a barrier or obstacle to meeting the mission, quickly and urgently embrace the needed change, and then incrementally improve how that change is executed.

Leaders at every level play a pivotal role by setting examples, sharing insights through stories and heuristics that resonate with and inspire individuals and teams. This leadership approach is crucial as it drives the change necessary to adapt and thrive.

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Practical Steps for Operational Implementation

1. Regular Feedback Loops: Implement structured feedback mechanisms to capture critical to quality data on operational effectiveness and stakeholder satisfaction. And, as much as possible, observe for yourself to better understand the data and indicators. Make comparisons to expectations and quickly learn and adapt as needed to meet the mission.

2. Enhanced Training Programs: Continually develop the competencies of staff through targeted training programs that not only focus on skills but also on fostering understanding of core values and mission.

3. Transparent Communication Channels: Establish open and transparent communication channels that encourage insights and concerns, fostering a culture of openness, psychological safety, and continual improvement.

4. Community Involvement: Increase community engagement by involving community members in advisory boards and feedback sessions, ensuring that products and services align with the community's needs and values.

The aim is not only to meet the standards of quality, safety, and satisfaction but to exceed them, ensuring that operations evolve responsively and responsibly. This model of continual improvement is far from perfect, it is meant to communicate the need to improve in both strategic and operational directions answering both of these critical questions; it's a commitment to excellence in an ongoing journey that will ever evolve and change to stay relevant and effective.