Last Thursday, the 4th of June, we hosted our 8th webinar – Keep Going 4.5: Creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement presented by our very own Kelly Millard. Having recently completed her studies in Business Analysis, Kelly drew on her experience and knowledge gained from working with Recruiters to develop this Continuous Improvement framework especially for small to medium sized organizations.
Before we move on to our learning, remember to register for next week’s webinar. In place of our usual session, we’d like to invite you all to join the SourceCon South Africa Virtual Meetup: Set Yourself Up For Sourcing Success.
Don’t forget to join the SourceCon South Africa Facebook group too!
After going through the framework, the participants had an opportunity to discuss the benefits and challenges they would face in implementing these ideas in their own context. This really allowed us to consider new possibilities and gain insights into how we can not only survive but really differentiate ourselves and thrive.
Here is a brief overview of our discussion:
1. Stakeholders:
Together with your team, sit down and map out all the stakeholders with whom you work or interact in your business. Taking one group at a time, find ways to connect with them and gather information on how you can improve your relationship and your services. Asking for feedback and ideas in this way gives you access to information you might have missed otherwise and it also goes a long way to building loyal partnerships.
2. Structures:
Next, examine your internal structures such as your Organogram. Talk to your team to find out if they have any ideas for changes to roles or responsibilities which may add value, both to the company and to them personally. Another option is to review your Strategic Value Chain to find opportunities to pivot or adapt your offering.
3. Processes:
This is a really valuable exercise to carry out next, even if you have chosen not to make any changes to your organizational structures. As another team exercise, map out each step or activity which takes place in your business from start to finish. It’s a great idea to put each activity on a post-it note up on a board for the team to see. You may be surprised to find that not all employees are aware of the process or the reasons behind each step. You can also use a Kanban board to identify any bottlenecks and ways to streamline your operation from there.
4. Systems:
Seeing as you already have an amazing system backing your business, the final step in your improvement journey is to ensure that you are using this system as efficiently as possible. Keep it simple! Only collect and store the data you are going to need for outputs such as reporting. Remember that too many Sectors and Functions will over complicate your filing cabinet and compromise the quality of your data. Lastly, have a look at how efficiently info moves from one team member to another in your workflow and discuss ways in which you can speed things up.
Set some time aside once a month to meet with your team and go through each of these sections in iterations. Soon you will find that your team is more engaged and constantly looking for ways to improve! Strategic thinking is a skill which anyone can learn and will add massive value to your business.
If you’re interested in finding out more, get in touch with Kelly directly for a free consultation!
Connect – LinkedIn
Email – kellymillard@ymail.com
Call/WhatsApp – 066 092 5416
