People, teams, and organizations need to improve continuously to defer failure for as long as possible.

While most models for continuous improvement are linear, it’s not always the case.

As a result, improvement sometimes means taking two steps forward and one step back. Teams must go through both gradual and radical changes, taking small steps and big jumps in order to navigate the often challenging landscape.

One way to help teams reach optimal performance is by changing the landscape. This means purposefully switching up the environment (including customers, top management and various departments).

A great way for managers to drive change is to make the change desirable and to make stagnation painful.

There are three strategies for achieving optimal performance:

• Experimenting by changing individual practices
• Mixing collections of best practices from previous top performers
• Learning from others who broadcast their best practices to whom it may concern

No matter which strategies you employ it’s important to realize that continuous improvement is indeed continuous and never stops!

Read on for the other views of Martie:
Energize People, Empower Teams, Align Constraints, Develop Competence, Grow Structure

Modules

Change Management

Change Management Advanced

Success and Failure

Creativity & Innovation