The lodge we stayed in for a recent weekend break with friends in the New Forest, had a white board on the wall. Over the weekend it got drawn on repeatedly. Some things endured, others were rubbed out or drawn over. One of the things that lasted was a somewhat crazed version of my face, another was a drawing I made of a unicorn with a rainbow shooting from where the sun don’t shine. Can you see it?
The rainbow shooting unicorn – a magnificent, and sadly non-existent beast.
Fast forward to this week and I received an invitation to attend the 2014 Continuous Improvement Conference. Continuous Improvement – is it just me who shudders when I see those two words placed next to each other? How on earth (or any other planet for that matter), can you expect improvement to be continuous? Surely improvement is borne in part from experimentation, which in itself is inextricably linked to failure. Continuous improvement. Does not compute.
After I recovered from the shock – I stuck these words on Facebook:
I’ve just been invited to the 2014 Continuous Improvement conference. I haven’t the heart to tell ’em – there’s no such f*&%king thing! I’d be more intrigued with an invite to the 2014 Rainbows Flying out of Unicorn’s Asses conference – because that is more likely to happen.
The reactions were mixed and interested me, so I thought I’d share a few of them with you here. First up – Steve:
(A)t last a voice of sanity as regards Kaizen! Myself and thousands of others have been hit over the head for 20 plus years, with continuous improvement clap trap. Once something is good enough, unless technology changes, then leave it to do its job.
Then came Grahame:
So, Doug you believe that the best people to improve process (and hence customer experience) are not those who work with the relevant processes every day? And that current processes are perfect, or only top-down change is possible? Do you also disagree with the research that clearly shows that the most significant factor in the failure of many Continuous Improvement programmes is failure of leadership, commonly a failure of demonstration of commitment by the HR people which instantly undermines the efforts of others.
The problem seems to be that CI is thought of as a panacea, and not considered properly as part of a strategy. Done properly, it has been demonstrated to be one of the best ways of transforming an organisation (see “How to Transform Your Company and Enjoy it” by Ken Lewis and Stephen Lytton, or “Sid’s Heroes” by Sid Joynson Andrew Forrester for examples of transformation), and ensuring long term success (see “The Toyota Way” by Jeffrey Liker for an explanation of the necessity of consistent leadership). Done badly, or inconsiderately, it can destroy trust very quickly and feel like exploitation.
I responded to Grahame:
I don’t believe that. Nor do I believe that improvement is continuous. To improve, you have to take risks, with risks come mistakes, therefore CI cannot exist. The term is well intended and impossible to achieve. Trouble is too many people sell this as the answer (as you have suggested) and believe the hype, and then those upstairs expect those on the front to deliver the impossible. It’s a bit like saying xyz is best practice. How do you know that? Someone out there is hacking your work better than you are now. Good practice, better practice, next practice – they’re all fine. But best practice and continuous improvement are for me – terms of denial to some extent at least.
Mick succinctly chipped in with:
I for one strive to be better at what I and my group do, we just don’t need to give it a fancy name in order to justify keeping a paper shuffler in a job.
Jeff added:
After over 25 years in business I know this – the ability of a person to improve is dependent on having a clear goal and the motivation to make that happen. Establish that and then build a plan to make it happen.
And once more back to Mick:
(W)e constantly screw up but thats how our group learns and improves. improvement is discrete and comes and goes. CI just sounds good to those at the top far removed from reality.
There’s more, and I’m sure that by now you get the drift.
What is the point of today’s rant? Well I guess I’m just fed up with how people get hooked, and then addicted to terminology that simply cannot work. You can no more continuously improve, than you can find a rainbow shooting unicorn. And to suggest otherwise, sets impossible expectations among those who mistakenly buy into the myth, and condemns the rest of us to bearing their disappointment.
Continuous Improvement. Another magnificent, and sadly non-existent beast.