Continuous improvement is a necessity in today's constantly changing business environment.
Business as usual will no longer suffice.
While your competitors may be on the other side of the world, they are but a few clicks on a keyboard away from your customers.
If they enjoy a competitive advantage, you will lose business.
Staying one step ahead of your competitors is a prerequisite to remaining viable and strong in the face of increased competition.
Constant change and continuous improvement in your organization drives improved efficiencies, reduces costs, and ensures your adoption of change matches your message to market.
In reality, you simply can't be open to change for your customer's benefit, if your internal processes don't encourage and accept change.
This drive for change can come from an extremely inexpensive resource, if, and only if, your organisation is open and willing to use it.
For many companies that resource is most often underutilized.
So, where can you get a relatively cheap source of information that can help drive change within your organization, improve efficiencies and drive down costs? The answer is a simple one.
Your employees are that source, and true to form, they are your organisation's greatest asset.
Using them, and allowing them to come forward with solutions, is simply a decision.
Innovative ideas means more in depth search for information to support those ideas.
You need to drive ideas and innovation within your company, and demand the necessary information needed to support the ideas in order to see them to their successful conclusion.
Facilitating an environment where employees can come forward with well researched ideas, will provide the impetus for change and continuous improvement that the company needs to succeed.
Understanding the importance of change, what are some of the ways to encourage innovation? More importantly, how can you be sure your employees feel empowered to come forward? Is the company culture inclusive, or exclusive? What is the company culture? Do employees feel they can come forward with suggestions, or do they remain silent for fear of reprisal, or refusal of their ideas? The fact is, depending upon where, and who someone works for, their opinions of the company culture will vary accordingly.
Some employees may feel empowered to come forward in one department, while others may feel completely shut out from being able to express ideas and concerns, in another.
Unfortunately, perception is truly 100% reality.
There are bound to be employees who are encouraged to come forward, and others who feel unwelcomed.
It's up to management to look throughout the entire organization in order to get a true feeling of what the overall company culture is.
Every employee must be encouraged to come forward.
Every employee must feel their ideas are worthy of discussion.
The importance of the entire company affording opportunities to everyone, regardless of department or title, is that improvements need to be driven from every area of the business.
Improvements in one area, can cause delays and problems in other areas, if those that work in these areas aren't allowed to come forward with suggestions of their own.