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Many Small Steps Carry you a Great Distance

Ever since the first person was employed to make something there have been improvement suggestions. Every day there are millions of people engaged in activities where they have the first-hand experience to identify small changes that could improve quality, make a process run more smoothly or produce a better outcome for the customer.

And what happens to all those great ideas? Mostly nothing.

The reasons why most suggestion schemes fail are well documented. The most common ones are these:

  • It’s too difficult to submit ideas.
  • The review process is too slow and too remote.
  • Lack of follow up.
  • No recognition for successful ideas.
  • Improvements don’t get shared.
  • Behaviour stays the same.

The critical difference between suggestion schemes and continuous improvement is that suggestion boxes look like tokenism, while continuous improvement is cultural and inclusive.

Opportunities for Improvement

Osborne addressed these issues by creating the IO (Improvement Opportunity) app. To submit a suggestion, team members don’t have to write it down and find somewhere to post it. They don’t even have to send an email. They get out their smartphone and type their suggestion straight in. The process couldn’t be simpler or more immediate.

Just as important, all suggestions are reviewed promptly and can be tracked. Everyone gets feedback, whether or not their idea was adopted. The culture is one where improvement suggestions are expected, welcomed and appreciated. Successful suggestions are always shared and celebrated, for example through our STOPThink! cascades.

We know that everyone has the ability to help their project deliver better outcomes for our customer or to improve safety or quality. Most progress comes from doing 100 things 1% better, rather than one thing 100% better. But at the same time, we are conscious that dealing with 100 small ideas demands more commitment than one big one.

Behind every little germ of an idea or action there has to be the big cultural environment that will nurture it to fruition. This environment must be based on the common understanding that by producing better outcomes for our customers we also safeguard our future.

The improvement opportunities identified by our people have already made a difference to the value we create for our customers. And as the process becomes more embedded and people see the success, we expect this to multiply.

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