Continuous improvement, sometimes called continual improvement, is the ongoing improvement of products, services or processes through incremental and breakthrough improvements. It is a process of lean improvement.
Getting one percent better and focussing on small wins leads to continuous improvement.
Here we are helping you out with three zuperb tools for continuous improvement:
- Do more of what already works
There are many examples of behaviors that have the opportunity to drive progress in our lives if we just did them with more consistency, like
• working out,
• writing Thank You Cards,
• performing fundamental tasks each day, etc.
Progress often hides behind boring solutions and underused insights. You don’t need more information. You don’t need a better strategy. You just need to do more of what already works.
2. Avoid tiny losses
In many cases, improvement is not about doing more things right, but about doing fewer things wrong.
This is a concept called improvement by subtraction, which is focused on doing less of what doesn’t work by eliminating inessential, avoiding mistakes, and reducing complexity.
Here are some examples:
Education: Make fewer mental errors. Nutrition: Eat fewer unhealthy foods.
Investing: Never lose money, limit your risk.
3. Measure backward
We often measure our progress by looking forward. We set goals. We plan milestones for our progress. But, there is an opposite approach: measure backward, not forward.
Measuring backward means you make decisions based on what’s already happened, not on what you want to happen.
These questions help you get a little bit better: What did you do last week? How can you improve by just a little bit this week?
There you have it! Remember, continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.
