Identifying the Gaps
Discuss about the Facilitate Continuous Improvement Of Business Organization.
Continuous improvement is a necessary for the growth and development of a business organization. Continuous improvement in an organization is a result of feedback from all the stakeholders, identifying the gaps in current practices and policies, surveys in the organization, focus group interviews and internal audits. Such a process is of great utility in the employment sector, where the employees have to deal with employers and customers who are looking for the jobs. These stakeholders can provide with valuable insight which can be used to improve the current methodology or the process.
Feedback from the customer or a candidate who got rejected or selected in the interview would have a detailed insight to give on the entire interview process; they can also provide some inside information on the employer or the interview round, which can be of utility to the employment firm. Collection of all the data from various stakeholders, feedback, surveys etc. will help the employment agency to analyse all the information and bring for continuous improvement in the organization. These process helps in finding Lacunae which has the ability to improve the process, thus aiding the organization to work towards continuous improvement.
- Knowledge management- Knowledge management is the art and practical skill of managing knowledge in the organization. This is done by ensuring continuous training in the organization and pushing the employees on the path of learning, development and growth. This is one of the most important steps in the process of facilitating continuous improvement as the knowledge in the employees helps them to better attain the organizational goals and achievements. Moreover, the employees find themselves motivated due to knowledge management in the system.
- Quality-Continuous improvement system has a big impact on the quality of the policies, procedures and the working of the employees. As continuous improvement system tackles all the department of the organization and analyses even the minuscule process in-depth. This thus helps the entire department to improve its quality of work and also gives an impetus to the performance of the employees. Continuous improvement can be understood as an ongoing process or effort to bring improvement in the process, services, products, business strategy, customer, and employee and supplier relationship with the aim of increasing the quality of the above said elements in the business organization.
- Performance management – Business these days have evolved in terms of the adopted or created business practices and policies, the policies and procedures in the present day are aimed towards continuous improvement. One such improvement is towards the performance management of the employees, the day of one time feedback by the managers have been replaced by 360 degree performance management system which is aimed at the overall development of the employees. As a part of 360 degree PMS, the employees are evaluated on the basis of their performance by their managers, peers, colleagues, line managers. This gives the organization a complete overview of the employee and his conduct with other employees. At the same time, it also helps the employee to focus on the feedback provided to him on a continuous basis, and gives him time and opportunity to make the necessary amends in their personality.
- Sustainability-One of the biggest aim of continuous improvement system is to bring sustainability in the business organization. The focus of the businesses in the present day is more on bringing sustainability in their business model, to make it last longer than ever. This is possible only when all the departments and the processes integral to the business organization are in the purview of continuous improvement. An organization is in a better position to achieve its goal of sustainability, provided all of its department are undergoing improvement on a continuous basis. Thus, sustainability is one of the many fruits the organization reaps out of the process of continuous improvement process.
I have been working with the HR team and help the candidates find a job which is a fit to their capabilities and also for the organization. However easy the job may sound, it does involve a lot of brain work, research, market analysis, candidate background check and more so. There is a set process in the system, but as mentioned in order to achieve sustainability in the business model, one has to always focus on facilitating continuous improvements in the system. Now in order to do so, I try to establish a better communication process to encourage and inform the stakeholders of the organization regarding the improvement process. I make it a point that I make the rationale clear to everyone in the organization and keep every information documented and take necessary permission from the concerned management people. The next step is to do away with the fear of resistance of the employees towards the change, this I manage by being verbose with them and involving them in the process of continuous improvement. Further to this, I keep all the communication and progress regarding the improvement process on mails, so that everyone can go back to their system and update them. The learning which I drew from here is that communication is the key to success of bringing any change in the organization and to encourage participation from other employees and stakeholders.
Feedback from Stakeholders
As mentioned earlier businesses are always driven to achieve the goal of sustainability, and the way to achieve sustainability in the business process or model is by the way of facilitating continuous improvement plan in all the divisions, departments, policies and procedures of the organization. My personal experience in addressing the sustainability requirement is always focussed on identifying the lacunae or gap in the policies of the organization, which might impact the business in the longer run. Post that I aim to identify the future trends in the employment industry, which gives me an idea of the improvement process required in the organization. The step is closely followed by a brainstorming discussion with the entire team on how to go forward with the process, and the next step is implementation and evaluation of the proposed outcome.
The most fundamental and critical thing involved here is assessing the areas, policies and procedure of business which might not stay relevant in the longer run. Based on the analysis, a process is created to improve the system. For example, post the internet revolution, we had to revive and change our business model completely, as most of the candidates were hunting for job online. Moreover, this was a new trend in the market, and there were not many companies who were hunting for the candidates on social media or the Internet. As a company we decided to take the advantage of the situation and add life to our current business model.
I mentioned this right at the start that support of the employees and other relevant stakeholders is required to facilitate the process of continuous improvement process in the organization. This is important for two primary reasons; one of which is to involve and engage them in the process with the aim of managing their resistance and obstacles towards the process, the second reason being utilizing their synergies to come up with the desired improvement in the organization. Mentoring and coaching are the important roles for the profile of HR, and I certainly take my job role and profile very seriously. I make sure that people are given considerate number of hours as a part of their mentoring and coaching program on the continuous improvement process. In order to do so, I make sure that I create a time table, which is well planned and would not affect the routine work of the employees. I then get mentors and coaches on the board, some of whom are internal employees and they make a case for the rationale behind the improvement process. Moreover, all the relevant and necessary support to the employees, before and after the mentoring and coaching is provided by me. I make sure that everyone is comfortable around me, and I do this by creating an environment of openness in communication in my conduct.
My experience with my organization has been enriching as I learnt a lot of concepts which would help me in my professional journey. The best of which was, facilitating continuous improvement system in the organization. It made me understand how critical and significant the process is for the business organization, thus one has to be adept with the entire concept and the rationale behind moving forward with the process.
In terms of Knowledge improvement in the system, I believe that we as a unit have to get over from the traditional trainer mode to adopt the social learning modules. Social platforms serve as a good knowledge platform and we as the organization can effectively use the platform to focus on the knowledge management of the employees. Usage of Blogs, wiki and social media platform will provide a comprehensive solution in managing knowledge in the business organization, and keep us afloat with the present and future times.
The rationale of continuous improvement process is to stay resistant to the future trends and changes, thus in order one has to ensure that they are in sync with the technological trends of the present and future and allow the solution to form a part of the continuous improvement process. In order to do so, one has to be beefed up with all the upcoming changes and trends in the industry and technology, only then one can plan successfully for the future.