COURSE OVERVIEW:
Continuous improvement is an ongoing effort to improve all elements of an organisation—processes, tools, products, services, etc. Sometimes those improvements are big, often they are small. But what’s most important is they’re frequent. Core to a continuous improvement mindset is the belief that a steady stream of improvements, diligently executed, will have transformational results.
Companies must communicate the value and importance of continuous improvement and build it into every aspect of the business as a disciplined strategy. They must train their employees to study internal processes and create ways to make them more efficient. They must study their successes and failures regarding their customers and act based on those learnings to go above and beyond customer satisfaction. In today’s fast-moving and competitive landscape, this is a critical factor of most leading companies.
The most commonly used continuous improvement model is PDCA the “Plan Do Check Act” cycle (PDCA). This four-step model is often shown as a circle because continuous improvement is a process that should be repeated over and over again. Walking through these four steps can bring improvements to any process.
Getting your company used to continuous improvement isn’t easy. You can’t just go up to your employees one day and tell them “the company will function differently from here on out.” Making any kind of change in an organisation is hard, and this is especially true if you’re doing something so major.
But of course, you need to start somewhere. First thing, you’ll need to let your management know about the initiative. Then, you’ll need to allow for the establishment of business process improvement initiatives. Once someone suggests a plausible way to improve a process, you’ll need to assign an individual or team (depends on skills needed to change the process) in charge or improving it.
Even if your business is doing phenomenally now, that isn’t destined to last forever. A changing economy, new technology, budget concerns, and staff shortages are all dynamics that will eventually force you to make adjustments. An organisation that embraces continuous improvements will be able to act on these changes and stay on course. A rigid, authoritarian company, on the other hand, will not.
This course will help you better understand best practices in implementing, monitoring, and reviewing continuous improvement systems and processes at work using the appropriate tools and techniques. It starts by discussing the importance of implementing continuous improvement in any business and the required tools for it. It covers participative decision-making and how to communicate the quality improvement process. It also covers how to monitor and review performance using data collection and evaluation tools to meet customer needs and handle complaints. Additionally, it explores providing opportunities for further improvement and making recommendations. Finally, it examines various tools and techniques for process improvement.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
By the end of this course, you will be able to understand:
- The benefits of adopting continuous improvement
- How continuous improvement works?
- How to implement continuous improvement systems and processes?
- The continuous improvement tools
- The Plan Do Check Act Model
- The requirements of a participative decision-making
- How to communicate the quality improvement process?
- The quality assurance standards
- The 8 quality management principles of the ISO standards
- The role of the manager as facilitator and leader of quality improvement processes
- How effective leadership encourages team involvement in quality improvement?
- The role of staff for quality improvement initiatives to work
- How to monitor, measure and review performance?
- How to use data collection and evaluation tools?
- Benchmarking and best practice activities
- How to meet customer needs?
- How to deal with customer complaints?
- How to provide opportunities for further improvement?
- How to communicate changes in work practice?
- How to make recommendations for senior management?
- What does a quality improvement proposal need? And the benefits if the proposal goes ahead
- How to manage the risks?
- How to manage records and documentation?
- How to identify further opportunities for quality improvement?
- The tools and techniques most commonly used in process improvement
- The DRIVE technique
- The Process Mapping tool
- The Process Flowcharting tool
- The Force Field Analysis tool
- The Cause & Effect Diagram
- The CEDAC method
- The Brainstorming technique
- The Pareto Analysis tool
- The Statistical Process Control (SPC) tool
- The Control Chart
- The Check Sheet
- The Bar Charts
- The Scatter Diagram
- The Matrix Analysis tool
- The Dot Plot or Tally Chart
- The Histogram technique
- The Record Keeping technique
COURSE DURATION:
The typical duration of this course is approximately 2-3 hours to complete. Your enrolment is Valid for 12 Months. Start anytime and study at your own pace.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
You must have access to a computer or any mobile device with Adobe Acrobat Reader (free PDF Viewer) installed, to complete this course.
COURSE DELIVERY:
Purchase and download course content.
ASSESSMENT:
A simple 10-question true or false quiz with Unlimited Submission Attempts.
CERTIFICATION:
Upon course completion, you will receive a customised digital “Certificate of Completion”.