Promoting an environment of Continuous Improvement

When we’re asked about why we approach a process or way of doing things, we often hear ‘because this is how things have always been’, or when challenged on finding a new way forward, resistance can be heard in the form of ‘but this is how we’ve always done it’. Sound familiar? One of our Pathfinder values is ‘There’s always a better way’ – and we ground ourselves in this value when creating and promoting a culture of Continuous Improvement in organisations.

Continuous improvement
in organisations

We believe that we should never be satisfied with ‘how things have always been’, and know the value of a Continuous Improvement culture and what it can bring to an organisation.

Some organisations recognise the importance of Continuous Improvement, but face multiple challenges in creating and sustaining the required culture.

At Pathfinder we understand these challenges, and know the enabling factors which lead to success.

How do we help?

We will help you set your Continuous Improvement goals and ambitions and design the approach to help you achieve these goals and realise the benefits that can be delivered through effective mobilisation of your team and organisation.

Through an effective Continuous Improvement programme, you will start to see:

Transformation of processes, ways of working and behaviours
Clear value and benefits realisation
Establish a ‘Continuous Improvement’ mindset where change becomes the new norm
Elimination of waste throughout the organisation
Energised team, passionate about Continuous Improvement and looking for opportunities to create value or eliminate waste

The Pathfinder difference

Other consultancies will offer you an ‘out of the box’ Improvement Programme, that works well initially, but fails at the first hurdle the moment the hired help walk out the door. Let us show you how we’re different.

Above methodology, we will always work to understand our clients ambitions, culture and environment and design CI solutions which will work for them
We know that it is critical to have leadership buy-in to create and sustain a culture of CI. We will work with senior leaders to help them develop their vision for CI, and for the organisation, and ensure this is filtered through the organisation
We will work with our clients team to develop and embed a CI mindset within the organisation, helping the organisation to ‘buy-in’ to the process, and creating the understanding that it is a mindset and not an additional task
We look for ways to harness the experience, skills and knowledge of the organisations we work with and we look for opportunities to develop capability so that the value extends beyond the lifespan of the engagement.

What’s
our methodology?

We help our clients develop their vision, ensuring there are clear goals to be achieved. There are a number of factors which need to be considered in the design of a Continuous Improvement Team:

Establish design principles for the team
Agree the architecture of the team
Roles & Responsibilities
Management Practices
Reporting, KPI’s and Metrics
Team charter and ways of working

We leverage the proven ‘Plan, Do, Check, Act’ cycle as a simple and effective model for Continuous Improvement. Along with this we employ lean and agile concepts to create fit for purpose approach for our clients.

All too often, CI methods and practices are set up with little consideration for the importance of establishing a CI Culture. Without focusing on this aspect of CI, the process is likely to fail once the initiation project completes. Creating and sustaining CI requires leadership support and we work with our clients to ensure CI remains top of the leadership agenda.

All of our engagements are designed specifically to the needs of our client. However, usually the process follows these rough timelines:

2- 4 weeks baselining / value mapping
4 – 6 weeks design
6+ weeks mobilisation

Our customers success Speaks for us

We have executed this process multiple time across Enterprise and large companies.
But let them tell you, not us.

Case study

Increasing automation and eliminating waste with a centralised automated payment system

The project delivered on schedule, resulting in a centralised Investigator Payment solution for the company with associated efficiencies.

This “new way of doing business” continues to be developed and enhanced delivering ongoing efficiencies to the company.

See case study

Insights in Transformation

Insights

Key trends and takeaways from the Artificial Intelligence (AI) World Congress 2019

See all Insights

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