There is a duality of continuous improvement in a regulated industry; it has been festering in my head for a bit so here we go. For the uninitiated the concept of continuous improvement is unlike your mantras each year to lose a few pounds, or to eat healthier, call your parents more often, etc., but only if you were a systems perspective. You can take anything and see how you can do it better, more efficient, or most importantly make it make sense to where you get the best outcome for what you are trying to do.
For example, you want to lose a few pounds, you can do 100 different things, right? But in the end you are trying to comply with take in less calories than you are burning each day. Continuous improvement would tell you to for starters, to stop eating cookies before bed, then maybe next month after your time on a scale further motivates you, to limiting the number of cookies, to buying the ‘thin’ cookies, to eating cookies earlier in the day, to how about we stop buying cookies.
Extreme right?
So let me get back to the duality. Let’s assume you know how to execute continuous improvement, in that you do a true root cause analysis as part of an investigation (BECAUSE YOU SHOULD EACH TIME) so that you can get to the real reason that you are eating the aforementioned cookies before bed because you may be seeking to connect with a comforting memory each night, and instead call your grandma more often. Maybe, just maybe you may lose those pounds inadvertently. Okay so that was a tangent, but here is the point on duality.
In a regulated industry as in the example previously you first have to self identify the problem. What that means is that you have to fight the inertia to do the analysis. And when that analysis can keep you from 1) doing what you want, 2) keeps you from dealing with something unpleasant, or 3) you are limited from doing then you continue the status quo. So the duality from self identifying your problems keeps you locked in. You are afraid of what the analysis may tell you to do.
Take that to a company which wants to keep doing what it wants to do. You identifying a problem to make something better is the opposite to what any business wants, the continued pursuit of putting out units. Further, then by self identifying you open yourself up to regulators that are telling you that “great its perfect you want to lose the weight, but how come you did not do it sooner, or you need to get down 30lbs so you can look great at your cousin’s wedding”.
The fear. The inertia. The resistance to change. The identification of problems that nobody wants to put the work into because it means you may have to recognize other things as well. If I start talking about that, we could be here a while.
Okay so what? The difference between those people, companies, and systems that get better is the ability to be introspective. Those things that do not evolve die out. They are replaced. And often they are replaced with a simple but likely inadequate form. The brute force of analysis. Companies react to problems like splinters, they pick at it, they are irritated by it and when they can’t do something about it they don’t go to the people that know how to fix it because they don’t like the answer or investment. They look for ‘experts’. In regulated industries, let’s call them consultants who do the same analysis that you have done but then they don’t give an F and put in a system that is oversimplified, on the most base ideas and implement. They do this because people recognize the problem but they don’t want to do the work. Consultants are necessary. They are the third party that tells you “hey, you better lose the weight because…”. And then they scare not only you but they scare the right boss with the right funds, or their job is on the line because they have been neglecting the issue for too long and there are receipts.
So back to introspection. F the duality. Be honest with yourself and your peers, and your management. Be consistently honest. Don’t be the person who has an agenda to increase their span of control. Be thoughtful. See where you are part of the problem. The regulator is going to bust you anyways, but if it is staring you in the face, and you don’t recognize and have the plan, you are not doing your job. Use the quality system. Effect the change in your area.
If you want to own your part of the world to make your life and the systems better here is a simple thing to think about. It may be a value differentiator between you and your other colleagues.
What problems do you deal with every day?
How does it impact what you do? Time, money, frustration, potential for introducing downstream errors, non-compliant with a rule or procedure? Cause rework?
Do other people deal with the same problem? Talk it out with your colleagues to find out (whoa…communication).
Why does it happen? No really, get into the problem without trying to take anyone down. Accountability, not blame.
Are there solutions to it? Can you phase solutions in so that it’s not a huge change or investment all at once?
Who do you need to talk to so you can make it happen? Can you take some agency and do it on your own?
Identification of your problems with artful packaging, marketing and communication of thoughtful and constructive analysis is the chef’s kiss of being a conscientious contributor. Be bold, be brave. You may fail, but failure is where we purposefully evolve. That is continuous improvement.
So, get over the fear, it is better to self identify and get it into the quality system with a clear action plan than to just sit there taking the regulatory hit when you knew dam well that you would not be where you are if you just listened to yourself. Oh and yes, if you can, call your grandma.