Friday, July 8, 2011

Continuous improvement and realism

Edclick provides web-based applications for continuous improvement in education

Continuous improvement? Empowerment? Reduced workload? Teacher professionalism? Let me tell you about a teacher I know who can't control her class, is as interesting as a stump, doesn't get around to grading papers...

Sure, teachers are people. Some are smarter, more motivated, more exciting, more insightful and more industrious than others.  But here's the secret: poor performing organizations (schools, factories, fast food restaurants...) perform poorly because of the way they are run, not because the people in them are defective.

The way to improve an organization is to improve the organization, not replace the people. If an organization improves because the people were replaced, it's because the new folks figured out how to improve the organization.

Improving the organization means "improving they way we do things around here." It means improving processes, improving planning, improving goals, improving communcations, improving skills, improving leadership. It can mean all sorts of things and the particulars will depend upon the specific problems that need to be solved in an organization.

To improve your organization, start with improving your own outcomes and your own efficiency. Accumulate small improvements. Work with others so that they can benefit from your improvements and you can benefit from theirs.

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Keywords: continuous improvement