There’s always room for improvement
As part of our Customer Service Excellence (CSE) accreditation, here at the Lifelong Learning Centre (LLC) we strive to continuously improve the work we do to add value for our customers.
What do we mean by ‘Continuous Improvement’?
The concept of ‘Continuous Improvement’ (CI) is something that has become a real area of interest for me, leading me to join the CI coach programme at the University. CI coaches are trained and supported by Continuous Improvement Specialists to deliver ‘Introduction to CI’ training to teams across the institution, and to help with any projects that may be identified as a result of this work.
CI aims to empower everyone to look for ways to enhance processes, methods and practices within their organisation. The ‘Introduction to CI’ training is designed to support teams to embed CI in their day-to-day work, giving them the tools and the techniques to help them add value.
I recently co-delivered my first training session with Liz, one of the CI Specialists at Leeds, who started out as a CI coach. I’ve learnt so much from the programme already, not only about CI but also about the best ways of communicating change concepts to teams.
Liz and I thought it would be valuable to reflect on some aspects of the training, and of being a CI coach, sharing these reflections with anyone who’s interested in using CI in their work or maybe in joining the CI programme themselves.
Jenni’s reflections
I’ve felt really supported through my CI coach journey so far. I’ve had the opportunity to observe the ‘Introduction to CI’ training being delivered by other CI coaches, and to receive additional training on coaching and facilitation. This has given me the skills needed to confidently deliver the training to colleagues from across the University.
As part of the role, I also recently attended a ‘Christmas Market’ organised by Lean HE. This gave me a chance to meet like-minded colleagues from other institutions and gain insight into additional CI tools useful for implementing change, such as the ‘Lotus Blossom’ and ‘Hoshin Kanri’.
One of the areas I’ve found hardest to grasp has been developing the ability to ask ‘open’ questions well. Open questions are designed to encourage discussion and to find out more, as opposed to ‘closed’ questions which require a yes or a no answer — they’re key to good facilitation and finding opportunities for improvement.
The ‘5 Whys’ is a CI tool designed to get to the root cause of a problem, with open questions playing a key role. I feel I’ve started to get better at asking open questions since I’ve been delivering the training and can see how much of a difference this has made to the quality of the discussions I’ve been a part of.
Lots of useful tools were shared in the training, but I think my favourite is the ‘Ideas Shower’. It’s easy to use, gets everyone involved and creates some great points for discussion. Everyone’s asked to spend between 5 and 10 minutes writing down ideas around a topic on post-it notes or on an online platform, and then everyone votes for their top 3–5 ideas (depending on how many have been generated).
These ideas are then taken forward for further discussion. It’s a great way of creatively trying to come up with a solution to a problem and means that everyone can contribute. It’s a really versatile tool to use in any setting, not just as part of CI.
Now I’ve delivered my first training I’m looking forward to building on what I’ve already learnt. Being part of the CI coach programme has increased my enthusiasm about embedding CI in the work done by the LLC, and across the University of Leeds.
Liz’s reflections
Becoming a CI coach gave me a methodology and a toolkit which helped me focus the continuous improvement work I was already doing as part of the Global Opportunities team at Leeds.
Becoming a CI coach was quite a commitment but the training provided by the CI team, alongside that from the external provider No Guru, gave me the confidence to push forward with things. It also helped me realise that fixing smaller issues in a more structured way was sometimes more valuable than trying to address lots of issues as part of a bigger project.
Once on the CI training programme it was a delight to meet colleagues with a similar passion from across the organisation, and I’ve continued to network with and learn from fellow CI coaches ever since. My CI coaching role, together with 20 years of operational experience at the University, has led to me joining the Continuous Improvement Team (part of the Transformation Office) on a 12-month secondment as a CI Specialist.
An aspect of this role is to recruit and train the new cohorts of trainee coaches, as well as to develop CI training for the organisation. I’m thoroughly enjoying my move from a student-facing team to focusing on staff development, and helping to enable teams to embed a culture of continuous improvement in their own service areas.
If you work at the University of Leeds and would like to have a chat about the CI coach role, or how to go about gaining a Customer Service Excellence (CSE) accreditation for your team, feel free to get in touch with me.
If you’re interested in becoming a CI coach for your service area then please let me know by completing this form.
Do contact the CI Team at Leeds if you think we might be able to help you.
You can also join our Continuous Improvement Network to share advice, ask questions and network with others across the institution.
