BSBSTR502 Student Workbook

Learner Resource
BSBSTR502
Facilitate continuous improvement
BSBSTR502 - Facilitate continuous improvement (Release 1)
1 Learner Resource Produced 30 October 2020
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Precision Group (Australia)

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Version Control & Document History
Date Summary of modifications Version
Version 1 final produced following assessment

30 October 2020 1.0
validation.

Learner Resource Produced 30 October 2020 3
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Table of Contents
ABOUT THE BUSINESS SERVICES TRAINING PACKAGE.....................................................6
ABOUT THIS UNIT OF COMPETENCY............................................................................8
CHAPTER 1: ESTABLISH SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES........................................................9

1.1 Identify Current Systems and Processes that Facilitate Continuous Improvement...10
1.2 Identify and Define Improvement Needs and Opportunities for the Organisation...21
1.3 Develop Decision-Making Processes to Assist Continuous Improvement and

Communicate to Relevant Stakeholders...................................................................23
1.4 Develop Strategies for Continuous Improvement and Encourage Team Members to
Participate in Decision-Making Processes..................................................................30
Activity 1......................................................................................................................... 41
Activity 2......................................................................................................................... 42
1.5 Develop Knowledge Management Systems to Capture Team Progress, Insights and
Experiences from Business Activities..........................................................................43
1.6 Develop New Systems and Processes that Facilitate Continuous

Improvement According to Improvement Needs and Opportunities....................45
1.7 Establish Processes that Confirm Team Members are Informed About Continuous
Improvement Outcomes.............................................................................................49
Activity 3......................................................................................................................... 51
Key Points: Chapter 1........................................................................................................ 53
Chapter 1 – ‘True’ or ‘False’ Quiz......................................................................................54

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CHAPTER 2: MONITOR AND ADJUST PERFORMANCE STRATEGIES..................................55

2.1 Confirm Relevant Systems and Processes Meet Organisation Sustainability
Requirements............................................................................................................56
2.2 Confirm Team Progress, Insights and Experiences are Captured and Accessible Using
Knowledge Management Systems.............................................................................61
2.3 Coach Individuals and Teams to Implement and Support Continuous

Improvement Systems and Processes........................................................................63
Activity 4......................................................................................................................... 68
2.4 Identify and Evaluate Ways in Which Planning and Operations Could Be Improved 69
Activity 5......................................................................................................................... 73
Activity 6......................................................................................................................... 74
2.5 Make Recommendations and Communicate Strategies to Relevant Stakeholders...75
CHAPTER 3: MANAGE OPPORTUNITIES FOR FURTHER IMPROVEMENT............................80

3.1 Evaluate Outcomes and Identify Opportunities for Improvement.............................81
3.2 Seek Feedback from Relevant Stakeholders on Systems and Processes....................84
3.3 Identify Other Areas for Improvement and Document Feedback for Future Planning
..................................................................................................................................... 86
Activity 7......................................................................................................................... 89
Activity 8......................................................................................................................... 90
SUMMARY............................................................................................................94
REFERENCES......................................................................................................... 95

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About the Business Services Training Package
The BSB Business Services Training Package covers a diverse range of industries and occupations.
Business Services covers a range of cross-industry functions and services supporting the commercial
activities of all industries.
Defining Qualifications
When units of competency are grouped into combinations that meet workplace roles, they are
called qualifications. These qualifications are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework
(AQF). Each qualification will have ‘packaging rules’ which establish the number of core units,
number and source of elective units and overall requirements for delivering the qualification.
Delivery and Assessment of Qualifications

RTOs must have the qualifications (or specific units of competency) on their scope to deliver
nationally recognised training and assessment. RTOs are governed by and must comply with the
requirements established by applicable national frameworks and standards. RTOs must ensure that
training and assessment complies with the relevant standards.

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Qualification Training Pathways

A pathway is the route or course of action taken to get to a destination. A training pathway is the
learning required to attain the competencies to achieve career goals. Everyone has different needs
and goals, and therefore requires a personalised and individual training pathway.
Foundation Skills
Foundation Skills are the non-technical skills that support the individual’s participation in the
workplace, in the community and in education and training.
Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF)

This Assessment meets the five ACSF core skills as described in the Foundation Skills mapping.

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About this Unit of Competency
BSBSTR502 - Facilitate continuous improvement

This unit standard BSBSTR502 Facilitate Continuous Improvement covers the skills and knowledge
required to lead and manage continuous improvement systems and processes. Particular
emphasis is on the development of systems and the analysis of information to monitor and adjust
performance strategies, and to manage opportunities for further improvements.
The unit applies to individuals who take an active role in managing a continuous improvement
process in order to achieve an organisation’s objectives. At this level, work will normally be carried
out using complex and diverse methods and procedures which require the exercise of considerable
discretion and judgement, using a range of problem-solving and decision-making strategies.
This Learner Resource is broken up into three elements. These include:
1. Establish systems and processes
2. Monitor and adjust performance strategies
3. Manage opportunities for further improvement
At the end of this training, you will be asked to complete an assessment pack for this unit of
competency. You will need to access a supervisor, a manager, or your assessor who can observe you
perform project or workplace tasks and verify your competency or performance.
On competent completion of the assessment, you must have demonstrated skills and knowledge
required to facilitate continuous improvement.

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Chapter 1: Establish Systems and Processes
Continuous improvement is the ongoing improvement of products, services, or processes through

incremental and breakthrough improvements, depending on the approach.
Continuous improvement takes form in certain processes in the workplace. Think of it as a support
for the other systems and processes, pushing them towards their best and most efficient versions.
For you to facilitate continuous improvement in your workplace, you must start with pinpointing
what systems are in place first. Identifying the current systems will help you understand your work
team’s improvement needs and find other opportunities for improvement.
Since continuous improvement affects everyone, it is essential that your team members are part of
the decisions made for it. The continuous improvement systems cannot function when they are not
based on you and your work team’s decisions.
This chapter will discuss how you can identify the continuous improvement systems and processes in
your workplace and their needs. It will also discuss how you can develop decision-making processes
and strategies to encourage your work team to be part of decision-making in your workplace.

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1.1 Identify Current Systems and Processes that Facilitate Continuous Improvement
Your workplace should have systems and processes for continuous improvement (CI). Systems
facilitating continuous improvement refer to the methods used by the organisation to communicate
relevant information about continuous improvement. Processes facilitating continuous improvement
refer to the step-by-step actions that the organisation takes to implement its strategy for continuous
improvement.
Any well-run organisation would have continuous improvement processes in place because it
positively affects output quality, productivity, worker satisfaction, and profitability. It also helps
lower costs and reduces the worker turnover rate.
As mentioned earlier, continuous improvement is the ongoing improvement of products, services,
and processes in an organisation. The following sections will describe examples of continuous
improvement systems and processes in the workplace and how you can identify them.
1.1.1 Systems for Continuous Improvement

Knowledge Management Systems
Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) capture, store, and retrieve knowledge used
within a business. Businesses use this system to quickly communicate changes or
improvements done during continuous improvement to relevant individuals. The system
also stores organisational information that can be used as a basis for further continuous
improvement.
Performance Management Systems

Performance Management Systems monitor the performance of an organisation and its
employees. Businesses use this system to review three areas – functions, activities and
information systems – to help determine ways to improve planning and operations.
The relationship between quality improvement (QI) and performance management (PM)
is mutually reinforcing. However, sometimes the connection between them is not always
so well-defined. For the past several years, leaders have placed great emphasis on
embracing QI within their organisations.
PM is the enterprise-wide effort to harness the power of all the organisational quality
initiatives taking place and to align them to achieve strategic priorities. Also known as ‘Big
QI,’ PM is within the view of leadership to establish parameters and guide the system.

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1.1.2 Knowledge Management Systems

An effective knowledge management system will acquire, organise, and communicate
information so that employees can make more effective and productive use of their time and
work.
There are different knowledge management systems. The systems commonly used include:
Best Practice Transfer
Transferring best practices is a complex management process, which requires the support
of expert facilitators and change agents. It is defined as a process of identifying and
learning from best practices and applying them in a new configuration or a new location.
The key factor in this knowledge management system is to make the ‘recipients of best
practices’ understand the need for the implementation of best practices. Managers of the
recipient organisation should focus on how to create this perception among their
employees.
Essentially, the transfer of best practices demands changes in performance,
communication, and behaviour. Therefore, the two parties involved in the exchange of
best practices, ‘the source’ and ‘the recipient’ should work together on the teaching,
learning, and improvement process.

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Communities of Practice
Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in the process of collective
learning in a shared domain of human endeavour. In this context, it refers to a gathering
of first-time managers helping each other cope.
They are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and
learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. Not everything called a ‘community’ is
a community of practice.
These three characteristics are crucial:
 The Domain
Membership implies a commitment to the domain, and therefore, a shared
competence that distinguishes members from other people. The domain is not
necessarily something recognised as ‘expertise’ outside the community.
 The Community
Members engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share
information. They build relationships that enable them to learn from each other;
they care about their standing with each other. Having the same job or the same
title does not make for a community of practice unless members interact and
learn together. Members of a community of practice do not necessarily work
together on a daily basis.
 The Practice
A community of practice is not merely a community of interest. Members of a
community of practice are practitioners. They develop a shared repertoire of
resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems. This
takes time and sustained interaction. The development of a shared practice may
be more or less self-conscious.

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Proximity and Architecture

Proximity and architecture relate to the closeness or linked impact of other initiatives that
may influence the quality of the one under review.
 How interactive are they?
 Are they/is either sufficient to influence the quality outcomes of either?
Understanding how initiatives influence each other contributes to knowledge
management since you can then recognise the relationship of different initiatives. This is
important because your initiatives do not exist in isolation and would have an effect on
each other.
Social Software
Social software allows an organisation to communicate, respond to changes, and make
decisions more efficiently. It encourages informal interaction and helps people organise
themselves based on community participation and information sharing. Many experts
associate social software with specific types of tools, such as blogs, wikis, tagging, and
social bookmark services.
Social software is important for continuous improvement because it is necessary to keep
up with the constant technological advances of society. The need to adapt to the changes
and competition caused by globalisation and innovation motivates businesses and
organisations to use social software.
It allows organisations to easily store and access information on past solutions they have
developed to solve problems as well. It is near impossible for you to experience an
unforeseen problem. With social software, you can go over the ways which your
organisation has solved problems before and use that information to deal with the new
problem, rather than having to come up with a solution from nothing.

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Cross-Project Learning
Cross-project learning is the ability of organisations to implement tools and practices to
learn from current and past project experiences. This accumulated knowledge is shared
within the organisation to enable project team members, management and, in most
cases, project managers to improve future project-related strategies, decisions, etc.
The main purpose of knowledge sharing is to enable continuous improvement and
conversely to ensure that project implementation does not deteriorate.
Expert Directories
An expert directory is used to provide a place on the organisational intranet, where people
go to discover which others hold the knowledge required to achieve business objectives.
To be effective, it must integrate and unify the data from multiple existing, often different,
identity and information repositories. Considerations include how to connect with each
repository, how to avoid costly duplication of data, and what rules are applied when
cataloguing or tagging data.
Knowledge Brokers’ Knowledge Mapping

A knowledge broker is an intermediary (an organisation or a person) that aims to develop
relationships and networks with, among, and between producers and users of knowledge
by providing linkages, knowledge sources and, in some cases, knowledge itself (e.g.
technical know-how, market insights, research evidence) to organisations in its network.
While the exact role and function of knowledge brokers are conceptualised and
operationalised differently in various sectors and settings, a key feature appears to be the
facilitation of knowledge exchange or sharing between and among various stakeholders,
including researchers, practitioners and policy-makers.
Knowledge mapping is a process of surveying, associating items of information or
knowledge. It is done in such a way that the mapping itself also creates additional
knowledge determining, for example, where knowledge assets are and how they flow in
the system.
Based on Knowledge mapping: Getting started with knowledge management.

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Knowledge Repositories
A knowledge repository is a computerised system that systematically captures, organises
and categorises an organisation’s knowledge. The repository can be searched, and data
can be quickly retrieved. Its perusal is one of the first lines of actions in continuous
improvement as it should contain records of the organisation’s history, which can greatly
inform developmental decisions moving forward.
Measuring and Reporting Intellectual Capital

Each intellectual capital item must be identified as intellectual revenue and intellectual
expenses having an impact on the statement of income, or as intellectual assets and
intellectual liabilities having an impact on the balance sheet. Ratios are used to monitor
operational and strategic performance.

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1.1.3 Performance Management Systems

Effective performance management systems clearly communicate what is expected of
workers’ jobs. They allow the organisation to better support their workers in efficiently
completing tasks and achieving their job’s goals. They also allow for the evaluation of
individual performance in the workplace. Some examples of performance management
systems include:
Post-Project Reviews
As soon as possible after an initiative has been handed over and all of the outstanding
issues identified have been resolved, a review of the performance of all the organisations,
firms, and individuals involved in the design and delivery of the project is to be
undertaken. In particular, performance is to be assessed in the following areas:

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Quality of the contributions to the project outcomes
The extent of any constructive input
The extent of any disruptive or destructive input
Response to the requirements of the customer and the

organisation
Accuracy and comprehensiveness of documentation and

instructions provided during the project
Quality and accuracy of record-keeping
Compliance with the organisation’s project management

framework
Quality of reporting to the managers, customers, and the

organisation’s senior management
Ability/willingness to make decisions that could improve

project outcomes
Responsiveness and timeliness with regard to requests for

information, requests for decisions, and requests for directions
Accuracy, comprehensiveness, and timeliness of

documentation provided to the organisation

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Technological Performance Appraisal

Technological performance appraisal involves evaluating an employee’s technical
proficiency, skills, and knowledge. The technical aspects of an employee’s work tasks and
activities are given higher importance. This performance management system is usually
applied to workplaces where the development of technical skills is the benchmark for
being promoted. This type of performance management focuses on individual skills, such
as:
 Programming
 Data analysis
 Software proficiency
Mentoring
Mentoring is most often defined as a professional relationship in which an experienced
person (the mentor) assists another (the mentee) in further developing their skills,
knowledge, and potential to enhance their professional and personal growth. Mentoring
is a focused approach to professional development and gives an opportunity for
constructive reflection with a mentor who will be open, honest, and impartial.
The underpinning philosophy of Mentoring for Leading Quality is of self-management and
self-ownership. Engagement between all mentors and mentees takes place on a voluntary
basis. Mentors and mentees agree when and where to meet, and on the frequency and
length of their sessions.

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1.1.4 Continuous Improvement Processes

As mentioned earlier, processes for continuous improvement refer to the step-by-step actions
that the organisation takes to implement its strategy for continuous improvement. Different
organisations will have different continuous improvement processes, depending on the needs
of their employees. To help you identify these processes in your organisation, some examples
are discussed below.
Surveys
Conducting a survey is an example of a process for continuous improvement. Surveys such
as customer surveys and post-workgroup surveys can provide valuable information that
can help you measure the success of your continuous improvement efforts. The surveys
should focus on the following questions:
 What are you doing right?
 What needs to be changed or improved to increase the quality of your products
and services?
 What improvements do clients and customers want to see in the future?
Meetings
Staff meetings allow you to discuss your business’s or organisation’s continuous
improvement efforts as a group. It is important that different meetings are regularly held
involving different levels of the organisation.
The focus of these meetings should be what can be done for continuous improvement,
based on your customers’ reviews and complaints about your products and services, and
what is being done for continuous improvement, based on the performance of your staff
and the current systems and processes that are being implemented for CI.
Training Programs
You can cross-train your employees and give them the skills and knowledge to work in
different positions in your organisation. This contributes to continuous improvement by
giving your employees a better understanding of the different processes in your
organisation, which can help them identify more opportunities for improvement. They will
be able to provide more valuable insights because they will have firsthand experience of the
different positions that they have undertaken.

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1.1.5 Identifying Continuous Improvement Systems and Processes

As a facilitator of continuous improvement, it is your responsibility to know how to identify
your organisation’s continuous improvement systems and processes.
Your organisation should have its own policies and procedures for quality management.
Among those policies and procedures is continuous improvement. It is usually found in the
staff handbook, specifically in the sections about organisational policies and procedures. This
information should be transparent and communicated to everyone in the workplace.
Below is an example of a company’s continuous improvement procedures:
Sample Continuous Improvement Processes
Bounce Fitness is a fitness and wellness provider servicing Queensland, New South Wales,
and Victoria. You work as a team leader of fitness instructors. You are tasked with
informing your team of the company’s continuous improvement processes.
When facilitating continuous improvement, designated Bounce Fitness employees must

adhere to the following steps:
Consultation
Client Consultation: Post workgroup surveys will be sent to Direct Managers. In addition,
interviews may be held with managers or HR.
Client Consultation: Customer questionnaires are handed out/emailed to Clients at the

end of June and December annually.
Staff meetings: These meetings are held as detailed below, and minutes and agreed
actions are recorded on the server.
 Review complaints and appeals and their resolution

 Weekly team meetings in Centres and HO
 Monthly teleconferences for all staff in all centres
 Quarterly conferences for Centre Manager and Assistant Manager
 Annual General Meeting - Management
 Annual Team Building Day - All staff

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In addition to the sample above, you must also be sufficiently aware of the organisational
policies and procedures on relevant digital systems and decision-making processes. As with
any other internal requirement, the policies and procedures regarding these would vary per
workplace. To guide you in determining which policies and procedures you must refer to in
your endeavour, the following discussion and examples are put forth.
Relevant Digital Systems

Relevant digital systems are any in your organisation that you will use to facilitate
continuous improvement. These would include platforms for communicating, storing data,
etc.
In the case of Bounce Fitness, there are a number of policies and procedures that would
fall under this. Such include:
 Digital Information Storage and Security Policy and Procedure
 Management of Electronic Information Protection Policies and Procedures
 Spreadsheeting Policy and Procedures
Decision-Making Processes
Decision-making processes are different within every organisation. As with any other
process, the best way to determine how decision-making is done within your workplace is
to refer to policies and procedures that would provide guidance on this.
In the case of Bounce Fitness, a sample of policies and procedures that are relevant to
decision-making processes is Policies and Procedures for Meetings. This is because the
meeting is an avenue through which many decisions are made. Such document may prove
to be a useful reference that would provide guidance on how decisions are to be made.
Further Reading
To find examples of policies and procedures relevant to your
endeavour, visit the website of the simulated business, Bounce
Fitness.
Policies and Procedures

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1.2 Identify and Define Improvement Needs and Opportunities for the Organisation
Improvement needs are areas that need improvement to meet certain standards such as legislative
or organisational requirements. On the other hand, improvement opportunities are the areas or
gaps where improvement can happen but is not required.
You must be able to identify both needs and opportunities because in the process of doing so, you
can gather the information that will help you develop processes and strategies for continuous
improvement.
1.2.1 Identifying Improvement Needs and Opportunities
Internal Process Audits

A good way to identify your organisation’s improvement needs is by conducting an internal
process audit. A process audit involves examining the results from the processes in a
workplace to determine whether those results were achieved efficiently. It is usually
performed by internal auditors who are workers within the organisation.
A process audit consists of four phases:
PLANNING
Define the objectives of the audit
Identify who is involved in the audit
Create an audit plan for identifying
improvement needs
FOLLOW-UP FIELDWORK
Ensure that the recommendations were Execute the audit plan
implemented to address the findings Interview key personnel about
organisational processes
Review relevant documents
REPORTING
Create a report of all the information
gathered from the audit
It should contain realistic
recommendations for improving
organisational processes

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Opportunities for improvement are present in every organisation. Facilitating continuous

improvement is simply a matter of acknowledging and addressing those opportunities. Those
opportunities come from the members of your work team.
Gap Analysis
A way for you to identify opportunities for improvement is to conduct a gap analysis. When it
comes to processes, you will be comparing the current performance of a process to its desired
future state. This can be applied to any process or procedure that your organisation has in
place.
The key performance indicators (KPIs) that you will observe are usually quality, cost, and time.
Steps of conducting a gap analysis on a process are as follows:
Understand the current state

Review your current processes for continuous improvement and discuss areas that can be
improved.
Define the desired future state

The future state is the ideal version of continuous improvement processes you want for
your organisation.
Identify and document the gap

The gap is the difference between how you want your processes to function and how they
currently function.
Plan to evolve to future state

Develop a project plan for reforming or redesigning your work procceses to meet your
organisational objectives.
Remember that when conducting a gap analysis, your goal is to identify what gaps you need to
fill to improve your workplace’s processes. For example, when conducting a gap analysis on
your workplace’s production process, you will be evaluating the quality, costs, and the amount
of time it takes to produce an output.

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1.3 Develop Decision-Making Processes to Assist Continuous Improvement and

Communicate to Relevant Stakeholders
A decision-making process is a method used by an organisation to make decisions about important
aspects of the workplace. One of those important aspects is continuous improvement. Having a
decision-making process would help you make better and more profitable decisions for the
continuous improvement of your work team and organisation.
The decision-making processes that you develop will, of course, impact your work team. It is crucial
to ensure that all the relevant stakeholders know about the decision-making processes that you
develop. In this case, the relevant stakeholders are those in your workplace that participate in the
decision-making and are affected by the decisions made.
The following sections will discuss how you can develop a decision-making process and how you can
communicate it to your work team.
1.3.1 Developing Decision-Making Processes

An organisation will have many decision-making processes depending on the decision that
needs to be made. In this case, the decisions that you need to make involve continuous
improvement. When developing a decision-making process, you must consider the following:
The Organisational Policies and Procedures for Continuous Improvement

Your organisation should have policies and procedures for continuous improvement in the
workplace. These policies and procedures will serve as your guide for creating a decision-
making process because they provide valuable information about your organisation’s
continuous improvement needs and opportunities, which you need to determine what
type of decision-making process to develop. Think of these as your guidelines and follow
them to make sure that the decision-making process you develop will help you make
better decisions about continuous improvement.
The Relevant Stakeholders

This will be discussed in further detail later, but the relevant stakeholders are the people
in your organisation that are involved in or influenced by your continuous improvement.
You must consider who will be making the decisions and who will be affected by them.
How will you arrive at a decision? Will it be decided by the majority? Will it be decided by
someone with authority? Who will be affected by the decision and how?

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The Continuous Improvement Needs and Opportunities

Developing process must involve considering the improvement needs and opportunities
that you have identified and how you intend to address them. These are relevant
information that can influence the decisions that you need to make for continuous
improvement.
1.3.2 The Decision-Making Process

How your organisation makes decisions will depend on its goals. Every organisation should
have a decision-making process in place that helps it make smarter decisions. To develop the
best decision-making processes for your work team, you must get to know the business
decision-making process.
The seven steps of the decision-making process are as follows:
Identify the decision to be made
Gather relevant information
Identify the options
Evaluate the evidence
Choose among the options
Take action
Review your decision

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To better understand how you can use the process to facilitate continuous improvement, each
step will be briefly explained:
1. Identify the decision to be made.
The first step of the decision-making process for any organisation is to identify what
decision must be made. In continuous improvement, this refers to the need to
improve an area or system. This step requires designated individuals to look at parts
of the organisation that may be underperforming and determine whether or not they
will need to go through continuous improvement.
2. Gather relevant information.

The next step is to gather information related to the chosen decision to be made. In
continuous improvement, this will require designated individuals to conduct research
on what aspects of the selected area or system are underperforming. They will also
look into other relevant information, such as other processes that may be affected by
the change.
3. Identify the options.

The relevant information gathered in the previous step will lead to several different
options popping up. In continuous improvement, these options refer to the
approaches that designated individuals can take to improve the area or system
identified. They must list down these options for review in the next step.
4. Evaluate the evidence.

This step requires the gathered information to be reviewed and evaluated. In
continuous improvement, designated individuals must determine the benefits and
costs of each of the identified options using the information gathered. They must also
consider the positive and negative impacts of each option on the system or process
that they aim to improve. This includes impacts on other relevant processes of the
organisation as well.
5. Choose among the options.

This step is where individuals decide on which option to take. In continuous
improvement, designated individuals must consider which option will have the most
benefits and the least negative impacts on the organisation. They can also decide to
use a combination of options after evaluating the evidence for and against each
approach.

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6. Take action.
After selecting which option to take, it must then be put into action. In continuous
improvement, designated individuals must implement the option they chose in the
previous step. Examples of their implementation include conducting training,
acquiring new resources, or communicating the change to relevant personnel.
7. Review your decision.

The last step of the process is to review the results of the action taken. In continuous
improvement, designated individuals must check whether the action taken was able
to achieve the goal. If it was not able to, designated individuals might need to repeat
certain steps of the process to improve their decision.

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1.3.3 Identifying Relevant Stakeholders in Decision-Making

After you have developed a decision-making process, you must communicate it to the
relevant stakeholders. Stakeholders are the members of your organisation who influence or
are influenced by the decisions made for continuous improvement. Depending on their
position, they can have a certain relationship with the decision-making process.
Stakeholders could include:

Business or government contacts
Funding bodies
Individuals within the work team
Internal and external contacts
Organisation’s clients and customers
Professional associations
Senior management and board members
Unions and employee groups
Remember that whoever you determine to be a stakeholder must be informed of the

decision-making processes that you develop. As a facilitator of continuous improvement, your
responsibility is to know who these stakeholders are and how continuous improvement
affects them.

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Types of Stakeholders
Primary Stakeholders
Primary stakeholders are those directly affected by the decisions made for continuous
improvement. They may be affected negatively or positively. It is possible for both to exist in a
single situation. For example, your work team might be positively affected by a more frequent
cleaning schedule for their work area, but the cleaning staff is negatively affected due to a
heavier workload.
Secondary Stakeholders
Secondary stakeholders are indirectly affected by the decisions made for continuous
improvement. For example, your organisation may decide to implement a training program
for managing workplace health and safety. This indirectly affects visitors in your workplace by
reducing the likelihood of risks occurring when they are present.
Tertiary Stakeholders
Tertiary stakeholders are neither primary nor secondary stakeholders but have an impact on
the decision-making process for continuous improvement. The most common example is the
head of an organisation, who is likely to oversee the decisions for continuous improvement.
They can also be the members of your work team whose inputs contribute to the information
gathered for decision-making.

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1.3.4 Communication Methods

There are many methods for communicating the decision-making process that you develop.
The methods that you can use include:
Meetings
This is one of the most common ways to communicate. Meetings can vary from only one
person to thousands based on message and audience. It is up to you to maximise every
minute of the time spent to have a dialogue. Make sure it is a dialogue and not a
monologue. It is the best way as verbal and nonverbal cues enhance communication and
avoid misinterpretation.
Conference Calls
These days, this is the most common way of communicating as it does not require the
time and expense of travel. Dialogue is dependent on voice intonation and clarity of the
verbal message. It only requires the cost of a phone call, and there are many paid and free
services that will facilitate the use of a conference call line for many people to dial into. It
is also a common way for classes to be recorded and replayed when it is convenient for
you.
Newsletters/Emails/Posters
This strategy can be considered as one-way communication and utilises emailed updates,
hard copy brochures, posters, and newsletters both mailed or emailed. One of the
weaknesses is that messages are delivered, and you cannot gauge if they were read and
understood or deleted as sometimes there is no feedback. That immediate feedback is
valuable for strengthening your message and making sure impacts and feedback are quickly
received.

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1.4 Develop Strategies for Continuous Improvement and Encourage Team Members to
Participate in Decision-Making Processes
To successfully facilitate continuous improvement, you must be able to motivate your work team to
be a part of the decision-making processes you have developed. As mentioned earlier, decision-
making processes have key stakeholders. In this case, those key stakeholders are you and the
members of your team.
Their participation is important in the decision-making process because they are directly involved in
the work done in your organisation. They can provide helpful input based on their personal
experiences as members of your work team. Since management cannot always be present in every
level of the organisation, they lack firsthand observations of some processes in place.
1.4.1 Developing Strategies for Continuous Improvement

A strategy for continuous improvement is a general outline of what an organisation does to
facilitate the ongoing improvement of products, services, or processes through incremental
and breakthrough improvements. When developing a strategy, you should consider the
following factors:
The Persons Involved in Continuous Improvement

As discussed earlier, there are different types of stakeholders that are affected by
continuous improvement. When developing a continuous improvement strategy, you
must have a clear understanding of who is involved in implementing and who is affected
by the continuous improvement strategy.
You can refer to the discussion in Section 1.3.3 to help you identify the different persons
that are involved in continuous improvement.
The Decision-Making Process

Different strategies may also require different decision-making processes. You can identify
the appropriate decision-making process for your strategy based on the continuous
improvement goals that the strategy is for. You can refer to the discussion in Section 1.3.2
about the business decision-making process to give you an understanding of what
decision-making process would work for the continuous improvement strategy that you
will develop.

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The Continuous Improvement Needs and Opportunities

Simply put, your continuous improvement needs and opportunities serve as the
foundation of the strategy that you will develop. You must ensure to address needs and
opportunities with your strategy so that you come up with the best one possible. Section
1.2 of this unit provides a discussion on how to identify the improvement needs and
opportunities for the organisation.
Internal and External Requirements

Another factor you must consider in developing strategies for continuous improvement
would be the requirements with which you must align your efforts. These are your
internal requirements (i.e. policies and procedures) and external requirements (i.e. pieces
of legislation and sustainability requirements) that are relevant to your endeavour. You
must make sure that the strategy you come up with is compliant with these requirements.
They are in place to guarantee that, at the very minimum, all your efforts meet the
standards that must be upheld by all businesses.
As you develop a strategy for continuous improvement, you must ensure that it is aligned with
your organisation’s policies and procedures, goals, and values. Continuous improvement is for
the entire organisation, and that should be evident in the efforts to support it.
1.4.2 Team Participation Tools

There is a range of tools that can be used to encourage your team to participate in the
decision-making process. Each of these tools has its own use, and the tool you use will depend
on the nature of the problem. Some of the most common types of tools are:
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is the free, uninhibited generation of ideas, usually in a group setting. It
allows each participant to state their opinions in a non-threatening environment. You
should use brainstorming to unite a group with diverse ideas and needs. Brainstorming
begins with selecting a recorder and group facilitator. Then you begin to generate ideas.
These ideas are recorded and discussed.

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Steps involved in brainstorming include:
Select someone to lead the session and someone to record all ideas as they are
generated.
Discuss with the group the idea or problem and be sure that this is clear in
everybody’s mind.
Ensure that you have rules in place to keep the session on track.
Begin brainstorming and make sure that everyone gets a chance to share their
ideas.
After brainstorming is finished, step back and evaluate the responses; group
similar ideas and delete anything that is off track.
Below is an example of a typical brainstorming diagram:
Weaknesses
Assests Strengths
Product
Advertising Stores
Marketing Wholesalers
Promotion Placement
Plan
Personal Selling Direct sales

Price
Low High

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Check Sheets
The second quality tool to examine is the Check Sheet. A Check Sheet is used to gather
data and analyse the data that you have gathered. Your work team should attempt to
gather data using this chart that outlines how often something might be happening and
the types of problems that you are experiencing.
The process of creating a Check Sheet includes:
1. Identify how you will make your measurements.
This may include looking at the problem you are trying to resolve, who will need
to use the information, and who will be tasked with actually collecting the data.
Using appropriate technology and investing some time to build the Check Sheet
template will allow the work team to collect the best measurements.
2. Using the template that you have created, gather the data.
This will involve looking at each event and recording it onto the template so that
your team will have an accurate measure of how often an event is occurring. Have
your team members that are assigned with data collection work at different times
throughout the observation period to gather as much data as possible.
3. Total up each row and each column as well as the total number of events that
occurred during the specified time.
Ensure that the team members in charge of data analysis clarify the records with
the team members tasked with data collection.
4. Analyse the collected data and make a decision as a team based on the findings.
The members tasked with data analysis must develop conclusions based on the
collected data. These conclusions must be shared and discussed with the work
team so that they can collectively make a decision for continuous improvement.
Below is an example of a Check Sheet. In this case, your team is attempting to determine if
specific quality issues occur more frequently on given days of the week. This is done by
measuring all defects that occurred during manufacturing on a given day of the week.
Tota
Defects / Mistakes Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri
l
Incomplete paint II I II I III 9
Dents III IIII I I I 10
Missing parts III II 6

I
Poor quality I I 2
Total 6 5 7 4 5 27
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Mind Mapping
A Mind Map is a concept used to organise ideas in a way that is easy to track and
understand. It is particularly useful when conducting problem-solving exercises such as
quality improvement.
The Mind Map is designed around a central issue, and then from this, you provide linkages
to facts, data, and other relevant information. Each member of the work team should be
given an opportunity to provide something that is relevant to the central issue. By doing
this, each member builds up, on the Mind Map, an overall picture of the problem at hand.
A Mind Map is considered simple to comprehend because of the way that it displays each
of the major linkages between issues and problems.
The Mind Map takes a very different approach to the list of ideas that come from a
brainstorming session. It will allow your work team to see the way a problem is organised
and the importance of various factors in relation to the issue at hand. Your team will often
find that a good Mind Map is able to express much more information than a list and in a
much smaller and easier to understand space. Below is an example of a mind map that
illustrates a work team’s challenges in meeting their performance standards.
Lack of
delegation
Lack of trust Lack of rapport
Challenges
Lack of
Poor planning
resources

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Cause and Effect Diagram

These are also known as Fishbone Diagrams. The diagram looks somewhat like a fishbone,
with the problem or defect (the effect) defined as the head. On the bones growing out of
the spine, the team should list possible causes of production problems, in order of
possible occurrence. The chart can help point out how various separate problem causes
may interact. It also shows how the various possible problem causes occur with respect to
one another, over time, helping to start the problem-solving process.
An example of a Cause and Effect Diagram is provided below. Cause and Effect Diagrams
are useful in group situations as they allow everyone to get together and attempt to
resolve any problems that have developed.
Lack of Poor
Timeframes
Training Procedures
Incomplete Missing
Paint Parts
DEFECTS
Dents Poor Quality
Poor Poor
Machinery
Handling Training

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Nominal Group Technique

The Nominal Group Technique is a quality improvement technique that is used to allow a
group of individuals to come together, discuss an issue, and quickly reach a valid
conclusion. This conclusion may be the solution to a known problem. The technique will
find solutions and, using discussion, rank these according to the priorities for the solution.
The Nominal Group Technique follows a number of key stages. These are:
Create a list of ideas or solutions using the techniques outlined previously.

These are what you will be working with to establish your consensus on
the decision.
Ensure that everyone has a copy of all these topics.
Delete anything that is repeated or off-topic.
Spend time clarifying statements that you feel need it.
Provide a final list of solutions or statements, with each of these numbered

so that they can be easily identified.
Have each team member rank these in their personal order of preference.
For example, you may use the number 5 as the most important and the
number 1 as the least important.

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Go back to the check sheet and try to generate some ideas on why these defects may be
occurring. You may end up with the following five options:
A. Poor training
B. Poor materials
C. No processes in place
D. Staff numbers too low
E. Lack of managerial oversight
You would then ask all team members to rank these according to how they feel they
impact on the defects that are occurring within the department. Then combine the
rankings of all team members.
Example:
Defect Causes Jane Bob Jack June Mack Total
A. Poor training 4 5 2 2 1 14
B. Poor materials 5 4 5 3 5 22
C. No processes
3 1 3 4 4 15
in place
D. Staff numbers
1 2 1 5 2 11
too low
E. Lack of
managerial 2 3 4 1 3 13
oversight
In this case, B. Poor materials, would be the highest priority. The team would work on
this first and then move through the rest of the list as needed.

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Consensus
Consensus means finding an option that all team members will support.
 Consensus does NOT mean that everyone is totally happy with the decision.
 To reach consensus, you need to consider the ideas, feelings, and situations of all
team members, not just of a few or even just of the majority.
 Reaching consensus usually takes a lot of discussion time and requires skills in
resolving differences of opinion.
 The investment in time is usually not worth it; however, consensus decisions can
often be implemented since they are supported by the entire team.
 Use consensus for complex or important decisions that require the coordination
and understanding of all team members.
Voting
 Each team member gets one vote. The choice with the most votes wins.
 This process is easy and familiar.
 It is okay to take a vote for relatively unimportant decisions but remember; it can
leave the ‘losers’ feeling left out.
 While taking a vote is a faster way to make the decision, pushing for consensus
often makes implementation much faster!
 Explore important issues by polling.
o Go around once and ask each member to state how they vote.
o Then do a round where people briefly give one or two reasons for their vote.
Storyboarding
Storyboarding is a technique used to organise and visually display information.
Storyboarding works best with a small group of usually five (5) to eight (8) people, but it
can also be used with large groups that are divided into smaller groups.
It requires a quiet, comfortable room without outside distractions. The room must have
clear walls, so papers and cards of all sizes and shapes can be taped to them. It takes a lot
of wall space! Also, the key to the Storyboarding process is a skilled facilitator that the
group recognises as being fair and unbiased.

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Six Hat Thinking

This problem-solving technique forces team members to go outside their comfort zone
and think in ways that they traditionally do not do. Teams often end up in what is known
as ‘group think’ where the team would rather stick within their comfort zone. This leads to
them being unwilling to come up with new ideas. Each of the six (6) coloured thinking hats
represents a different way of looking at a problem.
White Hat
White is all about logic and looking at the data. You are focusing on
what data is already there and are trying to find ways to learn from
this.
You might look for gaps in the data, where there are errors in the
data, or even try to forecast the future based on the data.
Red Hat
Red is the colour of love and, like love, the red hat is about gut
instinct. You look at the problem focusing on your gut and emotion.
What does your heart say? How will people react to the decisions
made?
Black Hat
Black hat thinking is aimed at spotting little flaws in the plan that,
over time, may make the whole thing come apart.
With black hat thinking, you can make solutions stronger and more
appropriate to the decisions being made.
Yellow Hat
Someone wearing the yellow hat must always look at every solution,
with as must positivity and enthusiasm as possible.
If implementing a given solution, what are the benefits, why will it
succeed? Even if there is nothing going for a solution, the yellow hat
will find something good about it.
Green Hat
The green hat takes the role of the creative thinker.
You will just generate all sorts of crazy ideas, some of which will
work, others which will not.
But generating as many ideas as possible will assist you in finding
that one idea that works.
Blue Hat
Finally, the blue hat thinker has to think about control and
processes.
Generally, this will be the person running the meeting and they will
be in charge of ensuring that everyone is keeping on track with what
needs to be done.

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1.4.3 Obstacles to Team Participation

Obstacles to team participation are present in any workplace, and you must understand them
to overcome them. This section will discuss some examples of those obstacles. These
obstacles are:
Inequality of Contribution
It is often the case that contributions by team members are not equal. That is, one
member of a team is more likely to be involved in a meeting than other team members. In
these cases, it is important to ensure that you allow all team members to contribute.
Actively seek the opinions of those who are not active and encourage a supportive team
atmosphere.
Foundering
Foundering is essentially the sinking of a meeting or team problem-solving exercise. It
takes its name from the definition ‘sinking of a ship’. A meeting can be likened in many
ways to a ship. If a correct course is not steered, the ship can run aground and be sunk.
So, foundering is where the meeting has gone so wrong that nothing is achieved.
Whenever a team gets together, there is potential for foundering to occur.
Resistance to Change
Resistance to change is a big obstacle to the participation of team members. If a team
member is reluctant to change, they are unlikely to be willing to participate in any activity
that would force their work ethic to change. Some common reasons for reluctance to
change include:

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Uncertainty about the causes and effects of change
Unwillingness to give up existing benefits or self-interest
Awareness of weaknesses in the changes proposed
Lack of trust and understanding
Peer pressure
Conservatism
Different assessments
Complexity

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Activity 1
Match the team participation tool to the description by drawing a line between them.
TEAM
DESCRIPTION
PARTICIPATION TOOL
This is used to allow a

group of individuals to
Brainstorming come together, discuss an
issue, and quickly reach a
valid conclusion.
This is also known as a

Fishbone Diagram and
Mind Map
shows various problem
causes may interact.
It is designed around a
central issue and requires
Cause and Effect Diagram each team member to
provide facts, data, and
other relevant information.
This is the free, uninhibited

Check Sheet generation of ideas,
generally in a group setting.
This is a tool used to gather

Nominal Group Technique
and analyse data.

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Activity 2
Below is a scenario that presents a problem. Based on the Six Hat Thinking technique,
place the correct hat next to the problem response where it is most applicable.
You and your work team are one of the marketing teams for a pioneer smartphone
brand. The brand’s last flagship release was poorly received by the public because of an
unforeseen hardware malfunction. The malfunction causes the phone to shut off at
random times during phone calls. You have been tasked with creating a campaign to
respond to the issue.
‘We must do research on the malfunction and measure the public’s

opinion before we create a campaign.’
‘I feel that we should publicly apologise for the failure of our release. It is
obvious that they are upset, and we should acknowledge our mistakes.’
‘Let’s do our best! If we focus on the great things our company has done,
we can remind our customers why they’ve always trusted us and turn
things around.’
‘I’m scheduling a meeting for our team tomorrow morning. We should

discuss everything and lay down some objectives.’
‘What if we send out a voucher labelled #Sorry for our online store to
everyone that bought our last phone?’
‘A voucher would make our customers feel like we don’t care about the
problem. That approach might make our company come off as insincere.’

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1.5 Develop Knowledge Management Systems to Capture Team Progress, Insights and
Experiences from Business Activities
As mentioned earlier, knowledge management systems capture, store, and retrieve knowledge used
within a business. You can use knowledge management systems to capture your work team’s
progress, insights, and experiences as well.
Team progress is the amount of work your team has been able to complete in order to achieve their
goals. It is made up of the work they have done and the amount of time they took to do it. Team
insights are valuable ideas and information that the members of your work team interpret based on
their personal experiences. Team experiences are the events or situations that are relevant to the
work undertaken by the members of your team.
It is important to document these things because the information you gather will help you facilitate
continuous improvement in your workplace.
1.5.1 Developing a Knowledge Management System

Developing a knowledge management system (KMS) requires that you ensure alignment
between the system and your organisation’s objectives. In this case, your objective is to
capture team progress, insights, and experiences from business activities. To create a
successful KMS, you must consider these five core areas:
People
What information do the people using the KMS need?
How often do they share their progress, insights, and experiences?
Process
How well are the organisation's processes applied and followed?
How can those processes be improved?
Content
How should the information that you capture be organised?
Do your employees work together to create information to be stored?
Culture
Does your organisation's culture encourage knowledge sharing?
What incentives do you have to encourage sharing progress, insights, and
experiences?
Technology
What technological systems does your organisation have to manage documents
and information?
Does your organisation have the financial and human resources to develop and
maintain technology?

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1.5.2 Components of a Successful Knowledge Management System

To know how to develop a KMS, you must first get to know what makes up a successful
knowledge management system. Ensuring that these components are present in your KMS
will help you capture your team’s progress, insights, and experiences from your organisation’s
business activities.
There are three components in total. A successful knowledge management system must:
Treat all knowledge inputs as equal, regardless of workplace hierarchy.
Any member of the organisation must be able to contribute to the knowledge base and
participate in discussions regarding business activities.
Make the documentation and storage of knowledge and insights a mandatory practice.
It should be the responsibility of team leaders and supervisors to upload the documents
relevant to their projects into the KMS whenever a project is completed.
Provide incentives to those in the organisation that consistently provide helpful

information to the knowledge management system.
The members of the organisation that make quality and positive contributions to the
KMS should be rewarded for the information they provide from their insights,
experiences and progress from business activities.
Ideally, the knowledge management system that you develop would have measures for
quality control. All information that the KMS stores should be accurate, reliable, and meet the
organisation’s standards. Your responsibility, as a facilitator of continuous improvement, is to
motivate your work team to store the information from their progress, insights, and
experiences by reminding them that what they have to share is valuable to not only the
individual success but the success of the organisation.

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1.6 Develop New Systems and Processes that Facilitate Continuous

Improvement According to Improvement Needs and Opportunities
In order to be successful, it is important that quality initiatives and the general concept of quality
management are promoted throughout an organisation. Quality management requires solid
commitment on the part of management and all staff members in order to be regarded as
successful, and promotion is an extremely useful means of showing and developing this
commitment. You will examine the promotion of quality through a cyclic approach. In a sense, this
approach can be likened to the idea of quality management as it involves the continuous
improvement of ideas.
To ensure that your development of new systems and processes promote quality management and
facilitate continuous improvement, you must make sure that you take note of the improvement
needs and opportunities identified in Section 1.2. These will be the basis for the systems and
processes you will be creating.

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1.6.1 Considerations for Developing New Systems and Processes

Along with your improvement needs and opportunities, there are a number of considerations
you need to take note of as you plan to develop new systems and processes that would
facilitate continuous improvement. These include:
 Internal and External Policies
There will always be a need to ensure that any initiatives you plan to introduce are
aligned with existing policies in place. These policies include those that are internal
(i.e. exclusive to your business) and external (i.e. mandated by law or prescribed by
industry standards).
Taking into consideration relevant internal and external policies is especially
important because the new systems and processes that you must develop have large-
scale and long-term effects on your organisation. Ensuring that these do not violate
any existing policies and adhering to them is essential as this would signify that the
systems and processes do indeed facilitate continuous improvement at all fronts.
 Resources Required
It is vital that you develop your systems and processes for continuous improvement
with resources in mind. In this regard, the resources you must take into consideration
include those both human and physical in nature.
You will need staff involvement in the process of developing and implementing your
initiatives because, at the end of the day, they will be the ones to not only benefit
from these changes but also manage them and help ensure that such are indeed being
used as intended. Likewise, you will need various material resources to facilitate the
development and enactment of your systems and processes. Ensure to take note of
these and allocate sufficient budget and resources to fund these.
 Time and Schedules
A third key consideration you must remember as you plan from the development of
your systems and processes is time and schedules. As with resources required, this
would ultimately demonstrate your capacity to develop such and help you determine
how you can adjust your plans, as necessary.
This consideration refers to the amount of time you are given to develop and
implement your systems and processes. Such considers the priority level of your
endeavour and the larger timeframes you must take into account (e.g. at what point
in the financial year do you intend to introduce a new system or process?). This also
means keeping in mind the fact that it would take time for staff to ease into the new
systems and processes.

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1.6.2 How to Develop New Systems and Processes Effectively

How do you develop new systems and processes effectively? Although there is no one strict
way of doing so, there is a general set of steps that are tried and tested to ensure that you will
be able to satisfactorily develop systems and processes for continuous improvement.
Planning Analysis and Design Actual Development
Monitoring and Integration and

Implementation
Maintenance Testing
1. Planning
The development of any system or process begins at the planning stage. At this point,
your main concern is ensuring that you have a solid plan for your system or process.
This would include identifying the scope of your project and its main goals and
objectives.
During the planning stage, you will have to determine the policies you must consider
and the resources, time, budgetary and logistic concerns. The expected output from
this is a proposal or plan which will give an overview of the initiative.
2. Analysis and Design
Once you have laid out your plan, you can move on to the analysis and design phase.
This step is two-fold as analysis and design are two more technical aspects of your
process that work hand in hand, concerning different yet closely related areas of
development.
Analysis involves considering the functional requirements of your proposed process or
system and then looking into the needs of those who will be making use of the
process or system. Data derived from analysis will then help you design your system
or process. Design involves the specifications, features, and operations of your
proposed system or process.

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3. Actual Development
The third step in your process is the heart of your development, and this is where real
work begins. The content that you have produced during the planning, analysis and
design is put to use during actual development.
Actual development involves working on the creation of your systems/processes
based on the data you have collected and produced thus far. As the name would
suggest, this phase is when you build the process or system that you have proposed,
bringing your plans to life.
4. Integration and Testing
Once you have completed the development of your plan, you can now enact it. Before
you can implement it for use in the workplace, however, you must undergo the phase
of integration and testing. This is when your process or system is tested.
At this point, you will try to see if your developed process or system is ready for
implementation. This is when you will attempt to integrate your process or system
into the workplace and determine if it is indeed able to meet the goals and objectives
for which it was developed. Integration and testing can be considered a precautionary
phase that assures quality and alignment before actual deployment.
5. Implementation
Once you are sure that your developed system or process is ready to be integrated
into the workplace, you can then move on to the next phase of your process.
Implementation is when you introduce the new system or process into the workplace.
During implementation, you enable staff to make use of the system or process in their
daily tasks. The system or process you have developed would be made part of your
routines and schedules, and it would eventually become a part of your regular
operations.
6. Monitoring and Maintenance
As with any endeavour, yours does not end once you have fully implemented the system
or process developed. In the spirit of continuous improvement, it is vital that you keep
yourself open to monitoring and maintenance.
In this part of your process, you will be monitoring the use of the process or system to
ensure that it is able to meet its goals and objectives during its use. Likewise, regular
evaluations are to be put in place to make sure that the system is well-maintained. You
will also be fine-tuning the system as necessary, allowing it to adapt to any changes that
need to be made.

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1.7 Establish Processes that Confirm Team Members are Informed About Continuous
Improvement Outcomes
Successful continuous improvement requires the collaborative efforts of everyone in the work team.
As a facilitator of continuous improvement, you must communicate the outcomes of your
continuous systems and processes to your work team.
To do so, you must establish communication processes that will help you inform your team about
the continuous improvement outcomes. The following sections will discuss the communication
processes you can establish and how they can be implemented effectively.
1.7.1 Establishing Communication Processes

It is not as difficult to improve communications in an organisation as many believe it to be.
Adapting an effective communication strategy can ensure continuous improvement strategies
and improve both employee engagement and the sustainability of the changes at hand.
When implementing a continuous-improvement initiative, effectively communicating the
changes is essential to success. Communication during a big project is managing the change
itself. The communication strategy provides proactive messages to help manage the change
within an organisation.
There are a number of processes that you can establish to assess whether or not your team
members are aware of continuous improvement outcomes. These include:
Complaint
Surveys Interviews Meetings
Resolutions
Surveys
You can send out surveys to your teammates to determine how they understand
continuous improvement processes and outcomes. This is especially effective if you want
to ask a lot of questions to confirm their knowledge and would like to produce statistical
data afterwards.
Interviews
Interviews allow you to obtain in-depth insights of team members. Through this process,
you can gauge the depth of their understanding and find meaningful insights that can
further improve continuous improvement initiatives.
Complaint Resolutions
This process allows a formal and thorough assessment of any issues team members may
face. Its biggest advantage is that it does not stop at recognising issues but is solution-
driven. Should you find members struggling with continuous improvement, you will be
able to help them resolve these.

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Meetings
Meetings are an indispensable facet of organisational life. When it comes to confirming
team members' understanding of continuous improvement outcomes, you may find them
an efficient way of getting everyone together to discuss the matter. Meetings enable you
to open meaningful discussions on this matter.
1.7.2 Communicating Outcomes to Team Members

It is likewise important that you communicate continuous improvement outcomes to team
members effectively. No matter which processes you will engage in to assess their
understanding of such, it is fundamentally important to ensure that the content itself is fully
grasped by team members.
As you communicate with team members, there are a number of things to keep in mind:
 Explain and highlight the ‘Why’
You must ensure that your team members are well aware of the rationale of the
continuous improvement efforts and the processes in place to make sure that they are
aware of these and their outcomes. Having everyone on board is easier when you are
certain that everyone fully understands the reasons behind what you are trying to
accomplish.
 Choose your words wisely
No matter what process you engage in – be it one that requires written or oral
communication – it is vital that you choose the right words in confirming that your
team members are aware of continuous improvement outcomes. A major element in
effective communication is your choice of words. Ensure clarity and specificity as you
communicate. Avoid vague and confusing language that may be misunderstood.
These may ultimately keep you from properly assessing your team members.
 Ask the right questions
In line with your task, which is to assess how well your team members know about
continuous improvement outcomes, you must ask the right questions. This will enable
you to get the answers that you seek, those that will help you determine how well
members understand outcomes. Ensure that you yourself have sufficient knowledge
of the outcomes yourself. This will enable you to ask meaningful questions that will
generate insightful responses.
 Encourage questions
As important it is to ask the right questions, it is just as important to encourage
questions too. This means seeking feedback from the team members regarding the
processes as well as encouraging them to seek clarification, as necessary. This will
ensure that you are on the same page and will keep them engaged throughout the
process.

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Activity 3
How does your company use meetings as a method to facilitate decision-making?

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Notes

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Key Points: Chapter 1

 It is important to have strategies that ensure that all team members are actively
encouraged to participate in the decision-making processes, assume
responsibility, and exercise initiative for them to undertake continuous
improvement in the workplace.
 A successful knowledge management system must treat knowledge from all
members of the organisation as equal.
 Along with improvement needs and opportunities, other considerations to note in
developing systems and processes for continuous improvement include internal
and external policies, resources required, and time and schedules.
 The development of systems and processes for continuous improvement involves
planning, analysis and design, actual development, integration and testing,
implementation, and monitoring and maintenance.
 Workplace systems should be in place to make sure that your organisation’s
continuous improvement processes are communicated to all concerned.

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Chapter 1 – ‘True’ or ‘False’ Quiz

Tick ‘True’ if the statement is correct, and ‘False’ if not. True False
Brainstorming is the free, uninhibited generation of ideas.
Stupid ideas should be immediately rejected in brainstorming.
The Check Sheet is a data-gathering and interpretation tool.
Cause and Effect Diagrams are also known as histograms.
It is often the case that contributions by team members are not equal.
Team members should be encouraged to participate.
With the ‘White Hat’ on, you are playing devil’s advocate.
Resistance to change is an important obstacle to the participation of

team members.

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Chapter 2: Monitor and Adjust Performance Strategies
Facilitating continuous improvement means leading and managing your organisation’s continuous
improvement systems. Part of managing those systems is monitoring them. It is possible that your
new systems and processes will not be as flawless as you planned. When that happens, you must be
able to take a step back and adjust accordingly.
However, this process is not one that you undertake on your own. Communicating with your work
team and your supervisors will be of great help in ensuring that your organisation’s CI systems are
up to standard. It is always important to involve all relevant persons because continuous
improvement is for everyone.
The following sections will discuss how you can confirm the effectiveness of your continuous
improvement systems and processes, get your work team to contribute to supporting them, and
communicate with relevant stakeholders about what can be improved.

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2.1 Confirm Relevant Systems and Processes Meet Organisation Sustainability

Requirements
A key part of monitoring and adjusting your performance strategies is confirming that the systems
and processes you have in place meet the sustainability requirements of your organisation. This
ensures that continuous improvement is promoted and practised.
In this regard, you must take note of the relevant requirements that will guide you in completing the
given task. You must also have a key understanding of what you must do to confirm that the systems
and processes you have in place are indeed compliant with these.
2.1.1 Sustainability Requirements

Every organisation has sustainability requirements that it must adhere to. By definition, these
are the criteria your organisation must fulfil for it to be considered sustainable. These
requirements are applicable to various facets of the organisation’s operations, including the
systems and processes you have in place to promote continuous improvement.
The requirements which you will need to take note of in fulfilling your task include the
following:
 Addressing environmental and resource sustainability initiatives, such as
environmental management systems, action plans, green office programs, surveys,
and audits
 Applying the waste management hierarchy in the workplace


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 Complying with regulations and corporate social responsibility considerations for

sustainability to enhance the organisation’s standing in business and community
environments
 Determining the organisation’s most appropriate waste treatment, including waste to
landfill, recycling, re-use, recoverable resources, and wastewater treatment
 Implementing ecological footprinting
 Implementing environmental management systems
o E.g. ISO 14001:1996 environmental management systems life cycle analyses
 Implementing government initiatives

o E.g. Australian government’s greenhouse challenge plus
 Improving resource and energy efficiency

 Initiating and maintaining appropriate organisational procedures for operational
energy consumption
 Introducing a green office program
o A cultural change program
 Introducing green purchasing

 Introducing national and international reporting initiatives
o E.g. Global reporting initiative
 Introducing product stewardship

 Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases
 Reducing the use of non-renewable resources
 Referencing standards, guidelines and approaches, such as sustainability covenants
and compacts or triple bottom line reporting
 Supporting sustainable supply chain

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Sustainability standards vary within industries. It is important to identify the industry where
your organisation belongs. To help you in better understanding what standards are applicable
to your organisation, a case study is put forth.
Case Study – Sustainability Standards

Bounce Fitness, a fitness and wellness provider in Australia, falls under the fitness
industry.
The sustainability standards that are applicable to Bounce Fitness are the Fitness
National Quality Framework. This outlines several pillars that fitness providers must
keep in mind as they deliver products and services to their customers.
The pillars of the Fitness Industry National Quality Framework are professionalism,
safety, customer care, information and knowledge, people, and leadership.
Bounce Fitness must ensure to adhere to these standards, specifically the pillars
identified. For instance, they must prioritise customer care and integrate this into
their efforts for continuous improvement.
Along with sustainability standards, you must also keep in mind the quality standards that you
must adhere to. Similar to the former, you must look into the standards that apply to the
industry where your organisation belongs. To further illustrate this, another case study is put
forth.
Case Study – Quality Standards

There are a number of standards that are relevant to sustainability which can be
applied to Bounce Fitness. These include:
 AS 4707 Chain of Custody
 AS ISO 20400:2018 Sustainable procurement – Guidance
 AS/NZS 5911:2013 General guidelines on the verification, validation and
assurance of environmental and sustainability reports
 AS ISO 20121-2013 Event sustainability management systems -
Requirements with guidance for use
These standards provide guidance on various aspects of organisational operations.
For instance, AS ISO 20400:2018 looks into sustainable procurement. Bounce
Fitness can use these standards to ensure that they integrate sustainability practices
when purchasing goods or services.

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2.1.2 Confirming that Systems and Processes Meet Requirements

Given these requirements, your task is to ensure that the systems and processes you have are
compliant and meet them satisfactorily. If they are, you are indeed able to promote
continuous improvement in the right way. How do you confirm that the relevant systems and
processes you have in place adhere to your sustainability requirements? There are a number
of methods you can take note of.
Monitoring Implementation
One indispensable method of confirming that your systems and processes meet
requirements is monitoring. This ensures that you not only check the compliance of such
at the end of their implementation but as they are being implemented. This is an
important way of checking on your systems and processes as it promotes being proactive
and ensuring that things are being executed satisfactorily.
Monitoring your systems and processes can be done in various ways. This can also be
accomplished in various rates or timeframes, depending on the length of your
implementation. It is significant to make sure that your monitoring process is in itself
adequate. Those who are in charge of monitoring your systems and processes must have
sufficient knowledge and skills necessary to assess whether the implementation of such is
in line with the sustainability requirements that must be met.
You must also ensure that records of monitoring are complete and well-kept. This will
help support the assessment of whether or not the requirements have been fully met and
may also be used as a reference later on as necessary.
Evaluation of Systems and Processes

It is likewise important to make sure that your systems and processes are compliant not
only during their implementation but till the very end. In this regard, a key method of
confirming that they have met sustainability requirements is evaluating them post-
implementation. In doing so, the fundamental question you will be answering is – have
the systems and processes in place accomplished the goals and objectives they have set
out to do?
The evaluation of such may be just as tedious as monitoring; you may need to reach out
to various employees from different levels who have firsthand experience with the
systems and processes you are assessing. Their insights may give reliable and insightful
details as to how well these systems and processes have accomplished what they are
designed for. In the process of doing so, you may also find ideas and suggestions on how
these can be further improved.
As with your monitoring, you must record your findings sufficiently and use these to make
your final assessment of whether or not the systems and processes have met the
sustainability requirements.

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Internal and External Audits

Audits are an integral component of the quality management process. They allow the firm
to take stock of the position it is currently in and allows it to determine where
improvements can be made. Therefore, this can be a particularly reliable way of
confirming that the systems and processes you have in place meet sustainability
requirements.
You will find that the audit will not only help you evaluate systems and processes to
determine if they are compliant, but also provide a plethora of data that would help you
further improve your systems and processes.
Internal audits are likely to show the requirements of management strongly, and this is
useful in determining what management is looking to improve. External audits come from
the perspective of an outsider; thus, the information provided will come from a different
perspective, and you may find it recommending initiatives different from those
recommended by internal audits.

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2.2 Confirm Team Progress, Insights and Experiences are Captured and Accessible Using
Knowledge Management Systems
A good knowledge management system should allow for the information that you capture to be
easily accessible. As a facilitator of continuous improvement, you should ensure that the knowledge
management systems that you develop effectively capture and store your team’s progress, insights,
and experiences. This section will discuss how you can examine the knowledge you have captured
and confirm the effectiveness of your knowledge management systems.
2.2.1 Using Knowledge Management Systems to Assess Team Progress, Insights and
Experience
As previously mentioned, team progress is the amount of work your team completes to
achieve its goals. Team insights, on the other hand, are the valuable ideas and information
members interpret through their personal experience, and team experiences are relevant
events or situations members undertake.
Aside from documenting team progress, insights, and experience, it is just as important that
you are able to assess these. This task is done through your knowledge management systems
which were discussed in detail in Section 1.1. How exactly is this accomplished? Guidance is
provided below.
 Select the appropriate knowledge management system
Section 1.1 provides a useful list of the knowledge management systems most
commonly used in organisations. Go through each one and determine which of the
following systems are most applicable to you and your organisation. Moreover,
ensure to select the KMS that will best provide the data that you are seeking. In this
case, you want data that will be useful in your task.
 Review relevant documents
Once you have determined which particular KMS you will use, review the documents
you have that will have records on team progress, insights, and experience. This is the
heart of your task, and you must ensure to do so thoroughly. Depending on the
complexity and/or amount of information available, you may need to take more time
in accomplishing this. You may also find it useful to go over the documents more than
once as there may be parts you miss the first time around.

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 Reach out to team members as necessary

It may not be enough to rely on documents to assess your team progress, insights,
and experience. For a more holistic review, you may find it useful to also seek
information from team members who themselves are a part of the KMS you have in
place. You may schedule interviews, give out surveys, or have meetings to discuss
progress, insights, and experiences. Their insights may supplement and further clarify
what you have already found in your document review.
 Note remarkable data and document your findings
Once you have all your data, you must make an effort to note any remarkable
findings. This would include possible trends and patterns, low points and highlights,
incidents, and other matters that can help you make your assessment. After this, you
can now collate your information and produce a document to summarise as well as
present these in detail.
Having accomplished all these steps, you can then make your assessment on the team
progress, insights, and experience satisfactorily, determining if these are indeed captured and
accessible.

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2.3 Coach Individuals and Teams to Implement and Support Continuous

Improvement Systems and Processes
This section will discuss the processes associated with coaching and mentoring. Many industries
have very high worker turnover, and recruiting and retraining staff can be quite difficult to achieve.
Having a coach or mentor in place can help relieve much of the stress that staff may feel when they
begin a new job. New staff may lack experience or some of the core skills required to undertake a
specific job but having a coach or mentor there to aid can help to reduce the stress felt by new staff
undertaking a new job.
2.3.1 Coaching and Mentoring Methods

The process of having a coach or mentor assigned to your new staff is not a new idea, but one
which can provide significant advances in improving overall quality in the workplace. They also
enhance the individual employee’s performance. There are a number of different methods
that can be used when creating a coaching or mentoring scheme in your workplace. These
include:
Personal coaching programs employing external or internal coaches
‘Traditional’ or peer-to-peer mentoring schemes
Buddy schemes, a form of two-way peer-to-peer mentoring
The method that you decide to utilise when working towards improving quality in your
workplace will be entirely dependent on what you are trying to fix and the type of skills that
are already present in your workplace. You may also need to consider the organisation and its
culture. Some organisations simply do not have the kind of culture that allows one individual
to assist another easily without the staff feeling uncomfortable.
It is therefore extremely important to consider the effects of the company’s culture on any
systems that you may decide to implement into the workplace. For example, competition
among employees for reaching sales targets or earning commission may mean that there is a
lack of willingness to act as an effective mentor or coach.
Once you have decided how to implement a coaching strategy into your workplace, the next
step is to attempt to build a relationship between everyone concerned so that the team
members really feel like they are making a positive contribution to the overall effectiveness
and quality of the team.

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For quality purposes, it is important that coaching and mentoring be put into a process which
allows for continuous improvement and development over time. Such a process will involve:
 Ensuring that the processes and procedures used will support the objectives you wish
to get from the program.
 Finding ways to get time for coaches and mentors to act in these roles. Sometimes,
this can be difficult simply because they already have their own work to get through.
 Assessing potential coaches and mentors to make sure they actually have the skills
and knowledge required to make sure that the team members learn what they need
to learn.
 Ensuring that the coaches and mentors are aware of what is required of them in their
position and that they act within this role with integrity and have the individuals’
learning goals in mind.
 Ensuring that there are processes and procedures in place that limit and outline
exactly what is required of a coach in their position. This ensures that everyone is
aware of what is required of them and that no one steps outside the bounds of their
position.
 Having a process in place for evaluating the performance of coaches and mentors so
that all staff can find ways of improving their performance and the processes behind
them.
Coaching and mentoring are generally used to provide on-the-job training; however, it can be
a lot wider than this. Coaches in the workplace can become an integral strategy in improving
quality by developing staff on a continual rather than a one-off basis.
The next subsections will discuss coaching, mentoring, and other ways through which you can
provide support to your team members.

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2.3.2 Coaching
Coaching is all about equipping workers with sufficient knowledge, opportunities, and tools
necessary for them to become more effective. It generally follows the format of individual
guidance, focusing on developing job performance. In this method, a coach advises a coachee
on how to tackle and perform a particular task. The coach also provides constructive feedback
to their coachee, helping the latter grow and develop themselves.
Coaching takes place in a relatively short timeframe – usually six months to a year. Moreover,
coaches usually have a specific goal for their coachees. Coaching is performance-driven, and it
is a method that aims to help improve a coachee’s performance. A coach has a specific area of
expertise, and this is an area where the coachee needs improvement. Coaching is an
important part of ensuring that everyone is always working toward continuous improvement.
2.3.3 Mentoring
Mentoring is a method used to help promising workers who need to improve their
performance. It follows the format of generalised advice and guidance for career
development, with a specific focus on areas that need to be improved. Mentoring typically
involves a more senior and experienced mentor and an inexperienced mentee. The former
provides support for the mentee, which comes in the form of knowledge, skills, expertise, and
advice that the mentor imparts in the hopes of benefitting both the mentee and the company
in the long run.
Relationships between mentors and mentees are quite long-term; these often last at least a
year or much longer. Through mentorship, workers have an opportunity for holistic growth
that benefits both the company and their professional career. They can develop skills that will
improve their overall work performance. In this regard, such skills include those that would
promote employees’ continuous improvement.
Mentors usually impart knowledge on to mentees informally, often during sessions where the
two would communicate, and the mentee seeks advice from the mentor.

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2.3.4 Other Forms of Support

There are other ways through which you can provide support to your team members and
ensure that they are constantly working towards continuous improvement. Among these
forms of support, those that merit discussion include providing training initiatives and
feedback.
Training Initiatives
Perhaps the most fundamental way of providing support for team members is through
training initiatives. This is giving them formal guidance that would help them develop
knowledge and skills that would enable them to work towards continuous improvement.
Some of the most widely used training initiatives are:
On-the-job Self-directed
Formal Instruction Simulation
Training Learning
 Formal Instruction
This involves a lecture-style learning method where trainees would be situated in
a classroom setting. They would receive training from an expert who plays the
role of the teacher.
 On-the-job Training
As the name would suggest, this form of training requires an employee to learn
the skills and knowledge involved in a task by actually performing the task. They
will be guided by the expert and will have actual firsthand experience in
performing the task.
 Simulation
Simulation is similar to on-the-job training. However, instead of actually
performing the set tasks, employees will work on tasks similar to those they will
actually encounter in the workplace.
 Self-directed Learning
This training initiative relies on the trainee’s ability to learn the necessary skills
and knowledge required by virtue of teaching themselves. They will be provided
with the necessary materials (i.e. manuals, supplementary videos, training
courses) and will be empowered to learn about these at their own pace.

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Feedback
Providing team members with feedback is a vital way of supporting them and ensuring
that they work towards continuous improvement. In this regard, you must make sure that
you give quality feedback that is useful to them. Guidance in providing such is provided
below.
 Give feedback in a timely fashion
As a general rule, feedback is meant to be given immediately after the task you
are evaluating has been accomplished. This will enable employees to clearly
remember and understand the points you are referencing in your evaluation.
In some cases, however, you may need to delay providing feedback a little. This
would include times when conflict arises. During these times, it is best to give your
feedback a day or two after the disagreement to ensure that everyone has had
time to calm down and reflect on what has happened.
 Provide detailed feedback
Go beyond mere feedback forms that rate performance on scales. Give team
members sufficient details regarding their performance, highlighting what was
great and what can be improved. Moreover, it is important to be proactive in your
feedback and provide suggestions for the employee to consider as they improve
their efforts in working towards your goals.
 Take time to develop feedback
Do not produce feedback for the sake of complying with requirements. Put effort
into formulating your feedback. Though it is a tedious task that you may not feel is
important for you, the feedback you provide your teammates will enable them to
understand how well they have performed and in what specific areas they can
further improve themselves.

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Activity 4
How does your company use coaching and mentoring for quality purposes?

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2.4 Identify and Evaluate Ways in Which Planning and Operations Could Be Improved
In this section, you will move from getting your team to work together, to facilitating improvement.
This section will look into how you can evaluate planning and operations, exploring the different
tools and techniques you can use to monitor and improve performance – a major facet of planning
and operations.
2.4.1 Evaluating Planning and Operations

After having established that information, you can now look into the different ways through
which you can assess planning and operations. If done satisfactorily, these will enable you to
identify areas for improvement. Evaluation methods include:
Monitoring Organisational Performance

Perhaps the most widely used way of evaluating your organisation’s planning and
operations is through monitoring. It is vital to ensure that you use the findings and data
gathered from this method to determine how you can further improve planning and
operations instead of simply keeping them as records that passively stay in your systems.
There are a variety of tools and techniques that fall under this evaluation method, and all
are discussed below.
Internal and External Audits

Aside from monitoring, audits are a reliable and popular method of evaluating your
planning and operations. Engaging in this is especially useful in evaluating and improving
your organisational strategy as auditors are well-trained to not only review your planning
and operations but also equipped with the expertise necessary for making
recommendations for areas that need improvement. These will be useful to you as they
will give you a clear idea of what must be done to continuously improve.
Interviews, Surveys, and Feedback

A third and perhaps underrated way of evaluating your planning and operations is directly
involving stakeholders. In this case, the stakeholders you will reach out to are the
employees who are involved in your planning and operations – those who experience and
are affected by these firsthand. Seek insights of employees through interviews or surveys.
You can also hold group meetings where such can be openly discussed. It is significant to
consider what employees have to say because they themselves are directly involved and
affected by your planning and operations. By virtue of their involvement, they will be able
to provide insights on how these can be improved.

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2.4.2 Tools and Techniques for Monitoring Performance

Now, look at some of the technologies and tools that can be used to monitor performance
and find ways to make improvements.
Run Chart
Run charts, sometimes called trend charts, are used to display measurements made over
specific time intervals – a day, a week, a month or longer. Your team can then construct a
graph with the quantity measured on the vertical axis and time along the horizontal axis. A
run chart is little more than a running tally. Its major use is to help a team determine
whether there are critical times that problems of various types occur. The team can then
investigate why this is so.
For example, a plot of defects by an hour or day might show that problems consistently
appear when materials from a particular supplier are used. This suggests that materials
from that supplier might be the cause. Or it may be found that a specific machine comes
online at the same time that a certain problem appears, suggesting that the cause might
lie with that machine. An example of a run chart can be found below:
Defects per hour

8
0
9.00 10.00 11.00 12.00 13.00 14.00 15.00 16.00 17.00
Defects

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Flow Chart
Flow charts provide a visual description of the steps in a work activity. Specifically, they
show the inputs and the outputs of the activity and how each of these is processed. A flow
chart is a very useful tool when attempting to look at how things are being done by
following the process from start to finish. A flow chart can be extremely complex if
required, yet still be logical enough to follow.
The flow chart utilises a set of specific symbols that are consistent across anyone who
might use them. This allows anyone familiar with these symbols to develop a flow chart
and understand other’s flow charts with ease. For quality improvement purposes, they are
particularly useful in that they can be used to compare how things happen as opposed to
how they should be happening. The flow chart depicted below shows how improvements
should be made to a quality process. Studying this diagram will allow you to gain an
understanding of flow chart organisation and improving quality processes in business.

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Is there another
step?
Yes
Identify a step in
the process
Is the step
needed?
No Yes
Can the step be

Remove the step
improved?
No Yes
Are the
Keep the step improvements
feasible?
Yes
Document the
step improved
Keep the step

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Histograms
Most people will know the histogram as a bar chart. It is a very simple form of graph that
takes certain categories and maps these against the number of times they occur. For
example, you may use it to show how many of each type of defect has occurred over a
specified amount of time. The number of occurrences is directly related to the length of
the bar concerned. The end result gives you a good indication of which defects occur most
often, but it is often difficult to get a good idea about the overall distribution from a
histogram.
Pareto Chart
The final tool to look at is the Pareto chart. Developed by the economist Vilfredo Pareto,
this chart aims to count the number of defects that occur over a certain period. It takes
the histogram one step further and allows you to get a good idea of the distribution of
defects that have occurred. The results of this are then put on top of a histogram. Pareto’s
Principle states that 80% of defects are caused by 20% of the issues. One or two major
factors may result in the majority of the defects that occur.
This means that you will have a point to begin your improvements from because you
know where most of the problems actually lie.
This Pareto chart depicts the information from the run chart in the previous section of this
resource. You will notice that most defects (about 70%) are caused by two of the four
defect types.

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Activity 5
What conclusions can you draw from the run chart in Section 2.4.2?

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Activity 6
Complete the following crossword puzzle about performance standards and tools for
monitoring performance by using the clues found below.
Across: Down:
1. Also called ‘trend chart’, this is used to 4. It is a simple form of a graph that takes
display measurements made over specific certain categories and maps these against the
time intervals. number of times they occur.
2. Graphs in run charts usually have quantity 5. It aims to count the number of defects that
measured on the vertical axis and this along occur over a certain period.
the horizontal axis.
6. Pareto’s Principle states that 80% of this is
3. It provides a visual description of steps in a caused by 20% of the issues.
work activity.

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2.5 Make Recommendations and Communicate Strategies to Relevant Stakeholders
Most organisations will have methods for communicating outcomes, changes, and adjustments to
stakeholders. As discussed earlier, the stakeholders can be varied and will depend on the
organisation and project. However, changes, adjustments and outcomes must be communicated in
the manner detailed by your organisation.
In this context, recommendations that you will be making will concern continuous improvement. The
strategies you will be communicating are in line with these recommendations, and they represent
the action steps you are recommending to stakeholders.
It is important that you communicate your recommendations and strategies effectively. There are
different methods through which you can do so. These have been previously discussed in detail in
Section 1.3. To reiterate, the primary methods of communicating with stakeholders are:
Meetings
Conference Calls
Newsletters/Emails/Posters

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To determine which method you are to use in making recommendations and communicating
strategies, you must consider a number of factors such as:
 Audience and their requirements
You must always align the communication methods you select with the target audience you
will be communicating with. Specific things you must ask include:
o What communication method is preferred by or most convenient for your
audience?
o What are any needs or requirements of the audience that must be considered?
o How many people will you be communicating with?
 Information to be communicated
You must sufficiently consider the information you are trying to communicate. You must
ensure that your selection of a strategy is appropriate to the recommendations and
strategies you are trying to convey. Aspects of your information that merit consideration
include:
o Length and detail of recommendations and strategies to be communicated
o Type of recommendations and strategies to be communicated
o Scope of recommendations and strategies to be communicated
 Time, resources, and other external factors

Finally, you must also keep in mind the time you have and other external factors present
that would affect your ability to communicate with stakeholders. The amount of time you
have to communicate recommendations and strategies with stakeholders will affect the
method you will be choosing. You have to keep in mind the different schedules in presenting
your recommendations – those of the stakeholders as well as your own.
You must also acknowledge your resources. There may be those available to you that you
can use in making recommendations. Likewise, there may be those you lack and need to
compensate for. Lastly, there would be other external factors that may affect your selection
of method in communicating with stakeholders. Take note of these and ensure that they are
sufficiently considered as you make your decision.

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Notes

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 You should put strategies in place to ensure that the systems and procedures in
your organisation are used to monitor operational progress and to identify ways
in which planning and operations could be improved.
 Keeping your systems and procedures in check may involve utilising existing
systems and technology, or you may need to develop new systems.
 The strategies you develop should be adjusted and communicated to all
stakeholders according to your organisation’s specific procedures.
 There are different forms of support you can provide individuals and teams to
help them with the use of continuous improvement systems and processes.
 Mentoring and coaching allow you to make sure that individuals and teams in the
workplace are able to implement and support your organisation’s continuous
improvement processes.
 Be sure to make recommendations for continuous improvement and share these
with the relevant stakeholders.

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Audits are an integral component of the quality management process.
Sustainability requirements are the resources that your organisation

needs for it to be considered sustainable.
A good knowledge management system should be secure, making it

difficult for captured information to be accessed.
For quality purposes, it is important that coaching and mentoring be

put into a process which allows for continuous improvement and
development over time.
Mentoring generally follows the format of individual guidance, focusing

on developing job performance.
Some of the most widely used training initiatives which provide support
for team members include formal instruction, on-the-job training,
simulation, and self-directed learning.
Perhaps the most widely used way of evaluating an organisation’s

planning and operations is through monitoring.
Run charts show trends.

Learner Resource
Chapter 3: Manage Opportunities for Further Improvement
From the word itself, continuous means progressive and ongoing without interruption. To facilitate
and maintain continuous improvement in your workplace, you must be able to identify opportunities
for even further improvement. Your workplace’s systems and processes will always have room for
improvement, and your task is to ensure that they continue to get better.
Again, this is not something that you are meant to do alone. It is important and necessary for you to
understand that managing further opportunities for improvement for your organisation will involve
your work team, your supervisors, and any relevant stakeholders.
The following sections will explain how you can evaluate your business activities’ outcomes, identify
opportunities for improvement, seek feedback from relevant stakeholders, and identify other areas
for improvement.

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3.1 Evaluate Outcomes and Identify Opportunities for Improvement
The key to facilitating continuous improvement is identifying and confronting the mistakes and
shortcomings of the work team. To know how you can improve in the future, you must first
determine what you are doing wrong right now. You can do that through evaluation.
In continuous improvement, evaluation is the process of assessing the outcomes of your work
team’s business activities and determining if their performance, along with the systems and
processes in place, meets the organisation’s standards.
Quality is all about meeting the needs and expectations set by stakeholders and the organisation
itself. If a business maintains quality, it essentially means that it is able to meet the standards that
are set. If you are to guarantee quality in your business, you must ensure that you satisfactorily
evaluate outcomes and identify how you can further improve.
Identifying opportunities for improvement is important because that is how you can maintain
continuous improvement in your workplace. It is the first step to preparing for future planning based
on the information that you gather from your work team and other relevant stakeholders.

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3.1.1 Factors for Continuous Improvement

The continuous improvement process has three major success factors that need to be met
and considered to determine how stakeholders feel about and perceive your systems and
processes. This section defines the three factors, which are satisfaction, achievement, and
participation.
Satisfaction Achievement Participation
Satisfaction
 This refers to employees, management, customers, and suppliers being satisfied
with the initiatives that have been implemented.
 To be successful in achieving these criteria, ensure that stakeholders are
satisfied with the implementation and results of systems and processes in place.
Achievement
 Here, you are examining whether or not the improvement has actually achieved
the desired goals or performance standards.
 You need to compare the results against what has been achieved and determine
whether the improvement actually enhanced the process.
Participation
 This is ensuring that employees and other stakeholders are willing to participate
in the initiatives that are being introduced.
 Stakeholders must understand the initiative and have the skills necessary to put
it into practice.
 You need to make sure that all success factors implemented are aligned with
your organisation’s overall goals and culture.

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3.1.2 Identifying Opportunities for Improvement

The main task at hand is to evaluate outcomes and identify opportunities for improvement.
Given the discussions in the previous section, you are now equipped to engage in this task
successfully.
In this regard, it is helpful to consider satisfaction, achievement, and participation. You must
evaluate your systems and processes against these three and determine the level of
satisfaction, achievement, and participation your stakeholders experience in relation to
these.
How do you determine such? The most fundamental way of doing so is consulting with your
stakeholders. Ask for their insights so that you can determine how they feel and perceive
your systems and processes. Moreover, take it a step further and seek their suggestions on
what can be improved from their perspective.
As you consult with your stakeholders and find out how they are faring and what they want,
remember the following points that will help you do so more effectively:
 Engage in active listening
It is not enough that you give them the opportunity to speak freely. You must also
ensure that you listen to what they have to say and understand what they are
saying. The key to this is engaging in active listening. Specific guidance in doing so
includes:
o Give stakeholders your undivided attention.
o Make an effort to show that you are paying attention by using the
appropriate nonverbal signals like nodding your head.
o Confirm understanding by reiterating what they have said in your own words
and asking if it is correct.
 Consult with different stakeholders
To maximise the efficiency of your efforts, make sure to consult with stakeholders
that represent different facets of your business. Do not just reach out to those doing
the same type of work or on the same level as they may have experiences and
insights that are too similar. Diversity and representation are important to ensure
you are able to consider as many insights as you can.
 Document your consultation
As with any other task, you must document your consultation. This will be the record
of the opportunities for improvement you have identified and will look into.
 Update your stakeholders post-consultation
Your task does not end there. You must remember to update your stakeholders
post-consultation of the changes and improvements made based on what areas they

Learner Resource
have helped identify. This will help them recognise the value of their input and
involvement and enable them to benefit from the improvements made.

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3.2 Seek Feedback from Relevant Stakeholders on Systems and Processes

Feedback is made up of the comments and recommendations from someone evaluating your
organisation’s systems and processes. Feedback is provided with the intention of identifying flaws or
areas of improvement. You are meant to use it as a basis for improvement.
To facilitate continuous improvement in your workplace, you must seek out relevant stakeholders
that have been previously identified and have systems for gathering meaningful feedback from
them. As you engage in this endeavour, make sure to remember the value of quality in your
business and in ensuring continuous improvement.
3.2.1 Feedback Collecting Methods

There are various processes that you can establish to seek feedback from the relevant
stakeholders. These processes can either be formal or informal. Below are some examples of
methods that you can implement to gather feedback on your systems and processes:
Team Meeting
 Help people provide feedback because they feel more comfortable sharing their
thoughts and insights if they feel that they are supported by others
 Give everyone in the meeting equal time to voice out their feedback
 Document important points that were discussed in the meeting and create a
Minutes document to give to everyone that attended
Suggestion Box
 Allows the feedback giver to provide their comments anonymously
 Ensure that the people giving feedback understand that their feedback will remain
anonymous so that the feedback they submit will be honest
 After collecting the feedback, be sure to store and organise them meaningfully
Individual Survey
 Survey questions must be specific to the system or process that it is about
 Avoid leading questions that might push the feedback giver towards any opinion
 Surveys should be done regularly to assure that continuous improvement is
maintained

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3.2.2 Selecting the Appropriate Method

Most commonly, the three methods outlined above all correspond to a stakeholder type.
Team meetings should be reserved for the primary stakeholders.
Individual surveys can be applied to primary and secondary stakeholders.
Suggestion boxes are appropriate for secondary and tertiary stakeholders.
Although these are the common uses for each method, there are a number of factors to
consider in selecting your method for seeking feedback. Sometimes, you may find the need to
use other methods because it is more appropriate.
What considerations must you take into account in the selection of your method for gathering
feedback? Key factors to consider include:
 Number of stakeholders
How many stakeholders would you reach out to? If you intend to seek feedback from
a primary stakeholder but would only need to consult with one or two, a team
meeting might not be the most appropriate method to use. Ensure to consider how
many people you need to seek feedback from and choose your method with this in
mind. Remember that you still need to be efficient in your endeavour so that you do
not end up exhausting yourself unnecessarily.
 Kind of feedback required
Do you need in-depth feedback? Are simple yes or no responses sufficient? You have
to keep in mind the kind of feedback that you need to collect as you decide what
method to use. For instance, it might not be appropriate to use a suggestion box in
collecting feedback if you require stakeholders to give detailed feedback. This would
waste their time and yours as well.
 Time and other resources
As with any other endeavour, it is vital that you keep yourself in touch with external
considerations that would impact how you go about your tasks. In terms of time, you
need to consider how much time you have to seek feedback, what the schedules of
those you will be seeking feedback from are, and the priority level of your task at
hand.
Other resources you have to consider are any physical resources that may help or
impede you from fulfilling your task. For instance, you may like to have a meeting but
would be unable to as there are no available venues to hold your meeting in. This may
be a reason to seek out another method for gathering feedback.
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3.3 Identify Other Areas for Improvement and Document Feedback for Future Planning
Future planning is the process of making both long-term and short-term plans for an organisation to
prepare it for industry changes and achieving distant organisational goals. It involves identifying
what goals your organisation has for the future.
As someone facilitating continuous improvement, you must apply future planning for your
organisation’s continuous improvement systems. You can successfully prepare for the future of
continuous improvement by first identifying more areas for improvement. These areas represent the
potential for quality in business operations.
The following sections will discuss the areas that you can evaluate to identify what else needs more
support for improvement.
3.3.1 Five Areas for Team Evaluation

In order to identify other areas for improvement, you need to evaluate other aspects of the
organisation. One aspect worth looking into is teams. More specifically, it may be valuable to
assess how well teams have worked together. This is important because teams are the most
fundamental unit in your organisation; they are the basic unit that comes together and
collaborates to achieve organisational goals.
There are five key areas which should be addressed when evaluating quality teams in an
organisation. These are:
 Reward System
This deals with the ways in which behaviour was rewarded and punished by the team.
Does the team reward its members fairly? Are punishments handed out equitably? Do
all members participate equally in establishing and implementing such systems? If the
answer is ‘yes’ to each of these questions, you can be assured that the team dealt
with each effectively. If there are any ‘no’ answers, you may need to recommend
formal changes to how a reward system is set up, as this is an important aspect of
ensuring that all team members are valued by the team.
 Interpersonal Attraction
Group members who report that they like each other are showing a level of
interpersonal attraction. It is natural to prefer to work with people you like. Group
members are more likely to be satisfied with a team of people they enjoy working
with than a team they do not. This all comes about during the ‘forming’ stage of team
development, and if it is found that most of the team members do not like each other,
more emphasis may need to be placed on forming, and perhaps better procedures for
selecting team members recommended so that the team members are more likely to
work well together.

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 Decision-making Systems
You need to analyse how the team came to make its decisions. Most people will
prefer to belong to a team that allows them to participate in the decision-making
process. If all team decisions are made without consulting all the members, you would
expect the team members to become disenchanted with the whole team process. If
decisions were not being made by the team as a whole, you would need to establish
why this happened and recommend that future teams use more democratic decision-
making procedures.
 Communication Systems
Most team members prefer to belong to a team that encourages communication to
and by all team members, not just by a select few members of the team. When
evaluating the team as a whole, look at the communication patterns that exist. Did
they encourage all team members’ opinions? Were there any threats that stopped
open and honest communication from taking place? Each member of a team should
be allowed to have an opportunity to take part in the communication process, and
any problems seen in a team should be analysed and addressed so that the same
problems do not happen in the future.
 Task
The appropriateness of a particular task depends on the preferences of the individuals
in the team. Most people will feel most comfortable when they believe they can
actually accomplish a task. Was the group of people brought together a good mix that
would allow the task to be completed? Or were there deficiencies in the skills that the
team had that resulted in difficulties? If so, recommendations regarding the selection
of team members can be made to improve this.
A review of what the team managed to accomplish, and how they worked together as a
whole, can allow you to find any problems and make recommendations which will allow
future teams to work more smoothly and efficiently together.

Learner Resource
3.3.2 Documenting Feedback
The final output in your identification of the different areas for improvement would be the
documents that summarise your findings. These documents include reports and other records
which would substantiate your findings.
In documenting areas for improvement, it is important to delve into detail and be as in-depth
as possible. This would help you better understand what issues exist and determine how you
can address these. As much as possible, it is also best to substantiate your documents with
proof in the form of records and other documents that would help illustrate your main points.
It is useful to note as well that different organisations may have different standards, policies,
rules, and protocols in place for documenting feedback. You must adhere to these and make
sure that the documents you produce satisfactorily meet organisational standards.
Finally, it is best to keep in mind that the purpose of your documentation is used in future
planning. Therefore, accuracy is of the utmost importance. Moreover, the setup of your
documents should be geared towards continuous improvement – this means that for each
identified area for improvement, there should be solutions and/or suggestions made.

Learner Resource
Activity 7
Below is a scenario about using a suggestion box to get feedback from your work team.
Group the items from the suggestion box into categories that would organise them
meaningfully.
You have recently completed your first project with your work team with you as the
creative director. To get feedback on your performance as a leader, you placed a
suggestion box in the office common area. Your team was instructed to leave comments
and insights on their experience of having you as the creative director. The comments
they left are found below.
Good presentation skills Late for meetings Creative
Does not ask everyone for Presentations have nice Relies too much on more
ideas visuals experienced team members
Kind and gives positive Get to know each team

Build better rapport
feedback member’s skillset
Practise identifying tasks in

Provide training for project
Project briefs are too vague the project that can be
needs
completed simultaneously
Create a knowledge
Great focus on the target Encourages collaboration management system for
market between team members organising information
relevant to the project

Learner Resource
Activity 8
How does your company collect feedback from its stakeholders to determine how
processes and systems can be improved?

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Notes

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 A key to continuous improvement is evaluating the outcomes of your activities
and performance and then identifying how you can improve.
 Processes to evaluate outcomes should include documentation of your team’s
performance to aid identification of any new opportunities for improvement.
 You can gather feedback from relevant stakeholders through suggestion boxes,
team meetings, and individual surveys.
 Team meetings are suitable for primary stakeholders, individual surveys are
suitable for both primary and secondary stakeholders, and suggestion boxes are
more appropriate for secondary and tertiary stakeholders.
 Any areas that have been identified for further improvement should be taken into
account when planning for the organisation’s future.

Learner Resource

Future planning is the process of making both long-term and short-term

plans for an organisation to prepare it for industry changes and
achieving distant organisational goals.
The only factor that affects the success of an improvement process is

satisfaction.
For a survey to be effective in collecting feedback, it must contain

leading questions.
You must consider available resources in selecting a method for seeking

feedback from relevant stakeholders.
There are formal and informal processes for seeking feedback.
Collecting feedback from people during meetings is not effective.
The final output in your identification of the different areas for

improvement would be the documents that summarise your findings.
In documenting areas for improvement, it is important to delve into

detail and be as in-depth as possible.

Learner Resource
Summary
‘The world rewards

those who take
responsibility for
their own success.’
Curt Gerrish
This resource has covered how you can go about facilitating quality systems in your organisation.
Quality is simply about continuous improvement – the practice of attempting to find the most
effective methods for improving the quality of the products and services that your organisation
produces.
Quality comes about through small, continuous changes to your organisation’s procedures and
policies – you look at what is currently happening, find ways of improving it, implement those
changes, and monitor the changes to ensure they are effective. The cyclical process allows you to
make sure that processes and procedures are continually being built upon and that any flaws are
detected and resolved quickly.
If managed correctly, individuals and teams are a powerful force in improving processes within an
organisation. They will be instrumental in ensuring that your systems for continuous improvements
are maximised and used to meet organisational goals and objectives.

Learner Resource
References
These are some references that we feel may be of assistance to you in completing the Assessment
for this unit of competency:
 Abdullah, M., Benest, I., Evans, A., & Kimble, C. (2002). Knowledge modelling techniques for
developing knowledge management systems. In ResearchGate (pp. 15–25).
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/200086543_Techniques_For_Developing_Knowl
edge_Management_Systems
 American Society For Quality. Asq. Quality Management Division. (1999). The certified
quality manager handbook. Asq Quality Press.
 Black, K. (2019). Business statistics: For contemporary decision-making. Wiley.
 Chase, R. B., Aquilano, N. J., & F Robert Jacobs. (2004). Operations management for
competitive advantage. Mcgraw-Hill.
 Creech, B. (1995). The five pillars of TQM: How to make total quality management work for
you. Truman Talley Books/Plume.
 Edwards, W., Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. B. (2003). Quality management: Introduction to total
quality management for production, processing, and services. Prentice Hall.
 Gitlow, H. S. (2001). Quality management systems : A practical guide. St. Lucie Press.
 Godfrey, B., & Juran, J. (1999). Total quality management. Mcgraw-Hill.

Learner Resource
 Krajewski, L. J., Malhotra, M. K., & Ritzman, L. P. (2019). Operations management. Processes
and supply chains. Pearson.
 Policies and procedures. (n.d). Bounce Fitness. Retrieved October 2, 2020, from
https://bouncefitness.precisiongroup.com.au/category/policies-and-procedures/
 Simmons, R., & Davis, M. (2019, August 26). 8 Steps to Implementing a Knowledge
Management Program at Your Organization. EDGE Sirius; Forsythe.
https://edge.siriuscom.com/strategy/8-steps-to-implementing-a-knowledge-management-
program-at-your-organization
 Summers, D. C. S. (2009). Quality management: Creating and sustaining organizational
effectiveness. Pearson/Prentice Hall.
 Vail, E. F. (1999). Knowledge mapping: Getting started with knowledge
management. Information Systems Management, 16(4), 16–23.
https://doi.org/10.1201/1078/43189.16.4.19990901/31199.3
 Webb, C. (2017, July 19). Examples of continuous improvement in the workplace. Chron;
Hearst Newspapers, LLC. https://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-continuous-
improvement-workplace-11323.html

Learner Resource
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Version Control & Document History

Date Summary of modifications Version

Version 1 final produced following assessment

BSBSTR502 - Facilitate continuous improvement (Release 1)

ABOUT THIS UNIT OF COMPETENCY............................................................................8

CHAPTER 1: ESTABLISH SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES........................................................9

1.3 Develop Decision-Making Processes to Assist Continuous Improvement and

1.6 Develop New Systems and Processes that Facilitate Continuous

Key Points: Chapter 1........................................................................................................ 53

Chapter 1 – ‘True’ or ‘False’ Quiz......................................................................................54

BSBSTR502 - Facilitate continuous improvement (Release 1)

CHAPTER 2: MONITOR AND ADJUST PERFORMANCE STRATEGIES..................................55

2.3 Coach Individuals and Teams to Implement and Support Continuous

2.5 Make Recommendations and Communicate Strategies to Relevant Stakeholders...75

Key Points: Chapter 2........................................................................................................ 78

Chapter 2 – ‘True’ or ‘False’ Quiz......................................................................................79

CHAPTER 3: MANAGE OPPORTUNITIES FOR FURTHER IMPROVEMENT............................80

3.2 Seek Feedback from Relevant Stakeholders on Systems and Processes....................84

Key Points: Chapter 3........................................................................................................ 92

Chapter 3 – ‘True’ or ‘False’ Quiz......................................................................................93

BSBSTR502 - Facilitate continuous improvement (Release 1)

About the Business Services Training Package

Delivery and Assessment of Qualifications

BSBSTR502 - Facilitate continuous improvement (Release 1)

Qualification Training Pathways

Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF)

BSBSTR502 - Facilitate continuous improvement (Release 1)

About this Unit of Competency

BSBSTR502 - Facilitate continuous improvement

BSBSTR502 - Facilitate continuous improvement (Release 1)

BSBSTR502 - Facilitate continuous improvement (Release 1)

Chapter 1: Establish Systems and Processes

Continuous improvement is the ongoing improvement of products, services, or processes through

BSBSTR502 - Facilitate continuous improvement (Release 1)

1.1.1 Systems for Continuous Improvement

Performance Management Systems

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1.1.2 Knowledge Management Systems

Best Practice Transfer

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Proximity and Architecture

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Knowledge Brokers’ Knowledge Mapping

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Measuring and Reporting Intellectual Capital

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1.1.3 Performance Management Systems

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Quality of the contributions to the project outcomes

The extent of any constructive input

The extent of any disruptive or destructive input

Response to the requirements of the customer and the

Accuracy and comprehensiveness of documentation and

Quality and accuracy of record-keeping

Compliance with the organisation’s project management