The strategic maturity and the relationship between personnel policies and strategic planning have been the subject of debate in our articles. Along these lines, we sought out an interesting text made available by Tiago Trevisani, on the blog of O´Think, a consulting company partnered with Stratec.

“In Brazil, I've seen several initiatives to implement and expand the activities of improvement groups based on methodologies such as PDCA, Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing, among others. These initiatives often yield results due to the team's effort and commitment to changing the organization's culture where they are being implemented. This requires a strong foundation in the culture of innovation and continuous improvement, from operations all the way up to the board/presidency.

I participated in projects that were based on process improvements from improvement groups, which resulted in savings of around 20 million reais over 3 years with 60 improvement groups focused on cost reduction, increased productivity, and quality improvement.

Eu realizei uma pesquisa com 50 executivos de empresas de diversos segmentos e tamanhos para ter uma visão mais geral de como está o uso desses grupos no Brasil. Ela mostrou que 64%, das organizações que os executivos gerenciam, utilizam atualmente ou já utilizaram esses grupos de melhoria contínua para corrigir problemas de forma mais rápida e eficaz. Outro ponto relevante visto nessa pesquisa foi que 100 % dos executivos acreditam que premiar os integrantes dos grupos ajuda a alavancar os resultados que podem ser obtidos com a adoção dessa cultura.

There are typically three basic types of awards:

Money.;
Recognition;
– Prizes (trips, appliances, among others).

The fact that group awards are not solely monetary can be explained through Abraham Maslow's Theory of the Hierarchy of Needs, also known as Maslow's Hierarchy. Humans have a need for self-actualization and self-esteem that is intrinsic to our nature and is at a higher level than money (physiological, safety, and social).

So, considering this entire context of continuous improvement groups, it's possible to list some critical success factors:

– Effective participation of top management;
– Practical training in the use of improvement methodologies (Six Sigma, PDCA, among others);
– Formal periodic monitoring of the group's progress (difficulties; lessons learned);
Recognition of the good results achieved by the groups.

So, if you haven't had improvement groups yet, perhaps it's time to consider having them, as some of the benefits are increased team integration and accelerated organizational performance.