Years ago, a senior manager told me something that stuck with me: “When you walk into a factory, you can smell continuous improvement.” At the time, I laughed it off, but the more time I spent inside different businesses, the more I realized how right he was.
The “smell” isn’t literal, of course. It’s energy. It’s how employees engage, how leadership interacts, how problems are solved—not just in meetings but right on the floor. If continuous improvement is ingrained in a company’s DNA, you feel it immediately. And if it’s missing, well, that’s just as obvious.
Rethinking Everything
I first saw this in action at Lockheed Martin, where I was leading teams in high-stakes aerospace manufacturing. We were tasked with reducing satellite production time from 48 months to 18. The challenge was daunting, but I saw first-hand how the right culture—one that empowered employees—could drive real change.
Our team didn’t just tweak a few processes; we rethought everything. We looked outside our industry, taking inspiration from companies like Dell, who were revolutionizing mass customization in the PC world. Instead of building every satellite component from scratch, we moved to modular designs. The result? A faster, more efficient system that delivered results without sacrificing quality.
But what really stuck with me wasn’t the technical success—it was the people. The engineers, technicians, and operators who had been doing things a certain way for years suddenly had a voice in shaping the future. That’s when I learned the most important truth about continuous improvement: it’s not about processes—it’s about people.
The Surprising Missing Piece
When I started CBS, I saw a common pattern in struggling companies. Leadership teams would launch continuous improvement initiatives, implement Lean Six Sigma tools, and create complex dashboards, yet a year later, things would be right back where they started. Why? Because improvement isn’t just about putting systems in place—it’s about changing the culture.
A company might have all the right metrics, but if employees see improvement efforts as a leadership directive rather than a way to make their own work better, those efforts will fail. Real, lasting change happens when employees aren’t just following new processes but are actively engaged in making them better.
I’ll never forget a Kaizen event we led at a manufacturing plant. At the end of the week, a woman who had been with the company for over 30 years came up to me with tears in her eyes. “This was the best week of my career,” she told me. “For the first time, I felt like my voice mattered.”
That’s the missing piece in so many businesses. When people are empowered, they don’t just participate in improvement—they drive it.
Breaking the Cycle of Stagnation
If you want to know whether a company truly embraces continuous improvement, ask yourself these questions:
- Do employees wait for management to tell them what to do… or do they proactively discuss ways to improve their work?
- Are problems solved in a conference room… or are solutions implemented directly on the floor where the work happens?
- When leaders talk about change, do employees roll their eyes… or lean in with interest?
Over the years, I’ve seen two types of companies: those that sustain and those that improve. Sustainment is a dangerous word: In theory, it means “staying the same.” But in reality? It means falling behind.
The companies that thrive are the ones that never settle. They continuously refine their systems, engage their employees, and challenge the status quo.
What’s Next?
This is just the start of the conversation. In the next installment, we’ll dive deeper into how leadership can foster a culture of continuous improvement—not through top-down mandates but by creating an environment where employees at every level take ownership of change.
Because at the end of the day, the “smell” of continuous improvement isn’t about tools or processes—it’s about people who care enough to make things better, every single day.
Stay tuned.
