We attended this year's mid-July OPEX Exchange Conference at the beautiful Chateau Elan in Braselton, Georgia. Great ideas were exchanged among leaders from several different industries to discuss the latest insights and advances in creating a culture of continuous improvement to transform organizations. As we met with attendees, they offered valuable insights. Here are four key take-aways from this year's conference worth highlighting:
Robotic process automation or RPA was a key part of this year's conference and for good reasons. RPA is set to continue to be an important resource to not only perform repetitive tasks but automate processes and optimize human resources. It's helping to accelerate the pace at which processes are automated by mimicking human behavior for performing the task more accurately and faster than humans. RPA essentially saves time for everyone to focus on strengths unique to humans, including customer interaction and emotional intelligence. The challenge, however, is determining what processes should be automated. This requires processes to be clearly mapped out before determining what needs to be automated.
It's important to have your team "buy-in" to facilitate continuous improvement. Without this, they won't have a reason to participate. Do this by developing a culture of continuous improvement, including communicating these goals from the start to ensure your team is aligned.
More important than consensus is alignment of your team. In order to foster success, everyone on the team needs to be fully invested in the business goal and also understand what it is. That's why it's crucial to get everyone on the same page by creating clear objectives and meaningful goals.
To boost results and solve issues within the organization, it's important to collaborate. Collaboration across departments and among peers fosters an environment of inclusion. With collaboration, your team gets to provide different ways to solve problems from different viewpoints. Here are signs that it’s time to build a team of problem solvers.
Fostering an environment of continuous improvement and change is achievable with the right strategies. We met many leaders who are fostering an environment of continuous improvement and transformation.
If you’re looking to accelerate skill building, transform culture, and increase return on investment, the Process Excellence experts at OpusWorks are ready to help you and your team.