I have discussed steps to take to build a culture of continuous improvement in numerous posts on my Curious Cat Management Improvement blog. What it boils down to is building a system that supports that culture. Your culture is the result, not your aim.

David Heinemeier Hansson put it well recently in his essay, “CEO’s Are the Last to Know”: “But the bottom line is that culture is what culture does. Culture isn’t what you intend it to be. It’s not what you hope or aspire for it to be. It’s what you do.”

To create a culture that enhances your effort to continuously improve, you must create systems that move things in that direction. Part of that system will be the continuous assessment of how your organization is falling short of your desired culture. This requires honest assessment of the current state, and it requires those in leadership to design systems to get a clear picture on what is really happening in their organizations.

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