According to the American Society for Quality, continuous improvement is the “ongoing improvement of products, services or processes through incremental and breakthrough improvements.” The purpose of continuous improvement is to ensure ongoing development and advancement in your industry. Within the framework of accessibility, the purpose of continuous improvement is to continue your business model’s accessibility in all aspects as your company grows and changes.
Despite your best efforts, however, there may be times when continuous improvement may fail, and your business’s next change or upgrade may not meet accessibility guidelines. What can you do when this happens, and how can you do your best to ensure it doesn’t happen again?
Step one: evaluate
Evaluation is the most important tool to determine what errors led to the continuous improvement failure you are experiencing. An honest evaluation of yourself and your company is the first step to narrowing down what went wrong. Similar to a performance review, there are specific questions that everyone can ask, regardless of the industry they are in.
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What were the goals of this project?
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Were the goals reasonable and actionable?
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Did you keep accessibility in mind during all phases of this project?
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Did you take enough time to implement the needed accessibility features?
Honest answers to these questions can help point you to where your continuous improvement attempts may have failed and can assist you in rectifying your mistake. Even if the solutions make you uncomfortable or embarrassed, it is still important to answer honestly, or you risk making the same errors later.
Those four questions are only some of the questions you must ask yourself. Depending on your industry and the specific errors made, evaluate yourself, your employees, and your company and look inward to find further answers. Deep introspection and evaluation is the first step to figuring out what went wrong in continuous improvement failure.
Step two: reassess
Once you’ve self- and company-evaluated, take a step back and start from the beginning. You may still be interested in making some of the same changes you’d been trying to make when the failure occurred. Assuming the changes don’t violate the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), that’s perfectly fine. Use this step to reassess where you and your company are after evaluating your earlier errors.
Honesty is still the key in this step of the process. The American Psychological Association says that honesty is the best policy: "Telling the truth when tempted to lie can significantly improve a person’s mental and physical health.” That seems facetious, but it's important to acknowledge your mental health when dealing with a reflective issue such as examining personal or professional failures. Being honest with yourself is not only good for your mental health, but it will also have better results when you’re ready to try again – building off of an honest discussion of failures will be more successful than a discussion meant to soothe your ego.
Step three: try again
One failure in continuous improvement does not mean you should give up. Two failures do not mean you should give up. Continuous improvement is just that – continuous. It is done repeatedly to transform your company and bring accessibility to the forefront of what you provide. You can’t do that if one setback means you quit.
Not every effort you give will succeed. That’s a given. Sometimes, you have to try over and over before something sticks, but as long as you’re trying, there’s still a chance of success. Don’t give up! Continuously working towards furthering your company’s accessibility is a fantastic goal, and the effort you give is sincerely appreciated.
Conclusion
Sometimes, no matter your intentions, continuous improvement efforts fail. In those circumstances, it is important to examine what went wrong, reassess your goals, and try again to ensure that you and your company are doing all you can to provide the best accessible services for your customers and clients.
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