We recently took a trip, staying at a cabin in the Smoky Mountains. As we were getting ready to leave on our last night there, I looked out the kitchen window and saw a black bear climbing into our packed car.

We all freaked out for a minute, and then someone suggested banging pots and pans to scare it away. The bear eventually got out with a bag of cereal in his mouth, and I hurried outside to shut and lock the door.

A few minutes later, he came back for more food, trying to open every door on our car and then our friends’ car. We kept banging away and hollering, but it didn’t faze him.

Finally, someone suggested activating our car alarms. Within a few seconds, he scrambled away. The whole experience was a strange combination of being astonished, amused and a little scared.

Later, I thought about how often organizations keep banging their own pots and pans to deal with problems that never go away. A recurring mistake prompts another reminder. Delays trigger more follow-up emails. When results don’t improve, people repeat the same response with greater urgency. But nothing substantive ever changes.

That’s where routine processes for Systematic Continuous Improvement (SCI) can make such a big difference. It gives teams a regular opportunity to step up and examine how work is done – and how to make it better. In regular improvement huddles, people question assumptions, offer solutions, assign action steps, and review results – not just occasionally, but on a regular basis with a routine process.

Bottom-line, it breaks the default habit of repeating familiar fixes that have little lasting effect.

Want to learn how to get your team past banging pots and pans, and get them engaged instead in an intentional habit for continuous improvement?

Begin your improvement journey today!

Getting better at getting better.