In 1790, George Washington proclaimed, “The establishment of our new Government seemed to be the last great experiment for promoting human happiness.”

The principles and practices that underlie the “great experiment” known as the United States of America apply just as strongly to a company as they do to a nation. Nothing captures that truth more meaningfully than the last six words of our country’s Pledge of Allegiance: “…with liberty and justice for all.”

For all the yearning that companies profess for “out-of-the-box thinking” and “taking initiative,” the way they typically operate robs employees of personal freedom and forces them into drone-like conformity. Truth is, most organizations reward following rules and regulations more often and more richly than calculated risk-taking.

That’s especially true when risky actions lead to conspicuous failures, and people get called on the proverbial carpet. Where’s the justice in that? What kind of incentive does that give people to dig into the messy trial-and-error process of discovery and innovation?

If you truly want to generate the creative thinking and bold actions that are required to excel and produce breakthroughs, employees need the “liberty” to try new things – and the “justice” to be rewarded for the effort and the courage it takes to risk failing.

Getting an organization to operate that way as an integral part of its culture takes more than lofty values and good intentions. It takes processes and practices that imbed systematic continuous improvement into the regular work routine.

Tell Us Your Stories!

If you have a story that illustrates the power and potential of employees engaged in continuous improvement, we’d love to hear it – and share it with our readers.

Click on the link below to learn how to build liberty, justice and continuous improvement into the heart of your operations.

Begin your improvement journey today!

“Great is the enemy of better”