This is one of the first questions I’m asked, so here are five suggestions:
1. An effective Continuous Improvement team has the breadth, knowledge, and influence to identify, ideate, and implement systematically impactful change in an ongoing basis.
2. You’ll notice I didn’t specify levels or titles but instead attributes and capabilities needed to lead change. This greatly widens the pool of potential CI team members.
3. If an improvement project or sprint focuses on a particular function or department I want to include team members with the authority to make commitments from the immediate up and downstream areas.
4..Sometimes “core” CI team members may tap-out for another member due to the specifics of the next prioritized improvement sprint. They can then tap-in for the next.
5. An key factor I screen for is a mindset of honoring commitments and bringing energy through a sprint. This is a precursor to a high functioning CI team.
These five suggestions help build a team with competency, leadership and diversity, authority, flexibility, and responsibility. Anything is possible with a team like that!
A pro-tip: I recruit Continuous Improvement team members based on all the above criteria but I also look for at least one person who can challenge the rest of the team and be respectful and respected while doing so. Sometimes that person is the toughest to find but their participation makes a huge difference in the quality of improvement initiatives.
If it’s unclear if the team includes a person like this, I’ll pull someone aside and ask them to take on the role, at least temporarily. If they want tools for the task I arm them with “Yes, but…” They can use those two words to raise negative effects of a change, and later for obstacles to its implementation.