RTOs are constantly under change, change from the stakeholders, change from industry, change from regulations. Continuous improvement processes within an RTO refer to the continual enhancement of an RTO’s performance so that it can meet these changing needs. This means we have to maintain the improvements that happen within the RTO. The easiest way of doing this, and to keep you sane, is to have a list, a register or some way of showing what has changed, who did it and where it can be referenced.
An effective quality system includes processes that encourage and achieve continuous improvement. For RTOs this means developing a planned and ongoing process to systematically review and improve policies, procedures, products and services through analysis of relevant information and collection of data from clients and other interested parties, including staff.
Looking back on so many of my posts where continuous improvement within your RTO is the focus, I feel confident that many of you now have a register where all your feedback is being logged and the recommended actions being noted. I do wonder, however, if anyone is actually reviewing the actions they say they will do. Keeping the spreadsheet is awesome and well done to you, but is someone reviewing the items to:
- Check that they are closed out
- Check that version control has been amended where needed
- Check that they meet the RTO strategic plans?
- The information is being disseminated to staff and the CEO
A good way to make sure this is happening is to add an extra column onto your spreadsheet that shows that someone reviewed the information and maybe that they approved the changes. Your Quality person should love this tool, enabling them to see clearly what has been happening within the RTO.
Another point to remember is to think about how the improvements have been communicated to staff. So often changes are made and staff are not informed, which means they continue to use “old” or ‘outdated” information. A simple solution here is to add the item onto your regular meetings with staff.
When someone reviews your RTO, maybe the auditor, they will be looking for a systematic way for the continuous improvement to be disseminated throughout the RTO. Take a bird’s eye view at what you are doing and see if that is the impression your auditor will get.
Data from quality indicators provides a key tool for continuous improvement.