The Continual Improvement Model Explained

The Continual Improvement Model is a structured, repeatable approach to improvement that applies at every level of an organisation — from a single practice to the entire Service Value System. It has seven steps, and the exam frequently tests whether you can identify which step a described action belongs to.

Step one is 'What is the vision?' — establishing the high-level direction and business objectives the improvement should align with. Step two is 'Where are we now?' — a baseline assessment of the current state, often through metrics or an honest audit of existing performance.

Step three is 'Where do we want to be?' — defining measurable improvement targets based on the gap between the current and desired state. Step four is 'How do we get there?' — creating the improvement plan, including the specific actions and approach needed to close that gap.

Step five is 'Take action' — actually executing the improvement plan. Step six is 'Did we get there?' — evaluating whether the improvement achieved its intended outcome, typically by measuring against the targets set in step three.

Step seven is 'How do we keep the momentum going?' — embedding the improvement into normal operations and identifying what should be improved next, which naturally loops back toward step one for the next improvement cycle. This is why the model is often drawn as a continuous loop rather than a straight line.

A common exam trap is confusing step two and step three — 'where are we now' is a factual assessment of current reality, while 'where do we want to be' is the future target state. Another is assuming the process is linear only — in practice, organisations often revisit earlier steps as new information emerges during later ones.