Additionally, because of the local agency program and the highways and local programs' role, technical assistance is available daily for local agencies in the region where the agencies are located. As a result, local agencies may immediately get assistance at whatever level of expertise required. In other words, people can often tell when things are going well and when things are not, and react accordingly to institute the necessary change. However, when significant improvements in communication or processes have occurred, as is the case in Washington State, people can sometimes become complacent about those changes and forget that continuous improvement of communication and process is fundamental to an organization's or individual's growth. Therefore, it is usually helpful for an organization to develop a more analytical measure of performance, or performance indicators, to continue challenging the key stakeholders in a process to even greater levels of service.
Many methods exist to measure continuous improvement.
The challenge is to find the most efficient, user-friendly process to measure performance in a tangible fashion. Two ways to measure results include internal and external surveys, as performance indicators. Internal and external customer survey forms are excellent ways to acquire performance feedback, process improvements, and problem-solving opportunities. Another good measurement tool is to assess how employees feel about the work environment and the new management system by asking what changes employees would recommend for system improvement. Examples of these key data include customer, product and service performance, operations, market, competitive comparisons, supplier, employee related, cost, and financial data.