Headroom. Start there.
Nothing is ever going to improve until staff have time to improve. If they are flat out, nothing will get better.
So they need headroom to make improvements, which means reducing their utilisation well below 100%. And keeping it there. Because every body of knowledge ever tells you that improvement is foundational and continual.
So dont let it fill up again. The only way to do that is to prioritise improving how we work over doing work. Crises and emergencies are always with us. They don’t get to trump improvement.
We also need to say no. Demand management is essential. Prevent overburden. It doesnt matter how important it is, we’re full. What shall we drop?
If you have no appetite for these things, don’t expect anything to get better. It’s simple logic.