The Smartspeed Performance Improvement Blog

I have just released my new guide / workbook Making 5S Work . Many 5S programmes fall over. They lose momentum, typically around the Shine stage. This guidebook takes you through some simple, but effective, planning steps to help you avoid this situation. You might have experienced something similar: You start the Sort stage, start to quarantine items and then watch the decision making grind to a halt (along with the rest of the programme). Or, you get so far through 5S and then aren't sure if you are done, or not. Then the progress you have achieved so far drifts. Get a notable improvement and then fail to use 5S as a launchpad for other Lean initiatives. Making 5S Work helps you to avoid these pitfalls via a few quick thinking exercises. You can get your copy from the CI Made Easy website . Enjoy, Giles About the author: Giles Johnston is a Chartered Engineer who specialises in helping businesses to grow and improve through better business processes and embracing Kaizen. Giles...

Measuring the performance of your businesses is key to running them effectively. If you didn't have one eye on the results, how would you know what to change, by how much and when? But, what do you change? What do you change it to? This is a question that can stump many managers, especially when the results aren't going in your favour. If you are on the back foot and don't have a clear route forward, it might be time to think about creating a winning recipe . When do you evaluate? When you evaluate business performance can make all the difference. You need, in my opinion, a few different times when you evaluate. At the end is an obvious point in time. What were the results? What would you do differently next time? At the start of the process is another key point, but less common. Did we launch properly? Did we launch on time? Do we need to undertake any corrective actions? During the process is hit or miss, in my experience. Are we on track? Are there any factors we need to...

When we are looking at improvement opportunities, it is easy to get knocked off course by our long list of existing obligations. And, by obligations, I mean a long list of things that we have to do that we simply haven't had the time to get started with. So, how do you make any progress when you have this situation? One option, and one that I am keen to use when working with my consulting clients, is to be selfish. Figure out which improve opportunity could save you time. If you can save some time then you can start a virtuous cycle to improve not only your working life but the overall results of the business. Let's say that you have identified this opportunity. How do you even start it? This is where the Kaizen approach comes in. Work out what the least amount of effort / time / work you can put into this continuous improvement opportunity. The small size will make it palatable and there is a good chance that you will do a little more than the absolute minimum if you have time...

Dealing with day to day pressures can be hard. One way we can deal with this is to have a to do list. Write it down and do the thing that you wrote down. It is a simple strategy to keep on top of your workload. However, there comes a point where you can become a slave to your to do list. It is a fact for most of us that we cannot fit all of our work into a normal working day / week. Some of us end up working longer hours as a result. A phrase I heard years ago resonates with me here: you can do anything but you can't do everything. So, the next question bubbles to the surface... If you are busy responding to your to do list, what has happened to your key objectives? Where do they fit into the timeline of your day / week / month. It can be too easy to lose track of the big things when you are spending your days fending off the little things. Little things sting when they don't get dealt with. So, we tend to focus on them. But, what about the feeling of missing a major goal? More...

Available from Amazon and other online retailers Why business performance often falls short Many businesses do not struggle because people do not care. They struggle because expectations are unclear. Leaders want better results, but teams are often left to interpret what “better” actually means in day-to-day work. Why clarity matters more than criticism That is where What Does Good Look Like? can make a real difference. The book helps leaders and managers turn vague ambitions into clear, practical standards. Instead of reacting when things go wrong, it encourages a more useful approach: define what good looks like in advance, communicate it clearly, and help people work towards it consistently. How the book improves performance This matters because business performance is shaped by everyday actions. If your team does not know what good planning, good communication, good handovers, or good problem-solving look like, performance will always be inconsistent. You may get ...

Cutting corners can feel like a sensible shortcut when you’re busy. A quick workaround. A step skipped “just this once”. But in most businesses, the real damage isn’t immediate. It shows up later as higher costs, more rework, slower decisions, frustrated customers, and a team that spends more time firefighting than improving. In other words: cutting corners doesn’t just affect today’s task. It quietly undermines overall business performance. Why Shortcuts Become Expensive Most corner-cutting starts with good intentions: “We don’t have time.” “We’ll tidy it up later.” “It’s only a small job.” The problem is that shortcuts create a new normal. Standards drift: The agreed way of working becomes optional. Bad habits form: The shortcut becomes the default, not the exception. Rework increases: Issues that should have been prevented get fixed later at a higher cost. Decisions get weaker: Without the right checks, data, or handovers, you get more guesswork. Trust e...