What's The Right Forum To Support Improvement?

When you review a high level process map of your business, or perform some kind of root cause analysis on problems you have you may find that you need to have a conversation with another department... about their performance.

There is nothing wrong with this. I'm sure that your customers will happily have this conversation with you and your department should the need arise.

The effectiveness of this conversation, however, is often affected by the location, the context of the conversation and the timing of the conversation. A little bit of preparation can save you a lot of hassle and delay if you need to have this conversation.

Then again there is another view on this issue.

Is there something that you are doing that needs to be reviewed first?
Is there an action that you currently perform that leaves a degree of ambiguity in the process?
Is there something that you aren't doing that might be causing this effect?
Do you own a process that isn't tight enough and allows this observed performance to happen?

You can build the conversation that you need to have into a structured process improvement approach. Rather than just pointing out mistakes and hoping that the other department suggest ideas to improve you could make sure that your process is 'squeaky clean' first and then invite the other department to take part in your improvement 'project'.

Reviewing the performance of a business process is critical to improving it. When you are involved with other departments to improve this performance choosing the right forum to have these discussions is also critical. You need to maintain working relationships as well as get results, thinking your approach through (for example inquisition versus process improvement) is essential.

Change can be a little painful at times, so let's try and make sure that we don't make it more painful than it needs to be by having the right conversation, with the right people, at the right time, conducted in the right manner.

Good luck!

Giles Johnston
...fixing MRP systems and re-engineering business processes

Kamishibai Boards

Available to purchase here. Some tools are incredibly simple to use, and also deliver some amazing results. Kamishibai boards are a great example and are superb when you want some visual control over routine tasks. By the way Kamishibai is pronounced "come-e-she-bye" in case you were wondering! As simple as you could want it, a Kamishibai board is a T-card system that has red cards glued to green cards (so that each T-card has a red side and a green side). The red cards are for the incomplete tasks, where as the green cards symbolise that the work has been done. See the photo below of a board in use. On the red side of the card you write the name of the task that needs to be completed, and if appropriate you can include details of how the task is to be completed. This is not expected to replace standard operating procedures, but can be a good opportunity for an aide memoire. The boards can be organised for daily, weekly and even monthly cycles. They are g

Kamishibai Boards: A Visual Management Tool to Improve Discipline and Workplace Habits

If you need to increase your effectiveness in the workplace and need a visual tool to help with day to day task management then this short guide is for you. Giles Johnston, a business improvement consultant for small to medium sized businesses, takes you through the steps needed to implement a low / no cost solution to your day to day management problems - a 'Kamishibai' board. A Kamishibai board can help to improve discipline within the workplace and ensure that the working days / weeks / months are more effective. Common within businesses that use 'lean' methods to improve efficiency and performance (and very effective to use when implementing 5S), a Kamishibai board can be used in its own right, in any kind of business, whether you are going through a lean transformation or not. Click here to view on Amazon.com. Smartspeed Consulting Limited Taking the frustration out of on time delivery.

What is 5S and how does it help to improve the performance of my business?

Many businesses have heard of 5S; it is a simple workplace organisation system that is designed to make workplaces more effective and more efficient, as well as safer. Many businesses also try and fail at implementing 5S . It might be simple, but as you will know, anything that involves changing the behaviours of your staff isn’t always straightforward. If you haven’t heard of 5S before there are five basic steps, all beginning with ‘S’. They are: Sort – clearing out the clutter and re-distributing other people’s belongings. Set in order – optimising the workplace so that everything you need frequently is close at hand. Shine – cleaning the workplace to an appropriate level. Standards – defining what good looks like and how you will keep it that way. Sustain – forming the habits to retain the benefits of an organised and disciplined workplace. So, how does 5S improve the performance of your business? From a safety perspective, fewer accidents means less downtime.

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