You Don't Have Time To Improve Your Business?

I get it. No, I really do. People are busy. Are you busy? I certainly know the feeling.

However, when someone tells me that progress is not being made on their improvement projects because they haven't got time it makes me question what they do have time for.

It seems that many people have time to:

Correct mistakes caused by poorly designed, or executed, processes.
Lose hours within ineffective meetings that drag on and don't generate action.
Put up with the status-quo because it is more comfortable than trying out a few new things in the business.
Run around like headless chickens; the chaos of the business dictating their days rather than an agreed process focussed routine being adhered to.

Yes, it is easy to write these words from the comfort of my blog. But, if you're like me, you've been there too. I know that my days of running around may have looked good to others (who didn't know better), but my running around only masked the ineffectiveness of the business operations I was trying to run.

There is only so much faster you can run until you get tired.

There is only so much extra work you can do until you start making mistakes.

I think that the notion of 'if you think it's important you'll make it happen' is as true with continuous improvement as it is with anything else.

If you think your projects are worth doing you'll make the time. If you can't make the time then you'll break it down into tiny chunk and drip feed it into your day. And, if you're not sure if your projects are that important then you'll take the time to recall the benefits of doing the project in the first place.

Hopefully you'll end up like plenty of people I know who start to get a hunger for this stuff. They can't accept the status-quo if it is poor (and the comfort I referred to earlier isn't really that comfortable!), they'll rip up the existing process and design a new one.

So, do you have time to improve your business?

Giles Johnston
Author of Business Process Re-Engineering

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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