If it's broken, please improve it!

I visited a client last week and asked to join their production meeting. It turned out that the meeting had been cancelled. After a little probing I found out that the meeting wasn't satisfying the owner's requirements.

Available from Amazon

So, here's the question.... Could it have been repaired?

The meeting was broken, but it was there for a reason. It had a purpose and it added value to the business. The owner acknowledged this.

Pressures are on everyone at the moment, but dumping the meeting rather than fixing it?

A question I ask all my clients is 'what does good look like?'.

We debated this, my client and I. There were clearly a lot of good things that this meeting did. There were a handful of things this meeting didn't do. So, what did good look like?

Quickly we were able to define some clearer guidance for the attendees. They now all know what they need to bring to their meeting and what responses need to be prepared in advance.

My client even embraced the PDCA (Plan Do Check Act) approach. They refined the agenda and preparation notes after a couple of meetings had taken place.

If you have a process that isn't working for you then I urge you try out these two things:

Ask what does good look like; define it.
Tweak the results from experience; create something superb.

Over to you,

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 is also the author of Effective Root Cause Analysis and 'What Does Good Look Like?'.

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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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