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?'.

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.

Do you need a burst of improvement ideas for your business?

If you haven’t created your improvement action plan for 2020 yet then I have something for you. I have just completed my latest project – The CI Focus Tool . This Android App is now available on Google Play and provides a simple method for generating as many effective improvement ideas as you need. This is the same basic method that I describe in my book Effective Continuous Improvement and is now available as a simple to use app. In essence it is a brainstorming focus tool. Press the focus button and you will be presented with a random continuous improvement focus. Brainstorm ideas around this focus with your team (whilst the timer is running) and there you go – a number of great ideas for you to prioritise and implement. The reason that this works so well is because of the focus. When your business runs out of its immediate problems to fix you need a different strategy. Very focused brainstorming helps you break past this problem and configuring the app to meet t

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