I sit in a lot of meetings where people talk about their continuous improvement projects. Sitting and talking doesn’t always equate to getting the changes put into effect and that’s what we need; the results count for everything. So, is there a simple way to help move projects from being stuck, delayed and appearing to wait for a perfect plan (or time)? The short answer is yes, and it revolves around our old friend the ‘80/20’ rule. Can you remember the 80/20 rule? This is the simple principle that states that a small number of inputs leads to a disproportionately large amount of rules. A little bit can go a long way, if you choose the right things to focus on. The opposite of this is also true; a lot of things can take a lot of time / effort / resources and yield very little in terms of overall results. The 80/20 rule (or Pareto principle) - a little bit of the right stuff can produce a lot of results! Phase 1 – quick wins and focus on the 20% that gives the 80% of resul

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.

There are some things that would make a real difference to your business if you could just get them done, aren’t there? For most of us there are a handful of improvement projects that can help us get the results we are looking for in our business. There might be twenty opportunities, but only a few of them will make a significant difference to our current working practices. Our day to day workloads, demands from customers and suppliers, colleagues and managers can really deflect our focus away from these continuous improvement objectives. The day to day stuff is really important, and I am not suggesting that you start to avoid those tasks, but what would the rewards be if you could get your improvement projects fully implemented? There is usually a time saving resulting from improvements. This time saving can be re-invested to work on the next project, but only if you keep the focus on the project in the first place. So, how can you go about doing this? Here are two practical su

Over the last couple of months I have been working to update and improve my on time delivery system (you may have seen earlier incarnations - including the OTIF Improvement Course). The revised system has been expanded to include more templates, continuous improvement suggestions and ideas to expand the system and help you quickly realise the benefits of simpler and more efficient on time delivery performance. The system now comes with a 30 day email program to coach and guide you through the implementation of the system into your business. All of the original management structure and meeting formats are still in the system. This is the same system I share with my clients as they take the 'blood, sweat and tears' out of their own on time delivery improvement journey. The system is priced at $129.00 (USD), but to celebrate the launch I am offering you the system for only $50.00. To get your copy of The OTIF Improvement System at this reduced price please use the discoun

I had a funny conversation a few weeks ago with a team that was complaining about one of their colleagues spending 'ages' preparing their workstation within their factory. I meet a lot of people that spend too long preparing (and effectively procrastinating) so I was intrigued by their comment. It turns out that this individual didn't spend too long but rather his colleagues dived into their work without thinking through what the best way to work was... The slower to start gentleman did in fact prepare his work area. He was also able to produce a far greater amount of work in the same time period because he had invested in a smarter way of working than his counterparts. The time spent preparing his working area was valuable and not overdone. This example reminds us of the importance of the second S in 5S (set in order) and how workstation design is critical if we want to maximise the productivity of our teams. Whether this is a physical work area in a factory, the fili

Last week I was working with a company that had a handful of clear issues that were significantly affecting their operational performance. From talking to them they sometimes focused on them and sometimes they didn't. If you want to make headway with your improvement and performance challenges then you need to keep your issues in front of your team until they are dealt with. There are lots of improvement methodologies available to improve how a business functions and performs, but none of them are worthwhile if you don't demonstrate sustained effort with your challenges. I see lots of businesses that get close to completing their improvements, but fail to properly finish them off. They never stick with the improvement, because they have lost focus, and therefore don't get the rewards. Many issues are linked to discipline. Discipline comes from habits. Habits come from focus . You have got to keep your eye on the issues that you want to resolve for long enough if y

My first app is now available on Google Play for Android devices. Many of my clients have asked me if I could make a simple Concern Cause Countermeasure (also known as CCC and 3C) app for their smartphones so that they have the tool at hand whenever they are walking around their business. Long story short, I made an app for Android devices and it has just been published on Google Play. It is called Pocket CCC  and costs £1.79. The app also links to a web resource to show you how to get the most out of the app and this approach. This app is great if you want to capture concerns floating round your business and want to generate simple but effective improvement countermeasures . If you have never used this approach before then you can use the tutorial to get you up to speed quickly. The interface has been stripped back so that it is Lean and only takes about 30 seconds to understand how to use it. To get your copy visit Google Play here or click on the button below.

The conversion of my book What Does Good Look Like? for iTunes has now been completed. Get away from Groundhog Day and into a higher gear with this practical book The book is designed for business managers that are fed up with sub-standard performance. Many times this is down to the standards not being adequately described. Other times the team don't have a grasp of a vision of what good looks like, so how can they ever achieve it? The book contains simple methods to develop these visions and part two shares more practical ideas on how you can best implement the change. To get hold of your copy of my book follow the link below: Buy your copy from iTunes Enjoy, Giles About the author Giles Johnston is a Chartered Engineer who specialises in helping businesses to grow and improve through better business processes. Giles is also the author of Business Process Re-Engineering and creator of the ' Making It Happen ' continuous improvement toolkit.

Many improvement projects need the buy in of several people before they can progress. Amongst these people there will be some that have a firm view of what needs to happen and are keen to make progress. Some of the people won't be sure and they will need more time. Other people might not be that interested and have other priorities they want to focus on. None of this is wrong. It is an observation of mine and one that I see repeat on a regular basis with the businesses that I come into contact with. But, if we take the principle from the observation we have an interesting improvement strategy (one that I personally use when I get stuck with my client's improvement projects). You might have worked out the approach from the title of this blog post, but it is analogous to a three-legged race (or four, five, nine...). If someone in the group moves in the wrong direction and / or at the wrong speed then the whole group falls over. In the example I gave at the start it

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are a vital part of any management team's toolkit. Get them right and KPIs can help you to lead your team to victory and success. Get them wrong and they suck up time and resources and frustrate all of those that are involved with the activity. I was working with a team the other week and they had come up with about twenty different KPIs they could use for their function and they were getting stuck as to how to proceed. I asked them to test their measures against the ultimate test: "Can you use the KPIs to make management decisions?" Great KPIs can help you make swift decisions that affect the outcomes for your business. Effective metrics allow you to keep the standards you need in your business in place. Well thought through measures guide and support your thinking, making you more effective and efficient as a manager. The team I worked with applied this simple test and eliminated pointless metrics, enhanced oth

For those of you that are regulars to this website, you will know that I have recently published my next book - What Does Good Look Like? The purpose of this post is to explain how I wrote the book when I was already up to my eyeballs with consulting projects, a busy home life and some voluntary work thrown into the mix. Clients and friends have asked me in the last few weeks " How do you have time to write another book? " The short answer is that I am the same as pretty much everyone - I don't have time to write a book! Available for Kindle and in paperback That's where our good old friend Kaizen comes in. I didn't write a book; I created my own 100 words a day challenge. Writing a book - I don't have time for that! Writing 100 words a day - how could I fail? If you haven't come across the Kaizen method before it is a brilliant approach to break big challenges down into tiny bite size chunks. The real power of Kaizen is to avoid triggering

My new book What Does Good Look Like?  has now received its first official review: innovate risk wrote on the 20th of October: Available in paperback and on Kindle "Quite simply I have bought 3 more copies of this book to provide to members of my team. For too long, the focus of consultants and advisors has been on "define the problem" and then resolve, but to me that was always missing the real point. The real point is to define "what good looks like", or "what awesome looks like" as per Giles. This book hits this exact point between the eyes and I thoroughly recommend reading this quick and easy book. The techniques provided are simple but most importantly easy to understand and undertake. We need to move away from defining the problem, to defining what "good looks like" for our customers and our people." (This quote was taken from  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J3988KW#customerReviews ) To get your copy of the book c

Get your copy today Available from Amazon and iTunes When we experience the day to day frustrations of our team not working in the way that we want them to we have a few options: We can shout at them and tell them that their work isn't good enough. We can try and figure out why their work isn't good enough and try to help them improve. We can articulate what good looks like and help share with them some principles we want them to work to. The last point, sharing with them the principles of how you want your team to run, can be invaluable not just for your under-performing team members but for the wider business. Let me give you an example. I worked with a business that was struggling to keep up with their client projects. We looked at a number of their failings and came up with handful of 'performance principles' that included: We don't do surprises - if something bad happens tell your team mates immediately and work on a plan together. Wal