In chinese there is a saying: “逆水行舟，不進則退” (nì shuǐ xíng zhōu , bù jìn zé tuì). Translated, it means “when you row a boat upstream if you stop moving forward you fall back.” This isn’t just a good reminder for life that we mustn’t allow ourselves to get complacent. Instead, we need to keep pushing toward excellence. In business processes, this means that every once in a while we should review what we’re doing and try to improve it. In this short article, we’ll discuss why you should regularly review your processes, and give you a couple of simple things you can do to come up with possible improvements.
Kaizen, Waste, and “Why”
Kaizen is a Japanese business concept, which literally translated means changing for the better. The overall goal of Kaizen is to make small net positive changes to eventually see major positive improvements. Simply put, they want a 1% improvement every day, because over time that 1% will add up. It’s a great maxim for life, but also has a meaningful impact on business. By regularly reviewing your processes with your team, striving for that 1% improvement over time, you’ll hit your goals faster than you could have otherwise.
How to Review Processes
There are two ways that you can review your processes. First, you can just watch the employees as they work, looking for waste. Second, you can involve the team and get their feedback. I think that the best solution is to do both! A good leader respects the input of their team. Observe the team so you can be sure to clearly understand the systems and processes they have in place and what sort of waste these naturally create. Then ask the team about what things bug them and where they see waste. Look for what gets in their way, what they would change if they could, what sort of impact that change would create, and why. Getting the team involved in the identification of problems and discussion of solutions will always pay dividends.
As you do this review, be sure to have the team literally draw out the way the process works from where they get the work and from whom to where it goes after the work leaves their hands. This forces the team to connect the dots of the impact of their work, and empowers them to know who they can talk with if the work they are receiving isn’t up to snuff. They will feel like they are part of a team, especially as you fill in the blanks and show them how work goes from an order from a customer to when it is delivered.
Conclusions
If you really want to achieve excellence in what you do, then you should consistently review your work to promote quality. Kaizen teaches that you shouldn’t try to make giant leaps, but instead eat an elephant 1 bite at a time. By learning the process, involving the team, and showing them how they fit in the business achieving Kaizen’s goal of 1% improvement on a daily basis is a piece of cake!
Don’t Give Up the Ship!
