Partner Article

Nibbling your way to success

Not only do you have to do your day job but you have to find the time to make improvements to how your business operates. No wonder many businesses only improve when they are forced to do so. I think we have all been in the situation where what is happening day to day isn’t necessarily bad, but we know that it could be done better, if only we had the time!

Thankfully there is a simple strategy that can be employed to help with this issue. Its proper name is ‘Kaizen’ but for many people this is only recognised as a Japanese term for continuous improvement. The way that lots of businesses approach it however doesn’t align with the original intention of Kaizen. This strategy was designed to stop people getting worried about how big the challenge was in front of them (or how long the road was for that matter). It focussed on the next step, and preferably the step was tiny.

One of the drawbacks to continuous improvement when you have too much to do day to day is the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’ effect. If you feel like you are drowning why would you contemplate increasing your workload further? Where Kaizen works really well is that it gets you to break down your improvement tasks into tiny chunks. The more microscopic the better. These tiny packets of activity then can be worked through, constantly pushing you forward.

Don’t worry; this approach isn’t designed to take you forever to reach your destination. Once people get started they often don’t stop at just the first tiny piece of action, and hopefully the improvements will make their life a little easier also. This newly found breathing space will then allow them to consume the improvement plan at a faster rate. This approach, Kaizen, works so well because it often allows you to circumnavigate the ‘fight or flight’ response in the brain. In business the flight mode manifests itself as procrastination. This approach therefore is often worth considering even if there isn’t a capacity issue.

So, if your improvement plans aren’t happening then why not try this approach? People usually opt on paper to go for bigger improvement plans. In reality, if they can’t get their grand plans started, they achieve more with a series of smaller plans. Try it in your own business and see if you can make some progress.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Smartspeed Consulting Ltd .