Kaizen can be used to boost productivity, raise profits, improve staff morale, streamline processes and create many other benefits when used in business. It doesn’t matter if it’s a multinational corporation or just an individual at home trying to build an online business. Kaizen will help you.
The key to succeeding with Kaizen is awareness. You need to know exactly what you’re doing and where you want to go. Once you have that all written down and mapped out, you will need to think where you can make improvements to better your performance.
It doesn’t have to be life-changing improvements. Small ones work just fine and Kaizen is all about small changes over time. For example, if you’re an online entrepreneur, you may notice that a huge chunk of your time is eaten up by social media.
At times like these, you may wish to cut down on your social media time so that you can put the time to more productive use. It may seem difficult at first, if you’re in the habit of spending hours on Tinder, Facebook, etc.
So, cut down the time by manageable amounts till the habit is broken. Use the time saved to do activities that will improve your business. Focus on what increases your bottom line.
If you’re a small income business owner and you receive complaints often, you should analyze what is going wrong. Is there a problem with the service? Or is it the product?
If your business is not making enough money, is the pricing wrong? Do enough people know about your product or service? Do you need to advertise?
All these questions need to be asked… because the answers are what will need improvement. If you never ask any questions about improving, things will stay stagnant and probably end up deteriorating.
Kaizen requires you to stay alert and always have an open mind. If you have staff, always ask them for feedback and suggestions about what can be improved. How can you cut costs? Are there procedures that can be streamlined?
You’ll be amazed at the amount of redundant and repetitive work that takes place in companies. Workers are just going through the motions because they have no pride in their jobs. They feel like the company doesn’t care about their opinions or ideas.
Most Japanese companies have an open door policy where even the low level employees can make suggestions to the top management. This is very effective because only the people on the ground know what’s best for what they’re doing.
Kaizen is all about looking at what is not working ideally and improving it. Like the saying goes, ‘Make your good into better and your better into best.’
By giving your staff the chance to be heard, they will feel valued and more motivated. This will lead to higher productivity, lower costs and increased profits. Everyone will benefit.
You may be amazed to see that some of the staff’s suggestions may save you thousands of dollars in operating costs. Make Kaizen a part of your business. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose by adopting Kaizen as a company philosophy.
