Articles

When it comes to owning a business, success should be the number one factor on the mind of the people running the company. There are a number of different ways that you can improve the quality of your company. A new emerging way to bring success to your company involves using Kaizen, which roughly translated stands for continual improvement.

The way that the traditional business model works involves large dramatic changes. This can include adding a new product line, company branch, and so on. The problem with big dramatic changes is there is always the possibility that it is not going to work out and cause a loss for your company. This can be particularly damaging if you are a small business with not much room for error. You could quickly find yourself in the hole if two or three of your big drastic changes do not work out.

Kaizen adds a brand new approach to this method by allowing you to improve on a small scale. Instead of doing large scale changes you will work towards making small changes and gauge how it helps or hurts your company. You can use this method to make your company more successful without the risk of it failing due to “jumping the gun”, so to speak.

You may be wondering how the Kaizen method is going to improve your company overall.

Well, there are a couple of key benefits that you should keep in mind:
• You should actively seek your own regular employees for ideas instead of using pricey consultants. Your employees know the company best, and they can offer insight that can be overlooked by people who have not walked in the shoes of a day-to-day employee.
• The morale of your employees will increase because they feel valued. When they are helping you make decisions and trying out new methods it really keeps everyone in high spirits which translates to more productivity.
• You will be able to save money because most of your small investments are going to cost far less money than big changes.
• Your team will feel more like a family. They will work together to come up with new and exciting ideas that could propel your company to exciting heights. They will want to work together to improve the place that they are working at every single day.

It is important to remember that when you are using the Kaizen method for your company you might feel discouraged because you are not seeing instant drastic changes, but rest assured, results will come. The big changes will come over time, as opposed to instantly. This will open the door to tweaking new ideas, getting insight from new employees who start working with your company, and much more. By the time it is all said and done the big changes that you seek will be evident.

The culture of your company is based on you, your staff, and your customer base. If you work with your employees to build a solid foundation of trust the results will come. It could take a little time but almost every company that invests in this method and uses smaller changes will see results. You just need to keep pushing forward and realize that there is always room for improvement.

If you are already using the traditional business model it is never too late to switch. It should be noted that when you are switching over it could take some getting used to, but by the time it is all said and done, it will be well worth the time of you and your employees.

Stop by and contact us at 6Sigma.us and find out how we can positively help you plan and change the culture and operations of your organization. We offer Green Belt and Black Belt training programs, as well as a Master Black Belt program.