When it comes to running a successful business, what happens inside the office is frequently paramount to success. Even manufacturers need an effective sales team in their offices to ensure they are generating the highest-value leads.
Kaizen is a familiar philosophy to many businesses, particularly those in the field of manufacturing, but it can be rolled out further than that. Even in service businesses that don't involve manufacturing, Kaizen can be used to improve in-office functions, ranging from sales to accounting.
The key is to think long-term. Many businesses get caught up implementing short-term changes to their office functions – changing the way communication is handled, adjusting policies, etc. While these adjustments are effective, companies frequently lose track in the long-term. Changes are made to address an immediate issue, rather than enact meaningful alterations.
To establish those long-term adjustments, businesses need to adopt a philosophy of continuous improvement. Short-term changes are frequently mechanical, meaning they address an outer layer issue, rather than the deep-seated root of the problem. These more critical issues can be addressed through a better workplace culture that will sustain and facilitate improvement.
For example, communication is often cited as a top issue by many companies. To address this, businesses may install instant message services, increase the number of phones workers have access to and reassert the importance of leveraging email. These are all mechanical changes that may only scratch the surface of the problems – in reality, the cause of collaboration issues could be distrust between teams or conflicting goals and agendas.
The Kaizen solution
With office problems rooted deep into a work culture, the implementation of Kaizen and continuous improvement are frequently the best solutions. By applying these mindsets, companies will be better able to keep employees engaged while making meaningful changes to the way processes work.
Businesses should break issues down until they arrive at the core. Once they have identified the crux of the problem, they can then begin to make changes that will actually eliminate the issue throughout their companies.
“Making improvements requires a complete understanding of a process,” Velaction adds. “A surface knowledge leads to superficial solutions. Getting a permanent, robust, mistake-proofed process requires a level of scrutiny that takes a lot of time and effort.”