Doing the Right Things

A management’s role is to achieve its purpose. The purpose could be anything depends upon the type of the organization. Usually, the purpose of a manufacturing unit is to earn more profit now and then. For hospitals, it is providing health services and for institutions, it is offering education. To achieve the purpose, managers need……

Understanding Bottlenecks and Constraints

When I read the ‘Theory of Constraints’ concepts, Initially I was not able to understand the term bottleneck and constraints clearly. I hope the same might have happened to you also. So, in this article, I am trying to provide you the definitions, in a simple way to understand them better. please let me know……

How to Achieve the Goals in Small Business?

This article provides you a clear understanding and guidelines to achieve the goals in small businesses and startups by following basic principles. It will take 4 minutes to read. Few Goals are Enough The human brain is programmed to concentrate on one thing at a time. Study after study has shown that while multitasking can……

How to Win Sales using Empathic Listening?

In this article, we are going to learn about empathic listening and using it in business communication to win the sales deal effectively. Communication is the most important skill in life. Reading, writing, speaking, and listening are forms of communication. Out of these four types, one of the best forms of communication is listening. The……

How to Control Employee Turnover and Maintain Retention?

Employee turnover (leaving an organization) in small businesses is a painful event specifically when the business is down. It further intensifies it when the processes and outcomes of the business depend only on the key employees and their experience. If you think you know why your employees leaving your business, then it is the right……

How to Increase Sales without Advertising?

There are three simple but effective principles that need to be followed in small businesses in order to increase your sales without any money spent on advertising. Choose Best Strategy There are many businesses in the world that don’t have any decisive competitive strategy or edge. However, these businesses are surviving in the current environment……

Check Sheets and Types – 7 QC Tools

What is a Check Sheet? A check sheet is a simple counting tool. It serves as a data-collecting tool used for gathering and visualizing the parameters which are under study. The check sheet is used for almost every industry and process. The check sheet is identified as one of the basic 7 QC Tools. Due……

Is ‘Lack of Awareness’ a myth?

Most of the corrective action reports, I had come across in my life, had the actions mentioned as providing training to operators and staff, displaying one-point lessons, or creating awareness about the issues. Without a doubt, the root causes were always a lack of awareness. If an employee commits a mistake it is because of……

Lean Business Tips #61- Make Time to Think

Thinking means concentrating on one thing long enough to develop an idea about it. Lucky people encounter plenty of opportunities by thinking clearly and logically about the cause and effects of the problems. The art of thinking is not being taught at school. But, with great discipline one can learn the art and use it……

Lean Business Tips #60 – Have Few Goals

The study says, if a team has more than 10 goals to achieve then the chances of achieving the goals are 0%, if a team has goals between 3 to 10 then the chances of achieving is hardly 20%. It is 100% achievable only when the number of goals is less than 3.If you have……

Lean Business Tips #59: The 1% Improvement on 1%

Every organization has limitation for its growth. Though it takes enormous efforts to improve its profits or sales, the company unable to grow massively after attaining its peak. After this point the improvements are incremental and slower than before. This point is called ‘limitation for growth’. So, is it possible to improve the performance drastically……

Lean Business Tips #58 – Know Waste

Unless you know someone you can’t find him. Knowing is important to find. This is exactly true when we deal with wastes in any manufacturing process. We focus on improving machine efficiency, introducing new technology, providing training, etc., without understanding what waste is in manufacturing processes. Most of us have this problem. We are surrounded……

Lean Business Tips #57- Use 99/1 Rule

Determining where to focus is key to improvement! The 80/20 rule of the Pareto principle, states 80% of the mistakes created by 20% of the events in any manufacturing or service industries. 20% of the events, observed in the Pareto chart are often found interrelated with other events within the chart. So, to understand the……

Lean Business Tips #56 – Drive Fear Out of the Organization

Fear makes us stupid! Dr. Edwards Deming verbalized this concept as once of his 14 management principles as ‘Drive Fear Out of the Organization’ nearly decades ago in his famous book Out of the Crisis. Because the fear creates stress, the very nature of our brain induces thoughtless responses as an outcome of the stress.……

Lean Business Tips #55 – Implement Full Kitting

“Full kitting is the process of clarifying requirements, getting sign-offs, the staging of materials, etc. before the initiation of tasks.” – Goldratt Usually, the activities that allow tasks to be done without interruptions are included in the full kit list. A doctor and her team performing the medical treatment in an operation theatre without checking……