Make a difference

As we approach New Year, I believe everyone is busy pulling out the list of important things to do and setting up resolutions for the exciting year of 2017. Everybody seeks change, we always thrive to make things better. Not just we as individuals, but a recent stats show that 68% of the organizations have significant or moderate modifications in their plan, just like our New Year resolutions.

Here, we discuss what continuous improvement and the process improvement can do and what we can do to make a difference in our own lives. The whole idea is to start simple. A long walk starts with one step. Focus on small changes. Many studies and practical experiences show that there are few areas or issues that cause majority of the problems in a process. Same logic goes even with life. We are always stuck up with those few issues which degrades our efficiency to a drastic level. So work on these small changes first, which can show significant results.

I am unable to manage time, I am stressed out with work, I’m unable to cope up with my social life etc. are few common complaints that we have in our daily life, of course some may have even more complicated issues in their journey. The key lies in changing our perspective over life, look at is as a process than problems. A good lean manager is the one who never complaints at problems rather sees it as an area of improvement in the process. So, think about the process, focus on it and identify Value added and non-value steps in our daily routine. For implementing any changes or improvements in a process in any organization, the first thing to do is understanding the Voice of Customer (VOC) which deals with customer requirements and then convert it into measurable metrics which is  CTQ (Critical to Quality). In case of our life we are our own customers, we need to first understand what we need, have a clear idea of our goal and steps required to achieve it. Knowing this would make it easy for us to eliminate the non-value added things we do in the process of living our life.

Continuous improvement is practical and kind of a fun way to approach life. The thought process only comes through practice. Think what possible changes or difference you could make in improving the way the things are done, might be at your work place, at your home or anywhere you visit. Slowly this continuous improvement kind of gets into you and its starts making a difference in your life and makes you more productive towards society.