With the economy faltering, many businesses will be hunkering down and looking at ways to survive. Strong companies will be seeking to use this time to place even more distance between themselves and weaker competition.
As personnel reductions are undertaken, companies will be seeking to do more with less, or at least the same with less.
All in all, difficult times should spur firms and employees to action, rather than a “stick your head in the sand” reaction. It is at these times that it becomes much clearer that improvement should, and can be made, to standard business practices. Everyone should be asking the question, What can we do to assure that our business, our company, will remain competitive now and into the future?
The time has come to examine or re-examine how your business processes either help or hinder your companies’ success. It is time to return to basics and focus on those core activities that result in high quality product or services that customer, clients and consumer want.
In this difficult time, it is time to change.
But how?
Here are some principles that have proven successful:
1. Establish a long term vision and philosophy 2. Improve or redesign processes and process flows 3. Eliminate wasteful materials and methods 4. Level out the workload 5. Stop to fix the problem 6. Standardize tasks and processes 7. Use simple devices to support work activities 8. Deploy technology only when it serves people and processes 9. Live the philosophy 10. Work as a team 11. Work with customers, partners and suppliers to help them improve 12. Talk and listen; learn for yourself 13. Think slowly, create a team decision and act quickly 14. Undertake continuous improvements.
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