Published on 03/19/2009

Brampton - One big improvement and everything will be fantastic! Sound familiar? Given today's economy, every organization is looking for ways to increase revenue or decrease expenses. What if you could improve 1,000 things by 1% rather than looking for 1,000% improvement in one thing?

Brampton - One big improvement and everything will be fantastic! Sound familiar? Given today's economy, every organization is looking for ways to increase revenue or decrease expenses.

Clearly one big improvement in either the revenue or expense category would help any business. The truth of the matter is that the "big win" is celebrated because it happens so rarely. Unless you have discovered a major new product or process that big win will stay elusive.

The good news is that the big win is not the only way to improve the bottom line of any organization. What if you could gain significant savings in expenses a little at a time? What if you could improve 1,000 things by 1% rather than looking for 1,000% improvement in one thing?

The reality is that it is possible to gain that 1% improvement in many areas any business. The answer to this challenge is something referred to as continuous improvement. Essentially it is generating an improvement that provides a continuous benefit not a one time hit. To create this culture it is necessary to use the knowledge base of the organization. An exceptional base of knowledge exists within every organization. That knowledge is vested in the people who come in and do their job day in and day out, week in week out.

The challenge is to tap into that knowledge base and gain those improvements. It is generally at this point that the blockage occurs. However, by thinking outside the box the desired results are readily achievable.

An associate recently used the term "architect of change" when discussing the role of someone whose task it was to improve the bottom line of an organization. This struck me as a truly unique and memorable way to look at people. What if every one of your employees felt like an architect of change? Asking the why question would become the norm.

Consider some basic math; 10 employees each find a way to decrease expenses or increase revenue by just $100. each month. The bottom line improvement would be $12,000. every year. As evidence I offer the following example. Using this technique, a former employer had an employee come up with a way to decrease mailing costs by purchasing envelopes of a lighter weight. This saved a few dollars per box of envelopes. However, considering the number of boxes of envelopes used each year the savings was in the thousands of dollars.

An investment in helping your staff understand they can be part of the solution and helping them with the right tools can pay off significantly. Can you afford to leave those benefits on the table? If not, what are you going to do about changing the culture in your organization tomorrow?