Recent Articles From EvanCarmichael.com http://www.evancarmichael.com/ http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3310/Kaizen.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3310/Kaizen.html Kaizen is a system of continuous improvement. It sounds complex - but it is not. Find out how to adopt KAIZEN principles in your organisation. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3310/Innovation-is-simple.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3310/Innovation-is-simple.html Innovation can be simple - but we have to put in place the processes that make it so. Otherwise, our employees remain disengaged and non-creative. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3310/Innovation--its-easier-than-you-think.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3310/Innovation--its-easier-than-you-think.html Innovation is not the 'big idea' that transforms your business or how you do it. Well, it might be but innovations can be small - but still important. If you try to hard for the revolution, you might miss the small but crucial improvements that can change your business. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3310/Becoming-lean-and-mean.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3310/Becoming-lean-and-mean.html The 'lean' philosophy stated at Toyota - but can be (and should be) applied to any business. It is very simple - keep things flowing and avoid waste. Read more! http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3310/How-do-you-make-your-company-competitive.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3310/How-do-you-make-your-company-competitive.html To be competitive, you need an advantage over the other players in your markets - a better product/service or a better way of getting it to the customer. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3310/Critical-Success-Factors.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3310/Critical-Success-Factors.html If you don't know the few, really important things you need to carry out to achieve your mission - how can your staff. Identify them - and communicate them. Then everyone knows where to focus their efforts. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3310/Achieving-Peak-Performance.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3310/Achieving-Peak-Performance.html Athletes are trained to reach peak performance through a regime of coaching and mentoring. If they fail to reach world-class performance levels, they fail to achieve significant rewards. There are ways of applying the same concepts of coaching to business staff and even to teams of staff. Make sure your key staff achieve their maximum potential by reaching their peak performance. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3310/Go-to-Gemba.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3310/Go-to-Gemba.html There are times when it is not enough to listen to what people tell you about a situation .. and especially a problem. You have to see, smell and feel for yourself what is really going on. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3310/Running-out-of-office-space.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3310/Running-out-of-office-space.html Growing companies need more space ... and space is expensive. Hot desking is one way of controlling costs - and keeping your 'road warriors' out there for most of their time - getting more leads, making more sales. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3310/Count-more-than-the-money.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3310/Count-more-than-the-money.html Counting the money you make tells you how well you did last week or last month - not how well you are going to do in the future. For that you need a more balanced view.