Articles

When owning a business success is obviously the number one thing on any entrepreneur’s mind. There are many different routes that can be taken to get to the top. One of the new and inventive ways to run a successful business involves the Kata improvement process. Kata is a Japanese invented way to make a business more productive through thinking. It might seem kind of obvious at first; just thinking to solve your problems, but realistically it is much more complex than that.

Every business runs into challenges along the way, and how they handle those problems determines whether it makes or breaks them. It turns out that one of the best ways these problems can be solved is by training the brain to start using a scientific thinking method not just when a problem comes up, but before the problem even occurs. By being able to think through things that have not even happened yet, you could save your company thousands of dollars. Before you can begin using the Kata improvement process it is crucial to understand how the scientific thinking process works.

Our brains do not naturally use the scientific thinking process, it is something that needs to be done actively or trained. When we use our brains to process problems we have a bad habit of filling in the blanks without having all of the facts. The scientific method of thinking allows you to anticipate problems, come up with real solutions to these problems before they occur, and plan accordingly. Most of the time when faced with a real problem with no insight, the knee-jerk reaction is to do something to solve the problem without understanding why it is happening, what solution is going to prevent it from happening again, and understand why it initially happened.

The Kata process has four steps. First, you have to acknowledge the problem at hand, or at best know what the real problems might arise. It could be something small, or catastrophic, as long as it is a real problem that could occur within your company, it is not off the table.

After the problem has occurred or at least been identified, you should work on step two, grasping the condition. Take this time to consider the issue, why it occurred, and if you were ready for it when it happened. If you were not ready, you were not thinking about the company with a scientific mind, it might be time to expand your line of thinking just a little bit more.

Step three is to think about what you want to happen as a result of this obstacle or area of opportunity. By the time you are finished you should have some notion of what the end result ought to be. As an example, if you noticed the waste in your company going up three times what it used to be, your goal should be to get it down to at least what it used to be, if not less. Once you have the end goal in mind it is time to move on to the last step of the Kata improvement process.

Figure out the solution. Do what you need to do to figure out a solution and start experimenting to get to a working solution. Do not be discouraged if it is not resolved right away because sometimes it takes time. There are solutions for virtually every problem out there. The only way you can overcome it is if you take a scientific and logical point of view to get a solution that is not only going to solve your problem but prevent it from happening in the future. \

It can be a challenge to grasp the scientific thinking process when it comes to Kata process improvement. However, once it has been mastered the growth possibilities for your company are virtually unlimited.

So why wait, register today for your Six Sigma requirement. We look forward to seeing you in our upcoming session near you!