Do you know it’s “Plain English Day” today?  The Plain English Campaign is a group who fight against the use of jargon and gobbledygook in public information from private and public service organisations.

We try very hard to be jargon-free, but how should you define jargon?  Surely one man’s jargon is another’s everyday language, particularly when related to the industry you work in?  In the business improvements sector there are lots of opportunities to use specialist vocabulary.  Words like:

5S      CANDO      Kaizen      Kanban      Muda      SMED      and lots more besides.

They are common enough terms in our day-to-day operations, so are they considered “jargon”?  (If you’re really keen to know what they are, you can consult the Lean Glossary of Terms!)

We consider jargon to be meaningless phrases – phrases that use lots of words where one or two will do; language that confuses the message, rather than clarifies it.  So what meaningless phrases would you get rid of?  What makes you cringe when you hear it?

Here’s a selection of our most annoying jargon:

“at the end of the day”
“at this particular moment in time”
“telling it like it is”
“thinking outside the box”
“it’s not rocket science”
“I personally think …”
“I always give 110%”

… but I bet I’m guilty of using some of them!

Saw a really good example of this at one of our clients earlier this week. Their Marketing Manager and Designer went out to vist a representative sample of their customers and end-users. They saw exactly how their products were used, met with the various people involved in specifiying, buying and using the product and asked loads of questions. They found out all sorts of useful information and loads of things that they can do to improve the product, better their competitors and do more business. As per the Kano model (see the earlier blog post) there were one or two “dissatisfiers” – little things that really anoyed the end-users. There were some simple changes that will improve the product and make the customer happier. We even brainstormed some ideas of how we could delight the customer. Over the next year this will undoubtedly lead to happier customers and more sales. It’s all about using the Lean approach to add more value for your customers and it’s a great win-win.

Another tool, which I find useful to clearly identify customers / suppliers and their requirements, is SIPOC.  The model looks at who supplies information etc into your department and what their requirements are; and who you supply information etc to and what their requirements are.  (For a fuller description of SIPOC, visit www.nicholsonconsultancy.com/resources.htm).

 If you can also get the departments who are upstream and downstream of your operation in the room while looking at the model, it’s amazing the improvements that can come about.

Simply asking the question, “What are your requirements of our department” can produce amazing results.  I’ve worked in a number of companies where Dept A has religiously kept data and stored it neatly in a file in the assumption that it’s essential information for Dept B … who didn’t even know the file existed!  Talking to the departments who you service and who service you can save companies time, and SIPOC is an excellent tool to facilitate the conversations.

It’s important to remember that Lean is not all about cost-cutting.  It’s a valuable tool to help you grow your business.  To me, Lean is learning about the purpose, process and people involved in your business.  It’s about designing systems that respond to your customers’ needs, and increasing your capacity so you can meet those needs.  But remember, there is a big difference between a want and a need – the customer might want a drill, but what he really needs is a hole!

In order to find out what your customer needs, you have to talk to them – keep in mind that your customer could also be the next department in the flow.  As a starting point to clearly understanding customer requirements, I tend to use the Kano model and questionnaire.  The Kano model looks at the “Must-have”, “Should-have” and “Could-have” attributes that customers expect in relation to your products/service.  For a more detailed explanation of the model, read or download our pdf on The Basics of the Kano Model.

Remember the more you understand about your customer, the more you can do for them, the more you can sell them, and the less time you spend on unnecessary activities.

Following our successful work with James Heal in Halifax, TheBusinessDesk.com have run an article on James Heal’s achievements.

As well as helping the directors with their strategy for growth, Andrew worked with the Engineering Director to create a long-term Operational Excellence programme from the Manufacturing strategy.  He also helped them to introduce the concept of Lean across the workforce through “hands-on” training workshops.  Neil Pryke and his team have now identified where improvements need to be made, and with help from the managers and supervisors have achieved some important “Quick-Wins”.

The full case study can be downloaded from our website.

If you’re interested in learning more about the benefits of using the Lean approach in your business, you might find it useful to come along to one of our Introduction to Lean workshops.