How to run a Lean Organization…

How to run a Lean Organization

With the hard-economic times, most businesses are struggling when it comes to adopting a model where they can run their businesses using fewer resources and yet satisfy their customer and make profit or simply put… to keep it lean!

According to study.com A lean organization structure is a structure that is designed to create more customer value using fewer resources than a traditional organizational structure.

The goal for all members of an lean organization that utilizes a lean structure is to constantly find ways to improve the processes of the organization and to make the organization more efficient. The term was coined from Toyota which is all about eliminating waste, increasing value and continuous improvement.

Here are six things we think can help you run a lean business:

Outsourcing

It is always advisable to outsource most of the services for your company to concentrate on your core business and increase your profitability. Outsourcing also allows you get access to skilled expertise. Outsourcing also helps you cut on costs as you only pay for the services that you need.

For example, one can outsource from platforms like Up Work: Through the UpWork platform anything that can be done on a computer—from web and mobile programming to graphic design—can be done on Upwork.

Freelance experts can tackle a range of projects. Whether you need a writer to knock out a 500-word blog post or a full-fledged software development team to support your business, our tools and the expert freelancers in our marketplace can accommodate.

Co-working

Co-working is a growing phenomenon globally today. This has become the new normal disrupting the has disrupted the real estate industry and has brought about a whole new concept of the workplace. Latest statistics show that there are currently 14,411 coworking spaces in the world and that the number of coworking members will rise to 3.8 million by 2020 and 5.1 million by 2022.

With tailor made products to best suite and address the needs you have; co-working ensures that you manage your business well and reduce the waste.

For example, working at Nairobi Garage, you will find that the space has a variety of products that best suits whichever level of the business that you are in. i.e The Club Space, for start-ups and goes for as little as Ksh 4500 (USD $45), Flexi and Fixed for companies that are and the Private Offices.

Digital Marketing

A study by e-marketer in 2017 showed that Google parent company Alphabet made more money from digital ads than any company on the planet. The company made $73.8 billion dollars in net digital ad sales in 2017 after subtracting for traffic acquisition costs.

Another study shows that Google makes about 54% of the total and Facebook about 45% of the total revenue made in digital advertising leaving just 1% for everyone else.  This goes far to show the huge opportunity that lies with digital marketing.

With as little as $4 dollars Facebook and Google gives you an opportunity to advertise or even boost posts and reach your targeted audience. Using technologies like Machine Learning the two tech giants can go further to ensure that your advert is linked directly to your target audience, generating leads for your company, unlike the traditional media where you would place an advert on a bill board or tv, pay hundreds of and hopefully wish that your target audience will perhaps see the advert.

For any company that seeks to keep it lean it is so obvious that digital marketing is the way to go.

Focus on quality and not quantity

When you focus on quality you tend to reduce overproduction of you products, producing that which is suitable for you customer and eliminating waste. In some organizations, workers focus more on quantity. They blindly keep producing, even when those who receive their output either aren’t ready for it or don’t need it. This is a big flaw as it can tie up significant working capital. It’s especially common in manufacturing, but it can occur in any workplace situation in which there’s a bottleneck.

To achieve a Lean organization then, always focus on quality by producing only that which is needed by your consumer then. Quality sells whether in the form of products or services. Satisfied customers increase sales through referrals and repeat purchases.

The solution to overproduction is to establish a reasonable work flow for the benefit of the customer. Be sure that there are well-established procedures in place for every process in your organization, and if necessary, implement new processes to keep work from backing up behind bottlenecks in the organization.

Harness Virtual Technology

Reduce business costs by operating in a virtual manner whenever possible. For example, holding Virtual meetings will always help your organization minimize on the travel expenses and virtual offices will also help eliminate the need for physical space.

Do not get us wrong! We certainly don’t want to eliminate personal contact altogether, but you can save that for the times when it is crucial. Technologies such as Google docs or even Google Drive help you centralize company documents and product collaboration as an alternative to paper documents and meetings. These platforms are free.

There are also dozens of online systems and software programs that have automated tons of small business functions. Accounting, website hosting, marketing communications, payroll Human Resource and more have all benefited from programs and services that make it easier to manage facets of business

More so, one can make use of a software that automate processes and reduces need for expert staff – such as Canva (no need for a designer), Envoy (no need for a receptionist), dropbox (no need for filing) – there is an endless list of good examples that you dont mention.

Maximize your employees’ skills

To run a lean organization maximise on your employees skills. Always give responsibilities to the employees with the most skill and efficiency in those areas. It’s often necessary for one person to be responsible for a variety of tasks but consider exchanging some of those tasks with another individual who shows greater efficiency.

In addition utilize online sources of training for staff development instead of hiring people with years of experience. Also allow flexible hours and instead of focusing on delivery of results, not only time spent in the office as a metric.

Thinking about what joining a work space designed for business, could do for you and your team? Talk to our team – we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch.