I was recently asked how many clothes I own. My response? “Three closets and two dressers full. And that is just fall and winter clothing. I have four more bins downstairs in the basement of spring and summer clothes.”
Needless to say, organization is key in my home. And it is also key in the Consulting field.
I recently read the book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing” by Marie Kondo (now a hit series on Netflix). Kondo’s goal is not to ensure you have a perfect home, or force you to part with all of your belongings. She aspires to help her clients bring peace and calmness into their homes by uncluttering. Her philosophy is focused on asking yourself which items you want to bring into your future, and to reaffirm how you feel about each item you own.
As a consultant, I started to see several parallels between Kondo’s methodology and our client-centric mission at Transforming Solutions Inc. Like tidying up your home, companies and higher education institutions can tidy up business processes, improving efficiency and effectiveness within the organization.
Does this spark joy? / Does this process spark productivity? If not, dispose of it.
Kondo’s hope is that by picking up an article of clothing, a book, or a sentimental item, and asking “Does it spark joy?”, that you will either build a deeper emotional connection to the item, or you will remove it from your future.
A similar process takes place during business process improvement. The client will outline their current processes, discover what works and what does not work by asking if their processes are effective and productive, and then develop an ideal future state.
Compartmentalize miscellaneous items to make them neater / Compartmentalize your processes to make them neater.
Kondo states that “clutter is caused by failure to return things to where they belong. Therefore storage should reduce the effort needed to put things away not the effort needed to get them out.” Using small boxes to compartmentalize the miscellaneous items that bring you joy will help you realize their value in your life.
Similarly, business process improvement, design thinking, Lean principles and other techniques can help businesses and universities compartmentalize their current processes, determine pain points, list potential opportunities for improvement, and identify quick hits. This process facilitates moving forward the implementation of new, more efficient processes.
Attachment to the past or fear for the future.
Kondo believes that “when we really delve into the reasons for why we can’t let something go, there are only two: an attachment to the past or a fear for the future.” We all have that one old rag of a t-shirt from college that we can’t seem to part with, or maybe it’s an old family heirloom that makes us fearful of moving forward into a new stage in life. By keeping items that speak to your heart, you can press the reset button on life and build the strength to become a new you.
This also translates into the workplace. Oftentimes, companies and universities use outdated, traditional, sometimes ineffective business processes. They want to change, but are unsure of how to gain momentum. Consulting firms, like TSI, can help businesses and universities think beyond the daily tasks and envision future possibilities. We can help managers realize the potential of future processes and spark joy in their teams. Change is scary, but it can also be motivation to become more forward-thinking, make processes more efficient, and boost customer satisfaction.
Declutter your life / Declutter your processes.
By decluttering, you can find out things about yourself, and your workplace business processes, that you wouldn’t have thought possible. Organizing and tidying will bring clarity to your personal and professional life. And maybe you’ll be able to spark joy for yourself and your office.