Seiton or Organization: Home – Do the same thing with the
files at your home. Label and index them accordingly. Do not forget to do the
same thing with some of your stuff in the kitchen. Imagine this scenario. You
are cooking and you need salt urgently.
But you did not label the container. For one moment, the
monosodium glutamate looked like salt and you added the quantity you normally
do for salt. So the food will have too much of monosodium glutamate with hardly
any salty taste, just the taste of the flavoring. In the worst case scenario,
you accidentally put sugar instead of salt!
If you did not label the container accordingly, you need
to spend time to figure out if it is salt, sugar or whatever. By labeling and
organizing your items in the kitchen, you can save ample time and energy in the
long run. For example, one look at the rows of drawers and you know where your
butcher’s knife is. This is because you have labeled the drawer properly and
arranged all your knives in one drawer. Taking your butcher’s knife will be
fast and easy.
Seiketsu or Standardization: Office – You may have a
great number of hard copy and soft copy files. Think about standardizing them.
Use a color coded system to make things easier for you. For example, you can
use a green sticker for records and a red sticker for procedures. Create a
standard for the items that you have so that retrieving what you want is fast
and easy.
For example, the moment you see a red sticker on the
file, you know it is a procedure file, not the record file you are seeking.
Believe it or not, you can even use a color coded system for all soft copy
files.
Why is standardization important? Here is a bad scenario;
your customer needs a specific record in soft copy within five minutes. He
thinks you should be able to do so within five minutes since you have it on
your computer and you can send it to him via email. How long is that going to
take? But you struggle to find the right file.
You do not know where you put the vital record. When you
open the customer’s folder, you can see a score of subfolders. You do not know
which subfolder is the record type for your customer. By the time you send your
email to your customer, it has taken you more than twenty minutes. Your
customer is of course, not happy at all.
Seiketsu or Standardization: Home – Do the same for the
personal documents at your home. Perhaps, you can standardize the items in your
kitchen too.
Why is standardization important? Here is a scenario;
your bank officer calls you and asks for a specific record. He says that it is
the final and only document he needs to approve your loan. But he needs it
within five minutes because he has to go back after five minutes and he is on
leave for two weeks.
You have a number of files at your home. You do not know
which one has your personal records. You take some time to go through all the
files. By the time you fax it over to the officer, he has gone back home. So
the approval of your loan gets delayed.
Shitsuke or Discipline: Office – Nothing can be done
properly without some amount of discipline. You need to have the discipline to
practice sorting, cleanliness, organization and standardization always.
Why is discipline important? Here is a good scenario; a
potential new customer who is much disciplined according to your supervisor
walks in and passes by your working area. He sees how you kept your working
area clean, the way you indexed, labeled, color coded and arranged your files.
He is greatly impressed by your very discipline.
After evaluating your company, he decides to have a new
business dealing with your company. But he tells your supervisor that he wants
you to be part of the business project.
Shitsuke or Discipline: Home – Nothing can be done diligently
without a certain amount of discipline. You need to have the discipline to
practice sorting, cleanliness, organization and standardization always more so
at your home. There is a huge tendency to be lazy at your home.
Why is discipline important? Here is a good scenario;
your steady girlfriend‘s parents ask you to take them with you to your place
for the first time. They want to know what kind of guy you are since you had
just proposed to their daughter. They are very much impressed by the
cleanliness, organization and other aspects of your place. They tell you how
they are impressed by your very discipline. Your discipline gives them the
confidence that you are well able to take good care of your daughter.
If you really think about the 5S methodology and its very
application at your home and working place, you may realize that practicing
stress-free productivity is possible. This is because you do not face the
hassle or stress of searching for what you want. Also, you save time and energy
in looking for what you need; giving you more time and energy to do other
things you love. A clean environment might give a happier feeling to be where
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