Plain and Simple: Bright Business Insights Spring 2019 | Page 10

ARE YOU PREPARED FOR THE NEXT ECONOMIC RECESSION?
It’s Not A Matter Of If ... It’s A Matter Of When
Don’t get too comfortable in your current business operations. The
term “recession” has been making waves recently in the financial
industry, and the chatter about this unwelcome visitor has certainly
increased over the past several weeks.
If the last economic recession wasn’t enough of an eye-opening
experience, then I don’t know what would be. Many businesses that
failed to read the writing on the wall prior to the recession struggled
to survive – and some didn’t make it out at all.
It’s easy to fall into complacency when times are good, and you don’t
notice that ticking time bomb — known as economic recession and
competition — lurking in the shadows. You probably weren’t thinking
about changing your processes or considering all the various expenses
going out the door. Why? Because you still had a comfortable amount
of money in your pocket, and everything appeared to be OK.
Revisiting Lean Six Sigma
If your business adopted Lean Six Sigma when the last recession
hit, or if you quickly learned and implemented a Lean mindset, you
probably weathered the storm better than those that weren’t Lean.
But becoming Lean isn’t a process that happens overnight. It’s a
change in culture that requires a major commitment by all, especially
leadership, to change existing behavioral patterns. Most importantly,
Lean Six Sigma is about developing a culture of continuous
improvement.
Albert Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and
over and expecting different results.” When you adopt a continuous
improvement mindset, you know that you need to regularly improve
your processes to get better results.