How The KonMari Method Can Help You Streamline Your Business?
“It’s important to understand your ownership pattern because it is an expression of the values that guide your life. The question of what you want to own is actually the question of how you want to live your life.” ~ Marie Kondo
Marie Kondo has emerged as a decluttering goddess with the release of her popular show on Netflix. The reason for her sudden popularity is her #1 New York Times bestselling book, “The Life-Changing Art of Tidying Up” and now her famous show on Netflix (Tidying Up with Marie Kondo).
An expert organizer, Marie Kondo is known for her tidying up skills. She has taken tidying to a whole new level with a simple method that is popularly known as the KonMari Method.
This method is a minimalism-inspired approach which stresses on keeping things that spark joy and discard the rest. People have been drawn to this philosophy not only due to its effectiveness, but it places great importance on being thoughtful, mindful, and forward-looking.
However, what Marie Kondo and her method has to do with how you run your business? The reason being, whether it is decluttering your home or streamlining your business, the KonMari Method can be applied to all parts of your lives. From showing gratitude towards your work, streamlining and simplifying your business to being accountable at your work, the KonMari method can be applied to any part of your business.
In this blog, we’ll give a quick rundown of a few effective strategies that you can apply to streamline your business.
What Are The Strategies Need to be Followed to Streamline Your Business?
#1. Dedicate Wholly
One of the peculiarities of Kondo’s method is commitment or pledge. The commitment of tidy life means to create a space in life and business for the person you want to become, not the person you were. Being committed wholly may feel like a lengthy process, however, this will make the situation better in the long run.
For example, even if it takes a whole week or series of days to finish a task, you should finish it completely before you jump on to take another one. Jumping from one task to another may result in loss of momentum and you may not be able to accomplish anything at all.
Along with that, it is also important to imagine your ideal lifestyle that can drive motivation and help your business. Make sure your staff understand the same to create the much-needed cultural shift towards a “more joyful” business.
#2. Start with the Easiest Things First
Marie Kondo endorses a gentle approach to decluttering and organizing homes. She believes that sorting clothes is much easier than sorting old photographs because of the increased emotional weight. Here’s how it is related to your business.
Kondo recommends starting with the easiest things first. In the business processes, before moving onto the difficult areas, you can start with the paper documents. This helps you get used to the method without getting sidetracked and will help you in creating the much needed initial momentum.
If you feel this daunting, spend only 20 minutes once a month brainstorming how to improve your business processes with your team. Do not worry about designing an ideal process. Just get started.
For example, if you are launching a new product, build an MVP and make sure not to hit the market without taking feedback about it from the initial customers. This will help you understand the status of your product and may provide you with new feature ideas and services.
#3. Spark Joy
One of the essential strategies is to ask yourself if things in your office spark joy or not. KonMari method states that items that don’t spark joy should be discarded. Take this same approach in your business when you’re evaluating the customer service experience or your product or anything.
For example, do your customers find joy when they experience your product or service? If they don’t, you need to take it seriously. Give joy. You might get it back in return.
#4. Focus on What’s Important
The principle of “spark joy”, that we discussed earlier, applies to your mental processes as well. When you’re dealing with new-found business, it is pivotal to have a high level of focus to drive exceptional results.
Hence, eliminate your mental thoughts that don’t “spark joy” and focus on what’s important. Every small minute counts in small businesses and every project can be a make-or-break deal.
It is crucial to make sure that you don’t allow yourself to be pulled in a million directions or to fill your calendar with clutter. Retain your focus on what’s important and what sparks “business joy.” This way, you will be able to accomplish your business goals effectively.
#5. Simplify & Streamline
Marie Kondo believes that the best way to discover what we need is to get rid of what we don’t. This advice works well in decluttering the closet, but its metaphorical lesson is also great to apply at work. You can ask yourself the following questions to streamline your business and run more efficiently-
- Are the items in your office necessary or you are holding on them for no reason?
- Are there any employees in your office who are not aligned with your organization’s vision?
Set up your business for exceptional growth by identifying areas that need improvement.
#6. Thoughtfully Organize
One of the things that Marie Kondo known is for thoughtfully organizing things. Such a level of organizational rigour can do wonders for any business.
Getting cluttered mentally and physically is quite obvious, especially for small companies, where everyone is wearing multiple hats. By applying small changes such as common naming conventions can make a huge difference.
Final Thoughts
There is a famous quote by Marie Kondo that piqued many interests in her work - “Never discard anything without saying thank you and good-bye.”
In the same way, when you are decluttering your business, you should also thank the things that have been with you for a long time. Take some time to appreciate all the elements that has helped your business thrive, from your suppliers to customers.
In the end, a personal word of advice, when it comes to your business, do what you feel is right. Apply these strategies and let me know how it works for you, however, be cautious from trying to fix things that are not broken.
