This is my last blog for the year. It has nothing to do with superannuation. It was inspired by an excellent presentation on Amazon’s Paper Cuts process at the recent FAAA conference – and how it can be applied to any business.

Amazon recognised that most businesses spend their time chasing the big wins while ignoring the hundreds of tiny inefficiencies that drain time, money, and morale. They’re not large enough to trigger an emergency but they’re irritating, cumulative, and harmful to the business. Each paper cut on its own is harmless but, if fixed consistently, they yield tremendous benefits to the business.

Solving a single tiny inefficiency may only save a minute a day. But fix fifty small inefficiencies and you recover hours of productive time daily. More importantly, eliminating paper cuts supports psychological flow. Staff stop tripping over avoidable obstacles. The irritations that chip away at goodwill and patience disappear. And the overall operational rhythm becomes smoother and more scalable.

There’s also a cultural shift. When you demonstrate that every small piece of feedback is welcomed and acted upon, team members become more observant and more invested in improving the business.

You can start by asking your team some questions like “What slows you down every day?”, “What do you dread doing because it’s inefficient?”, “Where do clients get repeatedly confused?”

Sort the findings into categories like fix in under 10 minutes, an hour, a day, in the future – and fix them. Just focusing on the 10-minute fixes could deliver surprising results.

Announce when a fix has been implemented and encourage further feedback.

Amazon’s genius wasn’t inventing the concept of incremental improvement — it was making it systematic, valued, and relentless. Every business can benefit from the same mindset.

• Fix the tiny things.
• Fix them often.
• Fix them quickly.

But not until you return from your break.

See you next year!