Kaizens Engage People in a Step Change

World class organizations understand the value of the steady improvement from a daily process of plan, do, check, act.  This daily look at the production cycle as an experiment and trying to improve the process daily leads to a steady reduction of waste.  But world class organizations also understand the value in a step change. A full blown change in their operating system.  A change to the way they do business. This type of step change in improvement comes from a focused event designed to make the change and engage people.

Make the Change

A kaizen event is about ideas and action. It is about ending the event with a new process, operation, and system in place.  A kaizen that ends without some level of physical change to the work area, work process, work details, or work instructions may have missed the mark.

Great kaizens don’t just discuss what’s possible or generate a list of future actions.  Instead they take action during the event and test the new system, make improvements to the new system, and put plans in place to implement the new ways from the end of the event forward. They create the new normal.

Engage People

A kaizen event is about engaging the hearts and minds of the people involved in the event. It is about putting their thumbprint on the change and the improvement.  Tactics like brainstorming and tracking the ideas generated, the ideas tested, and the ideas implemented are all about creating a collective ownership and possible pride in the improvement.

The report out to leadership with evidence of change described by the participants who were all involved in the process not only encourages leadership in the process but engages the people involved.

Help your organization realize the duel benefit of a well-run kaizen that makes change in the moment and engages people in the process. Both are valuable results!!

 

Brian Mansure

Brian Mansure

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