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It’s no secret that the Japanese have their own secrets of living a good life—from the lifestyle of Ikigai, to the principles of Kaizen. Among their many preserved ways of living, Kaizen has been a strong pillar notably for organizational growth.
With Kaizen, minor changes over time are preferred to push improvements. Rather than making changes happen slowly, Kaizen highlights how minor changes now can have huge effects in the future.
The 5 fundamental principles
The term Kaizen was coined by Masaaki Imai more than 30 years ago. In the Japanese language, “Kai” holds the meaning of ‘change’ and “Zen” carries the meaning of ‘good’. To improve processes with Kaizen, these 5 fundamental principles need to be implemented:
- Know your Customer
Creating customer value; identify their interests so you can enhance their experience.
- Let it Flow
Targeting zero waste; everyone in the organization should aim to create value and eliminate waste.
- Go to Gemba
Following the action; value is created where things actually happen, like a sales meeting or with the frontline workers—go there!
- Be Transparent
Speaking with real data; performance and improvements should be tangible and visible.
- Empower People
Organizing your teams; set the same goals for your teams, and provide a system and tools to reach them.
Visit the Kaizen Institute website to learn more about the basics of Kaizen and its history here.
Smaller changes in smaller groups
Most companies have Kaizen principles as their goals and dreams, when it’s actually what they should already be doing. In other cases, companies do implement Kaizen but don’t evaluate its impact.
To really make it work, it is more efficient to embrace Kaizen in smaller teams first. UX consultant, Thomas Stokes, has shared the 5 steps leaders can take to conduct Kaizen sessions:
- Step #1. Establish that you want to hear about mistakes early & often. Blame shouldn’t be a part of your mindset.
- Step #2. Collaboratively define the mistakes that your team wants to avoid at all costs.
- Step #3. Referring to that list, brainstorm what early warning signs for these mistakes could be.
- Step #4: Having this list of mistakes and possible warning signs, discuss what problems you frequently encounter and what errors you might be ignoring.
- Step #5: Set up a safe space to talk about errors. This plan should include deciding how to share mistakes and how to pull out the lessons from them.
Read the full Medium article from Thomas Stokes on the implementation of Kaizen principles at work here.
Kaizen role models to learn from
Before reaping those benefits, a company should first evaluate whether they’re ready for Kaizen. It is known that companies with the following characteristics might not suit Kaizen best just yet:
- Companies with cultures of territorialism and closed communication may first need to focus on cultural changes to create a friendly environment.
- Companies that are only capable of implementing short-term Kaizen may create a burst of excitement that is shallow and short-lived which is not sustained.
Examples of companies who had the right timing and suitable environment to maximize the use of Kaizen principles include:
- Lockheed Martin
This aerospace company has used the method to successfully reduce manufacturing costs, inventory, and delivery time.
- Ford Motor Company
When Alan Mulally became its CEO in 2006, he used Kaizen to save Ford from bankruptcy, executing one of the most famous corporate turnarounds in history.
- Great Western Bank
With Kaizen, Great Western Bank reduced its 34 steps of opening a checking account to just 24 steps by analyzing its process to deliver better service.
