Kaizen Training is Not Step by Step

Kaizen means “continuous improvement”, or so the latest business consultant has told you. But what does “continuous improvement” itself mean? What are you improving? Why? How do you make it continuous?There are a lot of guides out there on how to “implement” Kaizen, but is Kaizen even something to implement? Isn’t it more than that? Ease of marketing for consultants aside, Kaizen training is not a step-by-step, one-and-done process. To call it “training” might not even be the right phrasing. Kaizen is not a system; it’s an idea. This ideal is inseparable from the overall company culture. So instead of a list of steps, here are some answers to those three questions about continuous improvement I mentioned earlier.

What are you improving?

Are you improving the process? The product? The financial bottom-line? Yes. All of these and more, but there is one thing you must improve first and foremost: Every individual who works in the organization. Actually “you” are not improving them at all. Kaizen must come from within. It is human improvement. This in turn leads to process improvement, not the other way around.

Why should your people improve?

Why? Why!? Are you serious? Because the work done in your organization makes it what it is. This work is done by people, or at least programmed into computers by people. If you are a manager and you have to ask this question, you are the first one who needs some Kaizen from within!

How do you make it continuous?

What happens if you have great standards and an obedient but unengaged workforce? You get the same standards forever, and nothing improves. Once again, Kaizen is about empowering people. People come before processes, because people are the ones who can change the processes. In order to improve continuously, things have to change. That’s why Kaizen is really about “people improvement.” That’s always continuous.

So how do you start? Give your people access to information. Give them your Lean books, and your Kaizen training videos. You can buy them their own material to give them an introduction to Lean, 5S, Hoshin Kanri, or any other subject they need to know. The knowledge of Kaizen is not a top-level secret. It belongs to everyone because everyone has the ability to improve. It’s human nature. You just need to tap that potential and keep learning and self betterment and ongoing tradition in your organization.