Kaizen

1. Kaizen Plan Act Study Do • Constant Never Ending Improvement - Élan Enterprises LLC

2. What is Kaizen? • Kaizen (Ky’zen) • “Kai” means “change” • “zen” means “good (for the better)” • Pronounced 'Gai San' in Chinese - • Gai - The action to correct • San - An action that truly benefits society or all people rather than one individual  Kaizen means: Gradual, orderly, and continuous improvement - Ongoing improvement involving everyone

3. Conventional Thinking VS Kaizen Conventional ThinkingKaizen • Quality improvement takes extra time • Work is a series of separate events • Quality means hitting goals • 95% is terrific • Customers are who we sell to • Quality improvement saves time and money • Work is an integrated process • Quality means constant improvement • Only 100% is terrific • Customers are an integral part of our company

4. If better is possible, good is not enough. Anonymous

5. Roadblocks The Way Out • Possibility thinking • Ask questions • Use lateral thinking • Look at old processes with new eyes This won’t work We've always done it this way! Scotomas Stuck Paradigms

6. Scotoma Its not what we know that’s killing us; its what we know that isn’t so that’s killing us.  It is our fundamental assumptions that get in the way of kaizen.

7. Paradigms(Assumptions, staunch opinions & belief systems) Filter incoming data and experience Establish mental boundaries Influence our perception Act as filters that screen information as it comes in and cause selective seeing/hearing

8. The Paradigm Effect Thomas Kuhn Everyone has a paradigm, either consciously or unconsciously.  If incoming data doesn’t match data that fits in their paradigm, people don’t see it.

9. The Paradigm Effect... Swiss watchmaker story The world is flat! 16th Century Copernicus & the sun WWII - Women In the Workplace Rosie the Riveter Wright Brothers We see best what we are predisposed to see and we don’t see what we’re not predisposed to see.

10. The Way Out! Michael Walsh former CEO, Tenneco Every person …has to see himself or herself as a mini-CEO. They have to conceptualize what has to be done in the same way the CEO has. Then it cascades (down throughout the organization).

11. The Kaizen Secret IN Reactive Crises Management Overwhelmed Sucked Into It Proactive Preventative Anticipatory Predictive Future Focused ON Working ON the system and not INit

12. Question Your Process Ask the question that every child asks and every adult forgets to ask…….. WHY?

13. Questions Worth Asking • Why are we doing what we're doing? • What IS working? • What COULD BE WORKING Better? • How can I (we) improve our products or services?

14. Give people a big enough WHY? And they can handle almost any HOW?

15. The Way Out! Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives. Willa A. Foster

16. KISS - Keep It Simple, Sam! Individual reflection on those systems and services that work well and those that need to be improved. (Use Kaizen #1 handout) Team develops a collaborative list of items they feel need to be improved. (on butcher paper or integrated typed list) Team picks one item to work on… a ‘win-able’. Brainstorm ideas for improving the system or service. Organize and prioritize the items. Do it! Team works on action steps. Study the results and continue Kaizen improvement process from there.

17. Kaizen – Incremental Never Ending Improvement • Teach people to walk in the customer’s shoes and view what they do from the customer's perspective! • The level of detail necessary is to make a promise to both our internal and external customers and then keep it! • Consistently improve systems and services.