Kaizan is the Japanese word for improvement, but in the United States it is often short for Kaizan blitz. Used to humanize the workplace and rid it of the stresses of overwork, while also improving productivity, Kaizen can transform work in the public sector, as well as in the business sector.
Kaizan is improving the way work is done:
- Evaluation of the process and results
- Evaluation of the overall system in place, assessment of each element along the pipeline
- Creation of processes that integrate all elements, increasing productivity and worker satisfaction at all levels
Outside manufacturing operations, I often call a Kaizan Blitz a Lean Week project. In it’s most common application take one week with a team of people to identify and eliminate waste in a process.
The typical schedule is:
- Monday: Train the team and analyze the process for waste
- Tuesday: Identify potential solutions and get feedback from doers and approvers
- Wednesday: Get formal approval to implement solutions and begin implementing solutions
- Thursday: Continue implementing and make adjustements, as needed
- Friday: Measure and present results, celebrate success
The value of the team is that they bring their expertise to the table and have skin in the game to insure improvements continue long after the end of the project. The magic of the middle and end of the week presentations is that it keeps the team accountable and significantly reduces foot dragging and stone-walling. After all, who wants to publically refuse to improve anything or say that you haven’t gotten any results.
