Kaizen: A Japanese Way to Approach Best Practices
“Kaizen” is a Japanese approach to the workplace that has proven to be a famously effective Best Practices strategy with companies like Toyota and Sony, among others. “Kai” is defined as continuous improvement while “Zen,” a more familiar term, is loosely translated as for the better or “good.” Therefore, kaizen is to make “continuous improvements for the good.”
Kaizen follows three principles: 1) process and results 2) systemic thinking (the big picture), and 3) non-blaming, because to blame is counter-productive and wasteful in practice.
When kaizen is applied as a daily process, everyone in the company is involved, from the CEO and management team to your employees. The purpose of kaizen in the workplace is to eliminate the waste (or “muda” in Japanese) that is produced by your company, like waste in poor time management, inner office clutter, and other inefficient methods, while freeing opportunities. Some companies hold a “Kaizen Event” where managers and employees work together to fine-tune and revise the current standards. Once a more efficient and superior system is achieved, it is then standardized and integrated into current policies, rules, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
When you implement kaizen into the workplace, you should aspire to make changes to your current operating standards by breaking down the processes in detail, monitoring the results, and then making adjustments accordingly (”If it ain’t broke, do fix it”).
Your management team should ensure that the current SOPs are being followed and achieved while human resources look after the follow-ups. Management must “go and see” operations, MBWO (management by walking around) in order to achieve efficient operations and take corrective actions when required. That is the only way they can fully understand their current business climate and make educated adjustments.
The Toyota Corporation is renowned for its production system, The Toyota Production System, and its principles, The 14 Principles of the Toyota Way. Kaizen is the leading philosophy behind their efficient and productive systems and methods. Jeffrey Liker is the author of The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World’s Greatest Manufacturer. He writes, “The main ideas are to base management decisions on a philosophical sense of purpose and think long-term, to have a process for solving problems, to add value to the organization by developing its people, and to recognize that continuously solving root problems drives organizational learning.”
The Toyota Way has been called “a system designed to provide the tools for people to continually improve their work.” If you are not striving for constant improvements within your company, your business is not evolving, and neither are your employees.
