One thing that we hear quite often from
leaders who have attempted to create a Kaizen culture is that initial enthusiasm
quickly wanes, and improvement projects move in fits and starts. In most cases,
these leaders have embraced the Kaizen mindset, but haven’t implemented a
software platform to support it.
On the flip side of that, our clients who have implemented an improvement
platform tell us that it has helped transform their organization into one that
consistently produces positive change.
Here’s what they say happens when Kaizen software is deployed.
Most employees are more than happy to get behind the Kaizen philosophy. Who
wouldn’t want to work in an organization that is always striving to get better
and create the conditions where employees can do their best work? But what often
happens is that people are unsure how to expend energy on improvement. They
don’t have clear objectives tied to Kaizen and aren’t clear on how to execute
specific projects. Kaizen software creates a foundation for improvement by
giving employees a repository to report potential opportunities for improvement
and a management structure for performing the work. All of the documents and
history of each project are kept in a central location, and there’s a single
version of the truth. Collaboration is easy because everyone is using the same
tool. Individual goals are aligned with the overall strategic objectives of the
organization so people know exactly what is expected and how their performance
related to improvement work will be measured.
One of the primary functions of Kaizen software is to change what is usually
a passive endeavor - requiring people to remember to take action - into an
active one. The best solutions include alerts and notifications so that people
are reminded when tasks are due, and managers are clued in when due dates are
missed. The net result of this is that more improvements make it to the finish
line, in less time. Leaders get visibility into the improvement pipeline across
the organization and can recognize the people, teams, and departments that are
most active in Kaizen.
Sometimes people get wrapped up in the excitement about the idea of Kaizen
and start making changes that they suspect will lead to improvement without a
constant process or proper documentation. That can lead to changes that
accidentally do more harm than good, or improvement that is impossible to
quantify. Kaizen software helps solve for this by creating a consistent process
for implementing change for the entire organization. Improvement work is
documented and shared, and change management techniques such as DMAIC or PDSA
can be leveraged to get the best possible outcome. Standard Work documentation
is contained in an accessible location so that everyone knows the current best
practices upon which improvement can be built.
We’ve been to enough daily huddle meetings to know that many of them are a
waste of time. Why? Because without a clear agenda and visual clues about what
should be discussed, they often devolve into a deep dive into one issue or veer
away from improvement work altogether. Too much time is spent on status updates,
and too little is devoted to action items. Kaizen software helps make meetings
more useful in many ways. Everyone can get up to speed on the current status of
projects before the meeting because it is all documented in the solution. People
can constructively participate from anywhere because the information is all
online. More time can be devoted to discussing challenges and next steps because
the details are right at everyone’s fingertips.
Many obstacles to executing improvement projects can be addressed quite
easily if they are identified early. It may be that additional resources are
needed, or cross-functional collaboration is required. Whatever the challenge,
Kaizen software helps to create the visibility required so that leaders can get
involved and resolve the problem or come up with another plan. The Lean
technique of Catch ball is often used to identify solutions that work for
everyone. Because the system is continually providing alerts and feedback, when
progress stalls, the right people will know and react.
We’ve yet to find anyone who disagrees that the Kaizen purpose of positive
change is a bad idea, but we have met executives who are reluctant to fully
support it because they don’t know precisely what it achieves. Improvement
technology helps gain executive buy-in by making it easy to quantify the results
of improvement. The results may be directly financial, such as cost reduction,
or increased production, or the results may impact equality important, but less
tangible, metrics such as customer satisfaction or safety. The ability to point
to key performance metrics that are affected by Kaizen gives leaders greater
comfort when resources are needed to continue the positive momentum.
Any of these benefits would make Kaizen software an attractive investment,
together they turbocharge improvement work and help produce results that pay off
quickly and last for the long-run.
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