Using Kaizen to continuously improve your business

Tallyfy helps organizations implement continuous improvement through structured process management. Here is how we approach process improvement.

Change and improvement is an essential part of any organization. To stay ahead of your competition and never miss an opportunity, you have to constantly be looking for different ways to improve. There are 2 types of “change” that can happen in an organization…

• Breakthrough Change - Anything that is a major overhaul of the organization. These usually require months of planning, work, and a high budget.
• Continuous Improvement - All the minor changes you make on-the-go. Think, any tiny detail that, if fixed, could make your business more efficient.

More often than not, you will be doing the later.

Breakthrough change is something an organization does very rarely. For example, if you are adopting some software organization-wide. Or, if you are planning on making major strategic changes.

Continuous improvement, on the other hand, is the day-to-day stuff: making minor changes or improvements to your company processes. In a lot of cases, continuous improvement is also a major part of breakthrough change. Once you make an organization-wide change, there are a lot of small improvements to be made all around.

This is not as easy as it sounds, though. Just about every company manager knows that they should focus on improving the organization. The hard part here is the “how?” One of the most popular approaches to continuous improvement is Kaizen, which is a Japanese approach to management.

What is Kaizen?

By definition, Kaizen means change (kai) for the better (zen). The main idea of the philosophy is continuous improvement - there is potential for improvement in just about everything. To get a better idea of how this works, we can contrast it to the Western idea of “Innovation.” Here is how the two concepts differ…

Now, Kaizen does sound nice in theory, but you are probably wondering how it translates into practice. How, exactly, do you use the power of Kaizen for the benefit of your own organization? Well, there are 2 distinct parts to Kaizen…

• Philosophy - The main idea behind Kaizen is that improvement should be everyone’s responsibility, whether they are the C-suite or shop floor employees. Helping improve the organization should be both encouraged and rewarded.
• Action - Even if you achieve a culture of continuous improvement, it does not mean that the actual improvement initiatives will happen on their own. You will need to organize Kaizen Events, which is the execution part of the methodology.

In a way, the philosophical aspect of Kaizen leads to real action.

If your company has a culture of improvement, your employees will show initiative and organize Kaizen Events.

If it does not, though, your initiatives are more likely to fail. Unless you have buy-in from the employees, they are not going to be very proactive in helping improve the company. For a company that does manage to get both aspects of Kaizen right, though, they will end up reaping countless benefits. Based on hundreds of implementations we have observed, the teams that combine documented processes with continuous feedback loops see the strongest sustained results.

• Efficient Processes - Since the staff will constantly be focused on improvement, your processes will be as efficient as possible.
• Satisfied & Engaged Employees - Everyone likes to be valued in a company. By making your employees’ opinions be heard, considered and implemented, they are significantly more likely to be happy with the job.
• Better Product or Service - As a result of the first two points, your product or service will be better in terms of either quality or price.

Using Kaizen to improve your company

Getting started with Kaizen can seem daunting. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to changing company culture - every organization is unique in its own way.

Nor is it easy to organize Kaizen Events. Unless there is a lot of engagement and hard work from your employees, the initiative won’t go far.

There are, however, several best practices that can make the adoption of Kaizen easier. Since the two aspects of Kaizen are interconnected, we will cover how to make each happen.

Establishing a culture of Kaizen

The first step to making a real change to company culture is actually making the announcement.

Let your employees know that from now on, you will be doing things a bit differently. Make it clear that any kind of suggestions for process improvement will be valued and rewarded.

But this should be reflected in the behavior of your management team. They shouldn’t dismiss offers of help or suggestions for improvement.

Then, you will need to figure out a way to actually receive process and analyze these suggestions. According to Masaaki Imai, a Japanese management consultant, one way to do this is by implementing Kaizen Corners.

A Kaizen Corner is a place where your employees can go to submit their ideas.

If you are old-school, you can make it an actual place. Or, you could always do it online through software or email. For the implementation part, Maasaki recommends doing it in 3 stages…

• Stage One - All the submitted suggestions are considered and evaluated. If they are not put into practice, the employee gets feedback on the “why.” This stage ensures that your employees know their opinion is valued & will not be discouraged.
• Stage Two - You train the employees on how process improvement works, allowing them to contribute better.
• Stage Three - Create a rewards system for employees that really work hard to help with process improvement. This way, the entire initiative is not just a phase that your employees will get bored of.

In some cases, though, your average employee can’t help too much with process improvement. While they do know their job, they can’t help with anything overly technical.

For any such task, you’d probably want to employ a group of experts with a technical background.

Once you have got the ball rolling & already have a handful of ideas on how to improve your organization, you can start organizing Kaizen Events.

Improve processes with Kaizen Events

Past all the theory and philosophy, Kaizen is composed of a bunch of tools or methodologies that help put all that into practice.

The tools are part of “Kaizen Events,” which in layman’s terms, means a process improvement initiative. That is when you pinpoint a problem and start working towards a solution. Some of the methodologies in the Kaizen toolkit include…

Once you have pinpointed a very specific problem, you can organize a Kaizen Event to solve it. The usual steps here are…

• Organize the Team - You will need a Quality Control Circle (QCC) to help solve the problem. This team usually consists of several shop-floor employees, process specialists, and someone from the management.
• Pinpoint the Exact Problem - You need to be very specific on this. What is the exact problem you are trying to solve? What is the expected outcome? To make this easier, you can use Business Process Mapping.
• Find Key Metrics - If you do not know what you are improving, the entire initiative will go to waste. Figure out what metrics to track & benchmark so that you have something to compare with the new process.
• Create Potential Solutions - This step, as a given, varies depending on what process you are improving. It could mean anything: removing steps from a process, adopting new software, etc.
• Test the Solutions - Compare the new metrics to the old. Is the new process performing better? Keep in mind that sometimes, the solution can be short-term. You could, for example, improve product output and defect rate at the same time. The first can be seen from the start, but the later might take a while to pop up.
• Implement the New Process Company-Wide - Once you are sure that the new process is functioning better than the old, you can start scaling it.

Want more practical tips on how to improve processes? These 4+ methods might help.

Workflow templates for continuous improvement

Example Procedure

Employee Performance Review & Evaluation Workflow

1Schedule performance review meeting

2Define employee goals and development plan

3Create training and development plan

4Executive approval for senior manager evaluations

5Collect performance data and 360 feedback

+4 more steps

View template

Example Procedure

Product Ideation & Innovation Pipeline Workflow

1Submit the idea

2Initial screening

3Research and validate

4Build business case

5Decision and next steps

+15 more steps

View template

Example Procedure

Quarterly Strategic Planning & Goal Setting Workflow

1Revisit annual plan goals

2Break down goals into smaller chunks

3Review budget and benchmarks

4Create action steps and benchmarks

5Set expectations and timelines

+2 more steps

View template

Process management with workflow software

As we have already mentioned, one of the key parts of Kaizen is improving company processes. That’s the heart of it.

Back in the old days, this was done manually. You find a process to fix, draw it out on a piece of paper, and implement potential improvements.

Today, this isn’t exactly the most efficient option. There are, after all, software solutions available for just about everything. Business process management software (BPMS) is the best companion you can have on when it comes to implementing Kaizen in your workplace. Such tools help you with…

• Changing Processes - Once you have come up with improvements to a process, you need to communicate it with your employees. This communication step is where most Kaizen initiatives break down. Unless you only have a handful of employees, though, this can be very hard. Some employees might not fully understand how the new process is done; others might often forget the new changes. With BPM software, all you have to do is change the process within the platform. From that point on, the system will make sure that everyone sticks to the new process.
• Process Enforcement - People hate change. Employees will often revert to old habits within two weeks unless the new process is enforced by software. Once you change a process with BPMS, though, it is set-in-stone. Enterprise companies represent about 45% of our conversations at Tallyfy, and this enforcement capability is often the main reason they invest in workflow software. In discussions we have had with operations teams, those who deploy identical processes across multiple locations report the most significant compliance improvements.
• Process Analytics and Improvement - Process improvement should always be based on data and metrics. You cannot improve a process without knowing if you are doing the job right. Process management software comes with inbuilt analytics, keeping track of any given metric. This way, it is extremely easy to keep track of your improvements.

And you know what the best part is? Starting with process management software is completely free.

Sign up and see how the software can help improve your processes. Not sure which BPM tool to use? These 5 are some of the best on the market.

Related questions

How do you use Kaizen method?

The Kaizen approach is to make small changes every day. Begin by choosing one thing you want to change, whether it is a morning routine or a work process.

Observe what goes on now, recognize what might be better, and nudge the system along. For instance, if papers accumulate on your desk, find a way to make filing for five minutes at the end of each day a no-brainer. The secret is to make the changes so tiny that you’re almost sure to fail at them.

What are the 5 steps of Kaizen?

The 5 steps of Kaizen simply follow; Sort (get rid of what you don’t need), Set in order (organize what is left), Shine (keep everything clean), Standardize (what rules can you create about the first 3) and Sustain (creating a new way of doing things). It is like cleaning your room — first you get the junk out, then you put your stuff in order, then you clean everything, and then you make rules about where things should be and maintain your good habits thereafter.

How to use Kaizen in the workplace?

In the workplace: Begin with a team meeting to gather everyone’s small-improvement ideas. Pick one, perhaps cutting down on the amount of email back-and-forth or organizing shared files. Ease in — say, with a 5-minute daily team check-in — or establish a simple checklist for familiar tasks. Again, we’re trying to make work a little easier and more pleasant with a series of small, incremental improvements, not via one big dramatic overhaul.

How do you use Kaizen in everyday life?

Bring Kaizen into your everyday life by concentrating on making 1% better. Want to read more?

Start with one page per day. Want to exercise? Start with Morning Stretching for just one minute every morning.

The trick is to make changes that are so small they feel silly — but those tiny steps make a difference in the long run. Track what you do each day in a simple note, and celebrate small victories.

What are common Kaizen mistakes to avoid?

The greatest error is attempting to change too much at once. Another mistake is thinking that this is for immediate changes; Kaizen should lead to slow, sustainable improvement. It’s also common that people simply forget to measure improvements or they do not include everyone who is affected by a change. Do not forget, Kaizen is most effective when the changes are low hanging, manageable shifts.

What tools do you need to implement Kaizen?

The great thing about Kaizen is that it demands very little in the way of tools. A basic notebook for recording changes and ideas is probably all you need to get started. You may want team idea space, like a whiteboard, as well as basic project management tools such as checklists or a shared calendar. The most crucial tools: an open mind and willingness to make small, incremental changes.