The Kaizen Approach

One of my favorite mentors, Brian Tracy, usually will pose this question: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!

 

Kaizen is typically a Japanese term that means “continuous improvement”, and it is said that there are four types of Zaizen:

1st approach is kaizen teian. 

 

Kaizen Teian: Bottom-Up Improvement

Kaizen Teian describes a form of improvement where people participate to improve their own processes. This bottom-up type of Kaizen drives a cultural transformation because it requires everyone to think about improvement every day, everywhere. At its core, Kaizen Teian is about actively involving all people in improvement. If you want to set out in creating a continuous improvement culture in your organization, you should start with Kaizen Teian.

 

Kaizen Teian encourages every member of the workforce, from leadership to frontline workers, to propose changes that can improve workflow. The idea is that those workers who are in the gemba, or real place, are those more likely to identify real opportunities for improving the flow of their processes.

 

To be successful in Kaizen Teian, one must always be looking to eliminate the eight forms of waste:

1. Defects: Scrap or products that require rework.
2. Excess processing: Products that must be repaired to satisfy customers needs.
3. Overproduction: When there are more parts in production than customers are purchasing. This type of waste spells big trouble for an organization.
4. Waiting: A person or process inaction on the manufacturing line.
5. Inventory: A valuable product or material that is waiting for processing or to be sold.
6. Transportation: Moving a product or material and the costs generated by this process.
7. Moving: Excessive movement of people or machines. It is more common to talk about people movement, as this leads to wasted effort and time.
8. Non-utilized talent: When the management team fails to ensure that all the potential and experience of its people are being used. This is the worst of the eight wastes.

*From reverscore.com*

 

A psychiatrist said that we fail at so many things because of the questions we ask ourselves. He says that the brain cannot turn down a question directly given to it. It will continue to search and provide answers until it has satisfied the task. Small precise questions can improve your mental health and performance because like a slow computer, you are not slowed down by all the tasks running in the background. 

 

“We can do no great things, only small things with great love. It is not how much we do, but how much love we put into the doing, and it is not how much we give, but how much love we put into the giving. To God, there’s nothing small. “ - Mother Teresa