Kaizen

Improvement every day, from everyone, not just a few

Kaizen builds a routine in which people across your organisation spot problems, suggest improvements and act on them, with leaders who support and follow through.

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The business problem

Improvement depends on the owner and a handful of experienced people. Others have ideas but no route to act on them. Initiatives start with energy and fade within weeks, and the business keeps firefighting.

Who it suits

Owners and leadership teams who want their whole organisation involved in improvement, and HR, L&D and operations leaders building an improvement culture.

Outcomes we work towards

More people involved in improving their own work
A steady flow of small improvements that are implemented, not just suggested
Visible follow-up, so ideas do not go nowhere
Leaders who coach rather than fix everything themselves

Actual results depend on leadership commitment and consistency.

Our approach

Five steps to a lasting improvement routine

1
Align leaders
Agree why improvement matters and what leaders will do differently.
2
Set up the idea process
A simple way for anyone to raise and act on improvements.
3
Run improvement workshops
Focused Kaizen events on real problems, with quick results.
4
Make it visible
Improvement boards and short review routines to track follow-up.
5
Recognise and extend
Recognise contributions and develop internal Kaizen leaders.

Indicative deliverables

An idea and suggestion process
Improvement workshops on selected problems
Visual follow-up boards
Leader review routines
A recognition approach
Trained internal Kaizen facilitators

Confirmed for each engagement after a discussion. We do not publish fixed fees or durations.

Your team's involvement

Visible leadership sponsorship, time for teams to take part in workshops and short daily or weekly reviews, and a named coordinator.

Delivery

Online, at your premises, or a mix.

Evidence

A Kaizen journey that involved the whole organisation

In less than a year of its Kaizen journey, Dodhia Group marked milestones in 5S, visual management, production culture, quality culture and inventory reduction. The group described its most valued achievement as “creating a thinking workforce that is motivated to continuously improve everyday”.

From a letter by Pradeep Dodhia, Director, Dodhia Group, August 2016, when the Academy was called Kaizen enablers' Academy.

“The bridge between theory and practice is far larger and deeper than what most people think it is.”
Pradeep Dodhia, Director, Dodhia Group · Kaizen journey, 2016

Questions

How is Kaizen different from Lean?

Lean focuses on flow and waste; Kaizen focuses on involving everyone in continuous improvement. They work best together.

Will this take people away from their jobs?

Very little. Most Kaizen activity happens in short, regular reviews and focused workshops.

What if we've tried a suggestion scheme before and it faded?

That is common. The difference is leader follow-through and visible review routines, which we set up with you.

How long before we see results?

Small improvements often appear within the first workshops; lasting culture change takes consistent effort. We agree milestones with you.

Want improvement to come from everyone, every day?

Tell us what is happening and we'll suggest where to start. Every engagement is scoped with you.