Holding Successful Kaizen Events

Holding Successful Kaizen Events

Guest was Karen Martin author of The Kaizen Event Planner

Business901 Podcast Transcript

Karen Martin is a seasoned and highly rated Lean practitioner and educator who specializes in applying Lean and developing continuous improvement cultures in service, government, knowledge work, research, and office settings. She was one of the first operations design experts to focus 100% on applying Lean principles and tools in non-manufacturing environments.

Karen shared so much new information that I had to split the podcast in two parts. This is a transcription of both podcasts. These podcasts are a wealth of information on Kaizen Events and a great companion to her book.

Her expertise also includes a keen understanding of customer value, which she honed while serving in sales and marketing roles, and legal and regulatory issues, which she developed while working in highly regulated and litigious environments. She has provided support to organizations in a broad range of industries including: manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, government/military, engineering design, information technology, construction, oil and gas production, insurance, distribution, and publishing.

As a consultant, Karen is known for her keen diagnostic skills and rapid results-focused approach to meeting client needs. A skilled change agent, Karen builds energy within work teams by helping them focus an organization’s key performance goals – faster delivery of higher quality products and services at lower cost – while simultaneously boosting workforce morale. Clients also give Karen high marks for helping them create continuous improvement cultures and support systems so they may become self-sustaining as quickly as possible.

Karen Martin & Associates

Holding Successful Kaizen Events

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Joe Dager: Thanks, everyone, for joining us. This is Joe Dager, the host of the Business901 podcast. Participating in the program today is Karen Martin. Karen is one of the first operations design experts to focus 100% on applying Lean principles and tools in non-manufacturing environments. In fact, she's the author of "The Kaizen Event Planner: Making Rapid Improvement in Office, Service, and Technical Environments."

Karen, I'd like to thank you very much for joining us. Can you tell us why you wrote "The Kaizen Event Planner.“ Karen Martin: Well, thank you, Joe for having me. The Kaizen Event Planner was born, first, at a client location where we were running Kaizen Events — it was a healthcare organization —because of the highly cross functional nature of most non-manufacturing processes and the difficulty in getting all of those functions familiar with and comfortable with working together. The client suggested the need for a standardized approach to Kaizen Events, including the very extensive planning process that's involved. So, it really was born out of a client need and, at that point, the only Kaizen Event book that had been written out there focused on manufacturing, and so I thought it was a good idea. I partnered with Mike Osterling, who also has extensive experience in the office side, but primarily, in manufacturing. He knew the manufacturing world much better than I did. I knew more of the non-manufacturing world; healthcare, financial services, distribution, government, military, etc.

Joe: Why would you use a Kaizen Event to accomplish something? What's the main purpose of it?

Karen: In non-manufacturing environments, especially, folks aren't, generally, used to measuring processes. They aren't, necessarily, well skilled in root cause analysis and even working together in a cross functional manner to solve process problems. So Kaizen Events offer a sequestered, formalized approach to putting all the relevant.

Holding Successful Kaizen Events

parties together. It creates the proper venue and the proper structure for making improvement. It just so happens, that improvement is also made very quickly, typically, in a Kaizen Event. One of the things that we see is that Kaizen Events are somewhat misnamed out there. A lot of organizations will say that they run Kaizen Events, but when you probe as to what their output is, it's really a plan for improvement. They haven't actually implemented an improvement during the event. So, for an organization that isn't familiar with making rapid change and doesn’t necessarily have the skill set for making rapid improvement, Kaizen Events offer a great structure for that.

Joe: So when you say that they run numerous Kaizen Events, actually, I noticed one thing on your website where you said a typical organization of a hundred people, only have four Kaizen Events a year. So, a Kaizen Event is different than a continuous improvement process or your weekly meeting for continuous improvement process. What is the difference?

Karen: Yes. Good question. Kaizen Events are a formalized, structured approach to making rapid improvement, whereas, really, what the goal is of any organization is to develop a Kaizen culture. In a Kaizen culture, improvement happens continuously. It happens without the need for the type of formalized process that involves a tremendous amount of planning, and really, quite a bit of effort. In fact, Kaizen Events can be quite painful for an organization because of the number of people they have to pull off their regular jobs and sequester them for two to five days. They should be reserved for the most intense types of improvements that need to be made.

What some organizations do, and one of the criticisms of Kaizen Events, is that they'll get hooked on Kaizen Events and only make improvement during a formal event. That's not at all the intention of a Kaizen Event. So, I view them as a good way to indoctrinate an organization into the improvement process and teach the skills.

Holding Successful Kaizen Events

In fact, you'll hear Kaizen Events referred to as Kaizen Workshops and Kaizen Blitz. The workshop term reflects the deep learning that occurs in a Kaizen, if it's well facilitated.

So, it is true that there's a risk that organizations can become dependent on Kaizen Events and use them for all improvement and never really evolve into a Kaizen culture.

But, I do believe Kaizen Events offer a very good first step. Often, for many, many years, I think, non-manufacturing organizations, in particular, can benefit from Kaizen Events.

This helps get the culture embedded into the DNA of the organization, the whole concept of continuous improvement.

Joe: You're saying that Kaizen Event is not the only time you use it of course, but is used very often to move someone to that continuous improvement culture.

Karen: Exactly. I don't know many organizations, in fact, even in manufacturing, that grasp what continuous improvement really is, unless they're well along the journey. For a beginning organization, I just don't think they have a clear concept of what it takes to truly authorize the frontline workers to make change. To truly have leadership allow the improvement suggestions that come into play and also to allow the workforce to make those tactical improvements. Frankly, there are very few organizations that even have a good improvement strategy in place from which you could even have that kind of frontline worker authorization and execution of improvement.

Again, Kaizen Events are often criticized by folks that are true-blue to Toyota Production System, TPS, and I understand why. But I do think, in the non-manufacturing environment, it's a necessary step to help an organization evolve into a Toyota like operation.

Holding Successful Kaizen Events

Joe: If I am trying to implement Lean, or a continuous improvement culture, whether you call it Lean or something else, we decide to take on a specific project on. Taking this project and/or strategy on we would hold a Kaizen Event to do that?

Karen: Yes. If it's a Lean organization or organization attempting the Lean journey, typically, the strategy comes about through value stream mapping. So, either the organization would have done the first step of the Lean journey as depicted in Womack's "Lean Thinking."

First, define your product families. Once the product families are known, then you could pick one product family that needs improvement for whatever reason. That could be quality, cost, delivery, safety, or morale issues, or a combination thereof.

Then a value stream map is created. Typically, the team creating the these strategic maps are heavily leadership based because you want folks on that team that are authorized to approve a future state. The future states are typically fairly dramatic.

Then, the follow-on implementation of that future state could have any number of tactical implementation strategies, the Kaizen Event being only one of several.

There may also be a need for some longer term projects that may take weeks or months to implement. There might even be some very quick, what we call just-do-its or JDIs. They can be done without the complexity of a project or the intensity of a Kaizen Event.

But that value stream map is really critical to avoid what we sometimes here called "drive-by Kaizens" or "kamikaze Kaizens." One of our colleagues, Jane Marshall, has a great phrase, “random acts of Kaizen." Value stream map keep the Kaizens being tightly tied to strategy instead of the teams just going out and doing things that

Holding Successful Kaizen Events

may sub-optimize or not really affect the total output of that process, if the improvement is done in a little pocket not tied to strategy.

Joe: Before we get to a Kaizen Event, we're really sitting there talking about how to develop a culture. We build a value stream map. We go through the process and just do the obvious ones. The more important ones and more serious ones, we structure a Kaizen Event around them.

Karen: Exactly. One value stream map could spawn the need for one Kaizen Event or it could be 10 Kaizen Events. Depending on how long-term the future state is how far out it is, and also the nature of the improvements that need to be made in order to realize that future state.

Joe: Now can I go ahead and hold a Kaizen Event by myself or is it much better to have a facilitator? I mean, can I read your book and hold a Kaizen Event?

Karen: Well hopefully. Hopefully we've done our job in sharing all of our tricks of the trade and you can do it. But you know, I do think that beginning organizations benefit tremendously from having a very seasoned facilitator involved in several events at first...I often will work with clients to train their internal staff to become facilitators, which doesn't happen in just one Kaizen Event. It takes many, as well as some classroom training. Then they become not only confident in facilitating a rapid improvement event, because they're not easy, but they are also competent in facilitating those events.

So I do think...and some of the industrial engineers have been through a lot of Lean trainings that I know have bought the book and have been quite successful in running a Kaizen Event on their own, because they're already seasoned improvement specialists and they already have some of the foundations in place.

Holding Successful Kaizen Events

Others I think could use elements of the Kaizen Event Planner to even run meetings.

There are elements of the Kaizen Event that are appropriate for everyday business decisions and meetings and teamwork, objective setting, et cetera, so it's not just for Kaizen Events.

But I do think even a seasoned organization; well let me backup for a moment. Our goal is always to get the organization self-sustaining as quickly as possible. Typically, it involves having full-time dedicated continuous improvement professionals internally.

Most organizations are a bit reluctant to budget for those folks but those that do get much faster and more aggressive improvement... they move along the Lean journey much more quickly.

Even for those organizations that have internal facilitators they will often run into what I call “tricky” improvement or “politically sensitive” improvement. An internal facilitator, no matter how well skilled they are, may not have the ability politically to push the envelope on the future state, and push for more innovation in a way that an outsider can get away with.

Also bandwidth becomes an issue in organizations that are doing a lot of Kaizen Events in the early stages. They sometimes simply don't have enough facilitators internally to handle the amount of improvement they want to execute. In that case, they can bring in an outsider. But we really do like to teach people to fish and get them self-sustaining as quickly as possible.

Joe: When you mentioned that, I remember this old saying when you are talking about resistance to change that if someone doesn't get upset, we are really not trying to change anything.

Holding Successful Kaizen Events

Karen: Right, right. Yes, it's interesting because as time has gone on — and of course I get better at this every day, even though I'm seasoned — there's just no end to the learning. One of the things that I've noticed is how I push the envelope when there is no provocation going on. If the team isn't having some pretty healthy debate, and sometimes it inches into the heated debate category, then I will sometimes provoke the heat in order to get that. Push them all the way as far as they can go on innovation so they don't just play nice.

A lot of organizations play nice, but there's a way to play nice and be highly professional and very kind and have respect for human beings, and yet still also get aggressive innovation. And there's a fine line there but you are right on, it is important to allow that provocation and that debate to occur in order to get the best improvement.

Joe: I think an outsider sometimes can make it easier. I know you try to leave the rank at the door when you're inside an event, don’t you?

Karen: Absolutely. We have what we call Kaizen commandments or some organizations call them rapid improvement events, and in that case it's RIE rules. One of the rules is rank has no privilege. As a facilitator if I think there might be an issue with that, I deal with it upfront. And it can go both ways. It could be that we've got someone more senior on the team who has a strong personality and might shutdown some of the more junior members. Or it might be junior members that I want to coach into helping them realize that they were very carefully selected.

In a good team formation process, it's very strategic on who you select for the team. If you help them realize that they were hand-picked to be on this team and they are not only authorized, they are also obligated to speak up and represent their peer group, et cetera.

Holding Successful Kaizen Events

I sometimes will do some of that work upfront to make sure that when we talk about the commandments or the rules on day one, that people truly understand what we mean by rank has no privilege.

Joe: You spend a lot of time in the book on planning the event and getting it ready and one of those things of course is picking team members that you touched upon. But you just don't say, "We are holding a Kaizen Event on Friday and you, you, and you are going to be there and we walk in on Friday?"

Karen: No. No, for several reasons. So first of all, we recommend a four to six week planning cycle. When you look back at the foundation of Lean PDCA: plan, do, check, act.

The P in PDCA ishould be at least 50 percent if not 70 and 80 percent of the total timeframe it takes to get through PDCA. That's what the beauty of PDCA is. The four to six week planning cycle becomes critical so that the team can hit the ground running on day one of that Kaizen Event and have no obstacles to their success.

Backing into that what do-you-do in those four to six weeks, first of all, if you've got an organization where you are pulling people in from multiple sites, and in some cases possibly even flying people in from international sites, scheduling those folks becomes tricky.

You have to plan it far in advance just to get the team to free their schedules up so that they can participate.

Even beyond that, there are logistics like many organizations have quite a difficult time getting a conference room for that many days where you are going to have a sequestered team.

Holding Successful Kaizen Events

Not that they never leave the room, which we should probably talk about. But most of the work is done in some sort of a conference room setting. If they don't have a dedicated space, which many organizations do not, and then even just getting the conference room reserved can be a tricky proposition.

There's everything from logistics, getting all of the data you need up front, and getting...in the case of Kaizen Events and non-manufacturing, you really almost always need to have computers in the room, printers in the room, screens so that you can project the applications the organization uses.

In some cases we do what we call bringing Gemba to the room. Where we will go out, we'll go to the Gemba, we'll go where the work is being done and observe, but in some cases we bring Gemba to the room, by walking through say data entry, or walking through the interface of a human being with their software applications.

All of that takes a lot of time to get IT on board and get the equipment available and figure out how to get access for all applications for all team members and all those type of things. And then there are the minor details of food. You have to have food. So you know you have to get all of those ducks in a row in order to have a good kick-off and a smooth start to the event.

Joe: Well I feel like I am in a courtroom. And I'm on jury duty here. Is that a similar feeling or....

Karen: It is. And in fact, what's interesting is the first couple of Kaizen Events in an organization, most of the direct supervisors of the folks that we want to have on a team will bristle a bit at the thought of having someone away for two to five days. One of the first things I use to help them understand the importance of this is I will say for

Holding Successful Kaizen Events

example, "Do you pay for jury duty? Have you ever had an employee get selected on a murder trial? And if so, how did you survive without them?“ Typically they'll say, "Well, you know, you just survive." I say, "Yeah, exactly. You know we have to put the same kind of emphasis and same kind of weight on making an improvement to the organization that we do on serving on a jury."

The other thing I will help them realize. I will ask them a simple question. I will say, "How long has this process problem been a problem;” Usually its months, if not years, sometimes decades. Then I say, "If you don't get it wrapped in five days, how long will it likely continue to be a problem?"

They will think about it. Then I will say, "OK, so while five days sounds incredibly painful..." or four days, or three days, whatever the length of the Kaizen Event is..."is it really painful when you compare it to what you've been living and what you'll likely continue to live?“ That helps them. I mean, it is not easy. I am not suggesting that it is easy to pull someone off their job and sequester them. But they are, in fact, like a sequestered jury. They do get to go home at night to their families though.

Joe: What are the people outside the Kaizen Event thinking about? Have you had that experience, "What are you doing in there?" What are they thinking about when they are watching something like that?

Karen: It depends on the maturity of the organization. The first few events for a brand new organization, there tends to be a fair amount of suspicion, and often a lot of fear, around what is being done. But there are things that you can do even in the very early stages to help the organization understand what's going on behind those closed doors.

Holding Successful Kaizen Events

There are things that you should probably do no matter how mature the organization is to communicate clearly. So, for example, one thing is good communication up front. Why are we doing this? What is the likely outcome? Who has been selected? Why have they been selected? All of those clear communication techniques that we often forget to do in organizations. Why? Why is such an unanswered question and we have to be clear on why the event is occurring.

When I am working with a long distance client, and if I have to fly there, this doesn't always happen. But the ideal situation is to do some sort of a Lean overview. If the organization is not well versed yet in what the eight wastes are and what the principles and maybe some of the main tools of Lean, you need to do some sort of a quick review or overview so that people understand why this is important and how the Kaizen Event fits into the larger picture.

The other thing that's a must, especially in non-manufacturing Kaizen Events, is regular briefings where you invite in leadership whose areas will be affected by the improvement I look at the people who come to a briefing in two different categories. There are those where their participation and attendance is mandatory. The team cannot move forward without them attending these briefings. Versus those where it is a courtesy invitation or an optional type of thing.

So, for example, in non-manufacturing Kaizen Events one of the things that happen in almost all Kaizen Events is current policies are starts getting challenged. The team, while they are given clear boundaries on what they can do, they're also given clear boundaries on what they can't do. One of them is typically front line workers aren't authorized to change policy. They are authorized to change procedures but not policy.

Holding Successful Kaizen Events

So in the middle of a Kaizen Event as a policy needs to be challenged in order to streamline a process we have got to get quick decisions made on that policy and the recommendations the team is making. So the appropriate leadership needs to be attending the briefings in order to hear why the current policy is presenting an obstacle to improvement, what the team is suggesting for future policy, how that won't subject the organization to any undo risk, and what kinds of stop gaps or safety nets will be put in place.

All that dialogue needs to occur real time or they won't be able to move forward and get the improvement implemented by the end of the event. So holding briefings helps a lot.

Also Toyota is so masterful at building consensus. One of the ways to building consensus is not only knowing upfront what is going on and having input upfront, but also real time hearing what the team is coming up with and having leadership and the team agrees every step along the way so that there are no surprises at the end of it.

Joe: Now, do you interview people to determine who's going to be on the team or train them in being able to act as a team, beforehand?

Karen: That's a good question. Sometimes I will give a client a list of criteria to think about as they're forming the team. But typically we start with the function needed first, so what functional representation do we need on the team. I am in the middle of planning one right now, for example, and we've identified 10... Well it's not 10 different functions. But we know for some functions we want two sets of eyes. I think, maybe, there are six functions and we want multiple people representing some of those. So I am recommending a 10-person team.

Holding Successful Kaizen Events

I have given them the list of functions and they're now going to fill in the gaps with who would be an appropriate person. Because it is a very large organization so they have got a lot to pick from based on the criteria I have given them.

For example, for criteria I will say, it would be best to get someone who's an actionoriented person who won’t be shy, and that type of thing. But I wouldn't avoid a whiner. I would not avoid someone who maybe the organization feels is not very effective in stating why they're upset with the process.

Some of those people in a Kaizen Event, not even some of them, all of them that I have experienced in a Kaizen Event, when they turn around, and they always do, they become the greatest advocates for the improvement process. They almost become zealots on the new process when they have finally been given a voice. So I encourage the teams that I am working with that are helping form the Kaizen team not to shy away from those people who they feel might normally shy away from.

The one type of person that is really not a great person to have on the team is someone who is just so shy that no matter how much we try to set the stage for them so that they will feel comfortable they really won't be active. They won't speak up. They won't raise concerns. That's probably a person better suited not being on a team.

Joe: So you would rather have not necessarily the argumentative type, but the one that's going to state an opinion.

Karen: Well, yeah. I am not so sure I would shy away from the argumentative type either. Because I think ideally, and you're seeing this a lot in product development teams, you have very diverse teams. Old, new, male, female, different perspectives culturally, as much variety as you can get but it still needs to be focused on the teams that are relevant to the process being improved. But the argumentative types, and some

Holding Successful Kaizen Events

of those types that are very visionary and not very practical, I wouldn't want a whole team filled with those because it's a very tactical activity. But some of those visionaries that are argumentative can be great when it comes to the future state design. They may be impatient getting through the current state documentation and getting that deep understanding of the current state, but they may be the superstars when it comes to future state design.

Joe: You go through and explain what to do beforehand. You have the different charts and the different things and there's a step-by-step guide in the book. Do you discuss what to do during the event, then?

Karen: Yes. There's a CD in the back of the book that has 15 Excel based tools in them and some of them auto populate fields or cells in other ones. But there is a planning checklist for upfront, there is an execution checklist for during the event, and there is a post event list as well. Let me back up. So what we have done with these tools is pooled together our experience of what we’ve seen works best. But we also included user defined cells for organizations that have specific issues.

So on the planning checklist for example there might be something very unique to a particular organization that needs to be standard work every time they're planning a Kaizen Event. The same with execution and the same with the post event activities that need to occur. So we have some space for those.

But, yeah, we have gone through and we've adapted this. We have modified this checklist over years and years of doing Kaizen Events. I think it's pretty through. We hope so.

Joe: You talk about having a planning stage and then the sustainability phase, which is the hardest one?

Holding Successful Kaizen Events

Karen: Sustainability.

Joe: And why?

Karen: You know if it's well done; if the planning is well done, if consensus is obtained throughout the process, if you have all the right team together, if they're given adequate time to truly understand the current state, if they are given the authority to design a really well thought out future state that develops in a robust process or results in a robust process. The sustainability piece isn't nearly as difficult. What I find actually is the greatest challenge of sustainability, and this is something that I really want to figure this one out. Most organizations, non-manufacturing, have a very difficult time ever assigning someone as the "process owner."

By process owner, I mean one person who looks at the entire process and monitors it and measures it on a regular basis and leads the improvement efforts when they need to improve. Or at least is the springboard for identifying the need for improvement.

Those types of folks are few and far between, once you get off the shop floor.

The reason why, is these processes, in the non-manufacturing world, are so cross functional and organizations are so "siloed," that the org chart...it would throw the org chart on its ear to assign a process owner. Now I don't think it has to throw the org chart on its ear, but that's what a lot of folks think.

I think it's possible to have a process owner that is just the logical process owner. And they don't have to report to any one person, but when a process crosses multiple departments, possibly even multiple divisions, I don't see why there still can't be one person that owns that process from a management perspective. But I am not having much success getting organizations to buy into that.

Holding Successful Kaizen Events

Joe: When you look at a foreman in the shop, he's pretty much "siloed." He knows when it's handed off to me, it's my process, my department. I'll make that change because it's going to better everybody. But as you said, it’s so cross functional in an office that it is very difficult to say, "This is mine.“ Karen: Yes, it is. And so what a lot of organizations are doing who really aren't ready to try this process ownership model, which is very much like a value stream manager is in manufacturing. They are putting together teams of people to get back together again maybe once a quarter, or once every six months, to look at the process. So it's still a team based activity that's looking at the process. And then each functional area still monitors their piece of the process, and they still can raise their hand and say, " Houston we've got a problem. We can't meet the time frames anymore, and we need to come back to the table and work it." But this is why having those fulltime, dedicated, improvement professional internally is so critical is they've got to have somewhere to go with the need for that kind of help.

Because again the org chart stands in the way, often, of anyone from one functional area just saying, "Hey, we need to improve this." And again, that's the transition, the awkward transition phase of moving from the way they're currently viewing improvement or not, to a Kaizen culture.

In a Kaizen culture, that person in that one functional area would absolutely be authorized to say, "Hey we've got a problem. Let's get the people together, let's do this." It just takes a while for an organization to get used to that.

Joe: Yes, that's sad. I have to agree with you Karen. I think the team concept is what you want to do. But even any team, you still have to have a team leader. There's got to be someone there.

Holding Successful Kaizen Events

Karen: Yes, and when you look at manufacturing, there are organizations that have been out with the Lean journey for 10, 15 years, and maybe some longer than that.

When you think about Lean in the office service, knowledge work environment, it is very new. Even though the organizations that have been at it for 10 or 15 years in manufacturing still will report falling off the wagon, as it were, and having a leader leave that then slows the whole Lean journey. Continuous improvement doesn't continue as it always did. And then they get back on the trail, and it's a constant battle to keep continuous improvement front and center.

Joe: Yes, it reminds me a little bit of an analogy here. I was a young engineer, I was out making this piece of equipment work out in the field, and some older construction worker guy came up next to me and he said, "You know, you really do understand that engineering doesn't start until you turn the key." We'd gone through this whole product development process with this new piece of equipment, and I looked at him like, "We're sitting here with a $500,000 piece of equipment and certainly a lot of engineering went into it." A few years later, and I really learned.

I think that that goes with Lean being new to an office environment is that most guys out in the shop understand that the new way of doing things, the new process is just the start, it is going to change. And I think that sometimes in an office environment it's looked at you're going to make a change and everything is fixed.

Karen: Well, good point. That was something that you just triggered the thought as you were talking. The thing that I find incredibly frustrating but it is a reality that all of us who do this kind of work are faced with is that many organizations will not bring in a consultant to help them start the Lean journey to shift their culture. That's hardly ever the stated goal. The stated goal is, "Help. We've got this problem. We've got this process is broken. We've got that process is broken. Let's bring in Lean and let's use it to fix it."

Holding Successful Kaizen Events

While certainly you can get results and that's a great application of a good, solid, timetested tool set. That's not really, in my ideal world, why we would bring Lean to an organization. It would be looking at transforming the organization at a cellular level into a high performing organization that can sustain itself during tough times and make great gains during great economic times and all of that stuff that is, you know, a continuous improvement type of culture. But that's not always why we are brought in.

Joe: Is there one thing you would like to end the conversation with about Kaizen that you could mention?

Karen: I think a couple things. I think that the planning needed cannot be overstated. It has to be very well thought out, a lot of education. Just getting everyone understanding the whole point of it and this is not the be-all, end-all. It's a means to achieving a small shift in culture and then all of the folks on that team will then become the ombud-people, the ombudsmen to take this philosophy out to the organization, and that Rome's not built in a day. It's not going to happen quickly. So that planning stage, I think, is absolutely vital.

The other thing I would suggest is that facilitating Kaizen Events does take some pretty thick skin. And so I think that a good facilitator will take a lot of time to reflect after every Kaizen Event. They will continually develop themselves as a facilitator and think back to what worked well, what didn't work well, why it didn’t work well.

I always recommend to internal facilitators that they take some time and hopefully, they co-facilitate internally. And take some time to talk with their co-facilitator after the event and reflect back. Because, the team experience is key, the results are going to come from that team experience. And a strong facilitator will maximize the team experience. So that's just something. I think that reflection part is very, very vital for ongoing results.

Holding Successful Kaizen Events

While certainly you can get results and that's a great application of a good, solid, timetested tool set. That's not really, in my ideal world, why we would bring Lean to an organization. It would be looking at transforming the organization at a cellular level into a high performing organization that can sustain itself during tough times and make great gains during great economic times and all of that stuff that is, you know, a continuous improvement type of culture. But that's not always why we are brought in.

Joe: Is there one thing you would like to end the conversation with about Kaizen that you could mention?

Karen: I think a couple things. I think that the planning needed cannot be overstated.

It has to be very well thought out, a lot of education. Just getting everyone understanding the whole point of it and this is not the be-all, end-all. It's a means to achieving a small shift in culture and then all of the folks on that team will then become the ombud-people, the ombudsmen to take this philosophy out to the organization, and that Rome's not built in a day. It's not going to happen quickly. So that planning stage, I think, is absolutely vital.

The other thing I would suggest is that facilitating Kaizen Events does take some pretty thick skin. And so I think that a good facilitator will take a lot of time to reflect after every Kaizen Event. They will continually develop themselves as a facilitator and think back to what worked well, what didn't work well, why it didn’t work well.

I always recommend to internal facilitators that they take some time and hopefully, they co-facilitate internally. And take some time to talk with their co-facilitator after the event and reflect back. Because, the team experience is key, the results are going to come from that team experience. And a strong facilitator will maximize the team experience.

So that's just something. I think that reflection part is very, very vital for ongoing results.

Holding Successful Kaizen Events

Joe: How can someone get a hold of you?

Karen: I have a website, which is www.ksmartin.com. I'm based in San Diego, California, and my phone number is 858-677-6799 and they can reach me any number of ways.

Joe: You also have a webinar series that is going on?

Karen: Yes. In January I'm having two webinars, on January 20th and 21st. January 20th is "Lean Psychology: Leveraging Human Nature to Maximize Results," and then the 21st is "Putting that Lean Psychology into Action." And I actually don't have the rest of 2010's schedule yet because I've done a survey on the topics that folks are most interested in and I'm still going through the survey results and scheduling the rest of the year.

Joe: I would like to finish up by thanking you very much, Karen. It was a delightful conversation. You will be able to listen to this podcast on Business901 podcast site, and available in the Business901 iTunes store.

Karen: Thank you very much for having me; it was a very nice conversation, thank you.

Podcast #1: Holding successful Kaizen Events, Part 1 Podcast #2: Holding successful Kaizen Events Part 2

Holding Successful Kaizen Events

Joseph T. Dager Lean Six Sigma Black Belt

Ph: 260-438-0411

Fax: 260-818-2022

Email: jtdager@business901.com Web/Blog: http://www.business901.com Twitter: @business901 What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe's ability to combine his expertise with "out of the box" thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with." James R.

Joe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive company providing direction in areas such as Lean Marketing, Product Marketing, Product Launches and Re-Launches. As a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Business901 provides and implements marketing, project and performance planning methodologies in small businesses. The simplicity of a single flexible model will create clarity for your staff and as a result better execution. My goal is to allow you spend your time on the need versus the plan.

An example of how we may work: Business901 could start with a consulting style utilizing an individual from your organization or a virtual assistance that is well versed in our principles. We have capabilities to plug virtually any marketing function into your process immediately. As proficiencies develop, Business901 moves into a coach’s role supporting the process as needed. The goal of implementing a system is that the processes will become a habit and not an event. Part of your marketing strategy is to learn and implement these tools.

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