Kaizen: The Importance Of Continuous Improvement
Many years ago I attended a statewide charter school conference when I served on a local charter school board. One of the sessions I attended talked about the concept of kaizen. The speaker even provided the audience with a nifty lapel pin of the word kaizen in Japanese. I never forgot the concept but the name escaped me after a while. A few years later, I was taking a summer course in my Masters in Business Management program that was about business systems and processes. In that class, we delved into the concept of kaizen and it brought back my memory of the conference and my lapel pin. What we learned was very interesting and crystalized for me that I've always thought this way. Kaizen means continuous improvement in Japanese. And because kaizen is meant to be continuous, it only makes sense that the change be gradual. As people, we simply aren't built to deal with big changes on a consistent basis. We need time to accept them and make adjustments. If you're a fan of James Clear's Atomic Habits like I am, then you are also familiar with his suggestion to improve at the pace of one percent every day. The same applies when setting goals. When goals are too large or complex, execution can seem nearly impossible and produce loads of anxiety. However, when we are able to break them down into more manageable pieces, we can tackle them little by little. Taking this approach makes momentum much easier to build also. For instance, I'm much more likely to add more manageable items to my list and complete them because I know how much easier it will be to accomplish. This can also make us more accountable. When we make it our mission to look for ways to improve every day, we become more self-aware and more likely to want to keep a record of just how much we are getting done because it's not so difficult anymore.
Another aspect of kaizen that I really enjoy is that it involves the entire team or organization. No one is excluded or absolved from making an effort. This is key with organizations because rarely do people take responsibility or accountability when they have no skin in the game. Leadership tends to be pretty ineffective when they have no role in the work other than being an overseer. Other members of the group can also resent a leader that takes this position especially if the leader ends up taking all the credit for what the rest of the team has worked toward and made happen. It should be no surprise that this perspective seems a bit foreign in the United States. Of course, this stems from this culture being individualistic versus the collectivist culture in Japan. Many organizations would have to make fundamental tweaks in order to make this work more seamlessly here. I have encountered some of this difficulty when serving in leadership roles because of a built-in hierarchy that does not allow for an "all hands on deck" expereince. Though I have encouraged many in these groups to disregard the hierarchy and think of it as more of a team effort, there is a tendency for that not to occur. Though the team will verbally agree (or at least not provide any outright dissent) they will continue to act as if I never made mention of taking a different approach. Luckily, there can be success with kaizen even in the United States but only when the culture is well-established and maintained (from the beginning, preferably).
Lastly, one area of business that I would love to see benefit more from applying kaizen is pivoting. It seems that most businesses do not seek out change unless some external pressure or circumstance is the cause. Changes in the economy or a competitor should not be the only times that companies pivot (insert COVID-19 flashbacks). If kaizen is truly being done, these organizations should be stumbling upon areas to change on a pretty regular basis. When taking my personal life into consideration, I tend to use this approach a lot in home improvement. At the outset I may have several very distinct projects in mind to complete. By taking those projects and breaking them down by room or type, I can easily discover new projects or new ways to complete older projects as I continue to work through the list. When I research what materials I need for a project, I often learn about new products that I was unaware of when I decided to pursue it. I also find different techniques that I can employ as well. Then, once I have completed a project, I may discover a part of the house that I did not initially think to change but that complements the most recently completed project. However, sometimes I just simply change my mind and that's okay, too. In business, sometimes there is a reluctance to change things just because of a desire to change them. However, when businesses are not allowed the space to evolve, the status quo rules the day and the spirit of a company can easily be diminished or lost altogether.
It is my hope that continuing to share these ideas can spark more dialogue on the subject and perhaps bring kaizen and all of its benefits into the mainstream. Care to join me?
Sincerely,
-M