¿Cuáles son las mejores prácticas y lecciones aprendidas de los líderes Kaizen exitosos en su industria o sector?

In Kaizen, a crucial initial step is to define clear goals and metrics to measure progress and results. Kaizen leaders set SMART objectives—specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound—that align with their organization's vision and mission. Additionally, they establish key performance indicators (KPIs) reflecting desired outcomes and customer needs. By outlining goals and metrics, efforts are focused, expectations communicated, and improvements tracked effectively.

1. Continuous Improvement Mindset: Successful leaders cultivate a culture of continuous improvement within their teams. They encourage everyone to seek out opportunities for optimization and innovation, no matter how small. 2. Empowerment and Ownership: Leaders empower their team members by giving them ownership of their work processes. This fosters a sense of responsibility and accountability, driving motivation and engagement. 3. Open Communication: Effective communication is key to team / organization success. Leaders ensure that there is open dialogue within teams, encouraging feedback and suggestions for improvement from all levels of the organization.

To maintain effective communication, it is necessary to map interested parties and involve them in the correct way, follow these steps: 1. Identify who is directly or indirectly associated with the initiative; 2. Understand what each person’s feelings, beliefs and values are. Understand how they interact with each other and with the project. 3. Prioritize the most influential and relevant stakeholders for the project. Reevaluate frequently. 4. Work collaboratively and maintain communication with them. 5. Monitor engagement as changes occur and obtain feedback periodically.

Engagement is the core of why Kaizen models work. You have to create a safe space for all voices. Phycological safety must never be an afterthought. The best tool I've seen is a Kaizen board where people could write down issues anonymously. If someone wanted to own the issue during the Kaizen Leaders meeting, they could. Otherwise it was addressed by the whole group assuming it could have come from the highest levels. The board was the center of each meeting. I'm curious if anyone has found an online solution that could serve the same purpose, especially one that was designed with the Kaizen model in mind.

In the last Organization, I worked for, I felt the need for mindset change or transformation before Kaizen implementation and hence, I arranged for a few of the senior members including myself to deliver weekly sessions that indirectly helped them change the way they worked or looked at things they dealt with. This is highly recommended to create an upper room to get passionate at work and accept the changes willfully.

There are a few things to consider when implementing the 5 Whys technique in a Kaizen process: 1. Define the problem clearly. 2. Ask why five times (more or less), but not necessarily to a specific conclusion. 3. Involve a diverse group of people (team members, managers, customers, and suppliers). 4. Be willing to challenge assumptions. 5. Use data to support your conclusions (data from surveys, process data, or defect reports). 6. Implement countermeasures to prevent the problem from recurring. And these countermeasures should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). 7. Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of your countermeasures.

In my experience evaluating and validating kaizen projects, using the 5 Whys is one of the most critical steps. Generally, people do not use this tool well and therefore do not get to the root cause of the problems addressed. If the 5 whys are not well implemented, the actions taken will not guarantee the elimination of the problem and it will happen again. To avoid this, kaizen leaders must provide coaching to employees who develop projects and always review the application of the 5 whys, correcting errors when necessary.