I recently listened to a Podcast that mentioned Kaizen. It piqued my interest, which led me to do some research on how I can use this philosophy in life and in business. Please feel free to write in the comment section how you have used Kaizen in your life, in business, and any tips you may have.
Kaizen - continuous, incremental improvement adds up to substantial change over time.
“The act of making bad points better”. ‘change for better’
Muda – which means waste
- Get 1 Percent Better each Day
- Eliminate unnecessary activities/ waste
In order to achieve Kaizen, you need to adopt the practice of self-criticism. You need to hold yourself accountable and find room for improvement even if everything is going according to plan.
(PLAN > DO >CHECK > ACT)
- PLAN: Plan your improvements, including setting goals.
- DO: Put in place the actions required for improvement.
- CHECK: Measure your success relative to your baseline.
- ACT: Adjust or tweak your changes
5 Elements for Business:
1. Teamwork
2. Personal Discipline
3. Improved Morale
4. Quality Circles, and
5. Suggestions for Improvement
Tips:
- Keep a log: Write down things that are inefficient or you would like to improve
- Once a month, spend some time identifying areas where there is "waste" in the way you or your team is working
- Plan out how you are going to make these changes
- If changes are going to affect others, make sure to discuss with them
Reprogram Your Brain - Dr. Maurer:
By breaking intimidating tasks into little steps, you generally will feel little resistance to change.
One of the most powerful ways to reprogram your brain for success is by asking small questions.
“A major component of our brains is the hippocampus and it plays an important role in the consolidation of information.
The hippocampus has one main criterion for storage: Repetition. So, asking an empowering question – like: “What’s great about this problem” – over and over, gives the brain no choice but to pay attention and begin to create answers.
Your brain loves questions and won’t reject them . . . unless the question is so big, it triggers fear.
But by asking small, gentle questions, we keep the fight-or-flight response in the “off” position. Kaizen questions such as: “What’s the smallest step I can take to be more efficient?” allow us to bypass our fears.
If your questions are small, you reduce the chances of waking the amygdala and arousing debilitating fear. If fear is non-existent, the brain can take in your questions and answer them without conflict.” Dr. Maurer
Insights from Dr. Maurer’s, One Small Step Can Change Your Life
· Small actions satisfy your brain’s need to do something and soothe its distress.”
· “If you are trying to reach a specific goal, ask yourself every day: What is one small step I could take toward reaching my goal?”
· “Small actions are at the heart of Kaizen. By taking steps so tiny that they seem trivial or even laughable, you’ll sail calmly past obstacles that have defeated you before. Slowly—but painlessly! —you’ll cultivate an appetite for continued success and lay down a permanent new route to change.”
· If you hit a wall of resistance, “don’t give up! Instead, try scaling back the size of your steps. Remember that your goal is to bypass fear—and to make the steps so small that you can barely notice an effort.”
· When we face crises, “the only concrete steps available are small ones. When our lives are in great distress, even while we are feeling out of control or in emotional pain, we can try to locate the smaller problems within the larger disaster … to help move us slowly in the direction of a solution. But if we are blind to the small, manageable problems, we are more likely to slip into despair.”
Kaizen is an overall set of attitudes, behaviors, tools & techniques.
When you work towards continuous improvement, you can achieve enhanced proficiency and effectiveness in all areas of your life.
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” –Confucius.
“The Kaizen Philosophy assumes that our way of life — be it our working life, our social life, or our home life — deserves to be constantly improved.” — Masaaki Imai
Convince Yourself it's Possible, and Keep Moving Forward.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanjoffe/
