6. The Kaizen Event Week Page 1

The Kaizen Event Week

Overview In our last module we learned how to prepare for the kaizen event. In this module we’re going to spend some time discussing what to expect during the actual kaizen event week. This will primarily be from the kaizen team leader perspective. Specifically, by the end of this document you’ll know what to expect at the start of the week as well as how things will likely progress during a well facilitated event. Again, to be sure, much of the success of the event is dependent on the preparation put in the first two weeks of the kaizen event timeline… but we’ll assume this was done properly… as such we’ll talk about the actual kaizen event week in this module. Arms Crossed and Scowling I’d like to start with what you should expect on day 1 of the event. Specifically, I’d like to spend some time discussing how some of the kaizen team members may react. You see, many times, kaizen team members – especially those who have never been part of a kaizen event – don’t know what to expect… as such, their demeanor may come across as being negative. You might even see some team members with their arms folded and scowls on their face. This is normal and, in fact, you should expect this reaction especially if your organization is new to kaizen events. Once your company is more familiar with kaizen events this reaction should be minimized… but in the beginning don’t be surprised or discouraged if you experience this. In order to deal with this resistance you can do some sort of fun ice breaker or at least have each person introduce themselves while also saying something most people don’t know about them.

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Training our Associates

Next, as we learned about in the kaizen event overview video it’s important to train your kaizen team members on this first day or possibly the week before the event. We can’t stress how important this is since developing our people should be one of the highest priorities of the event. Training your kaizen event team, especially on the basics like 5S and the 7

Wastes, will also help ensure the event is successful. Once our team is trained and ready to get started it’s time to go to gemba, or the place the work is done, which is precisely what happens on the 2nd and 3rd day of the kaizen event. It’s during the first and second day of the event where all team members should become deeply engaged in activity. They’ll also begin to see changes happen which will motivate them to continue. Coordinate Activities Now, from a facilitation perspective, it’s extremely important for the kaizen team leader to coordinate the activity with the help of the kaizen coach. Some kaizen team members will be natural kaizen experts while others may need a small nudge from time to time. Another facilitation technique the team leader definitely needs to do is write down the daily goals and objectives for the kaizen team. The team should review this list at the start of the day, before lunch, and then once again at the end of the day. If you do this from the start of the event to the end you’ll have an excellent history of what was accomplished which will then help you prepare for the end of the event report out. Senior Leadership Involvement Additionally, there are many opinions as to how involved senior leaders should be during the hands on aspect of a kaizen event. I can personally say that I’ve never experienced a more powerful testimony than when I watched a senior vice president throw some blue jeans on while joining a kaizen team during the improvement phases of the event. The energy of the team went through the roof and this particular organization went on to facilitate some of the best kaizen events I’ve ever witnessed. Now then, while every kaizen will take on its own personality there are a few things I’d encourage you to always think about.

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Long Hours Required

First, there may be a need to work longer than normal hours during a kaizen event… this should be explained to the kaizen team at the start of the event. Additionally, we’d encourage the kaizen team leader to exhibit a strong sense or urgency throughout the week… but most especially during the first 3 days of the event since if you’re nearing the end of the kaizen event week and you’ve not met most of the objectives panic can, and likely will, begin to set in.

So be sure to aggressively meet and exceed your goals as early in the week as possible. The final few days of the event should really be focused on smaller tweaks and adjustments while also thoroughly testing new processes. You’ll also want to update standard work documents and other work instructions. The Report Out Lastly, the final report out process is an extremely important aspect of the kaizen event. This is where the kaizen team will get to report their results to the rest of the organization and receive recognition for their efforts. We strongly encourage the team members do the majority of this report out. In other words, the kaizen team leader and kaizen coach should actually play a very small part in the report out process. Now there are a variety of ways to conduct the report out but our favorite approach occurs on the gemba, or the place the work was done. And while you can create a PowerPoint presentation to summarize the accomplishments of the event we normally see excellent results when team members simply write out their accomplishments on flip charts and focus more on actually demonstrating the improvements made than worrying about making a fancy presentation. And since there will be actions yet to complete these will also be summarized during the report out, including who owns the action and when it will be done. We generally see report out lasting around 30 minutes which includes a time for some basic questions and answers. After the report out process many organizations provide some food and refreshments to celebrate the team’s accomplishments.

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Twists and Turns And that’s the kaizen event week. Again, each event will take on its own personality as well as unique twists and turns. This is why it’s so important to have an experienced kaizen coach assist the team since, chances are, they have experienced many different situations and will be able to help the team leader and kaizen team move past the obstacles they’ll no doubt face.