Kaizen
Kaizen is a Japanese business philosophy that focuses on gradually improving productivity and making a work environment more efficient.
1. Kaizen supports change from any employee at any time.
2. Kaizen translates to change for the better or continuous improvement.
3. Kaizen's small changes can involve quality control, just-in-time delivery, standardized work, the use of efficient equipment, and the elimination of waste.
The Kaizen methodology underscores that small changes now can have big future impacts.
Improvements can come from any employee at any time. The idea is that everyone has a stake in the company's success and everyone should strive, at all times, to help make the business model better.
Kaizen includes 10 main principles:
1. Never Stop
There is an area for improvement in everyone’s life, no matter how successful they are. The idea here is to focus on continuous improvements in your life, every day, no matter how small the step you take to be a better you than you were yesterday.
2. Eliminate old practices
We live in a culture that is constantly changing and improving, so it is important for a business to adapt to these changes and stay relevant. Let go of your old habits, even if they benefit you at the time. You must also progress with time.
3. Be Proactive
Stop hesitating because of possible hurdles that you predict, and move forward toward your goal for continuous improvement.
4. Don’t Assume New Methods Will Work
Just because a method is new does not mean that it is improved. Just Because something worked for another person does not imply that it will essentially work for you. Try a few things out before you focus to a new method.
5. Make Corrections
It is critical to continue to make corrections all through the process in order to continuous improvement. Observe the areas in your life that can use improvement, and make relevant changes to help you progress.
6. Empower All Employees to Speak Up
Everyone who is associated in the success of the company—from the CEO to the line workers—should be encouraged to offer suggestions and solutions for problems that can be fixed, or improvements that can be made. While you don’t have employees dealing with your own life, you can still energize your friends and family to make suggestions if they see things that you could work on. Talk with different people about your goals and get their feedback. Encourage your family and friends to make suggestions if they see things that you could work on.
7. Crowdsource
Learn from other people and get some new opinions on things you can add to your routine to create continuous improvement. Before making a change or improvement, Talk with different people about what they are doing in their daily life to improve themselves. Having multiple opinions can not only add to an improvement, but it may also offer a different perspective that will open up more new ideas.
8. Practice the “Five Why” Method
Before making any final decisions, get to the root of the problem by asking “why?” five times. By continuing to ask yourself “why?” you are likely to find the genuine purpose behind a problem.
9. Be Economical
Watch your finances during the entire process of making an improvement. Look for ways to save money while making minor improvements, and then spend the saved money on further improvements. A common goal of improvement is to save money or stop spending so much money on unuseful Things. And stop buying them.
10. Don’t Stop
Never consider yourself to be finished. Improvement has no limits, and can be proceeded on an infinite level. You can always improve yourself. Whether it is learning something new useful things or perfecting a skill you already have, there is opportunity to get better.
