Can You Manifest Visionary Action through Kaizen?
Thursday, 7/14/16 @ 4:00 PT & 7:00 ET
Thanks to our friend Ed Tsyitee for collaborating with us on this discussion, as part of our summer of collaborative happy hour discussions.
We are discussing integrating Kaizan quality improvement methods through our 3rd Radical Idea.
Ed: “Under a common organizational structure, the past and present work results are given every year through the performance review. In the past year, the employee did X, and presently this is what is needed to improve to achieve Y. However, we know this is flawed. Work and work results happen now. How are you to improve on a result that happened 6 months ago, for example?
Enter Kaizen, the Japanese total quality management style that calls for continuous improvement. Kaizen is associated with lean manufacturing, and making incremental changes to improve the work area. Every processes, everyone and everything is improved upon everyday. [You can check out more about Kaizen in this video.]”
Per the Kaizen Institute: Kaizen is continuous improvement that is based on certain guiding principles:
- Good processes bring good results
- Go see for yourself to grasp the current situation
- Speak with data, manage by facts
- Take action to contain and correct root causes of problems
- Work as a team
- Kaizen is everybody’s business
Ed: “Going beyond the manufacturing concept of Kaizen-continuous improvement in processes, we can look at the individual concept. Continuous improvement in what we do, in everything we do, in every day we work in, can make us better people, coworkers, and employees. Our focus then would be improving our work and work flow, and how we can better improve our work environment. This concept also renders annual reviews pointless, since really we and senior managers are constantly looking at ways to improve.
Referring to the 3rd Radical Idea of GTIdeology-Individual potential is more valuable than experience-we can begin to develop a sense of how Kaizen would apply. Our potential to continuously improve would lend to our work experience, rather than our work experience set limitations and boundaries on the improvement.
When not labored by our past experiences it is this visionary action, with the mindset of Kaizen, that enables greatness through the Individual.”
What do you think? Can we apply Kaizan principles at the individual level as a method of organization development?
That is this week’s discussion.
Our 3rd Radical Idea, Radical Opportunity: Potential is more valuable than experience.
Radical Opportunity values individual potential over experience in structural and hierarchical authority systems that so often reflect historical personal circumstance and not personal capacity and individual potential.
We believe that organizational development follows individual opportunity and depends on developing individual potential through action-taking in the organization.
Radical opportunity unfetters the individual from her or his past and manifests as Visionary Action throughout the Organization.
#GTIdeology Happy Hour
We discussed this topic on July 14, 2016. Our cool video introduction and the discussion questions are below. You can read the full transcript here.
You’re invited to — and we hope that you will — join us at 4:00 PT & 7:00 ET every Thursday to unofficially kick off the weekend with us and the smart, fun, and friendly #GTIdeology Happy Hour crowd.
We tweet out reminders each week. If you’d like one, just tweet @ us and let us know. We’ll be happy to tweet you one. Cheers!
Q1 In your opinion, can the concept of Kaizen apply to individual work and personal development? [include Lexicon card defining kaizen]
Q2. Per our 3rd Radical Idea, we believe that organizational development follows individual opportunity and depends on developing individual potential through action-taking in the organization. What do you think?
Q3 Agree or disagree: The concept of Kaizen can be adapted by individuals, and provide greater opportunities for better results in work and in life. Why?
Q4. Discuss if and how Kaizen can foster individual visionary action to improve results.
Q5. What about you? Have you ever been part of a team or company that sought constant improvement? Would you want to be? Tell us about it!
