Kaizen is a Way of Life

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Kaizen is a Way of Life

I believe that Kaizen has not been well understood by most of the occidental companies; Kaizen is not a specific program, Kaizen is not a special project, Kaizen is not a quality circle activity... Kaizen is a way of life, a super source of motivation for all the employees (if is correctly directed).
Here the managers play a critical role, because they have to "coach" their team mates, so they can accept, absorb and live the continuous improvement. Most people feel that improvements are difficult to perform, and they feel that only a few "illuminated" are able to implement these improvements (i.e. black belts, green belts, engineers, etc). But this is where the biggest challenge arises for the managers: how to break down this barrier?
The answer is to make people believe in themselves, they must trust and feel that THEY are the experts on what they are doing (in fact, they are!). Once they have confidence, they are ready to support the Kaizen, because they will start to propose improvements.

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		1 mohamed fahmi jaffar Malaysia
	Kaizen is a Specific Program Too! Though Garcia mentioned that Kz is not a specific program, my 12-year experience in a Japanese MNC had instilled a habit that Kz must be practised through a proper formal schedule throughout the year with attached reward or recognition lest it will go in disarray or into oblivion.

		1 Edward DiDonna Manager, United States
	Why the Kaizen Philosophy is Needed I fully appreciate the challenge of gaining participation and acceptance from employees. The perception of an "illuminated" elite is built in to traditional management structures. Traditionalists often rely on "outliers" to provoke and challenge the status quo, but ensure that any disruption is muted and scrubbed through the system. When thinking is encouraged, a framework like Kaizen is often missing. Mis-guided thinking leads to poor planning and implementation, further reinforcing a top down approach to management and productivity. I think this is a significant middle management challenge in the US. Organizations continue to trim management ranks without adding value to the support structures necessary to ensure that vision and strategy become successful business outcomes.

		1 Judith Santizo Consultant, Guatemala
	The Kaizen Philosophy on Continuous Improvement And... The Kaizen philosophy is applied first of all by the staff of an organization, and in another context to achieve a balanced and most satisfactory work environment possible, oriented towards financial and emotional stability, which adds value to the organizational climate in a pleasant way and in a functional work environment, which is always focused on continuous improvement. I consider that this system could be uses in the family as well. Filosofia de Kaizen en la Mejora Continua y... La filosofía de Kaizen se aplica en primer lugar por el personal de una organización, y en otro contexto para lograr un ambiente de trabajo equilibrado y lo más satisfactorio posible, orientado a la estabilidad financiera y emocional, que aporte valor al clima organizacional de manera agradable y en un ambiente funcional de trabajo, que siempre esté enfocada en la mejora continua. Considero que este sistema es prudente utilizar en lo familiar también.