When holding a Kaizen Event have you ever really taken the time to think thru the event and how you will hold people’s interest and more importantly how you will get them engaged? Managers may think that everyone has the same level of interest and are willing to participate and share openly. I think that is what separates the professional facilitator from the average manager; the ability to engage in conversation with the entire team. Without doing this you may leave the best idea lying on the table, never to surface and be implemented.
I believe the best way to get the team engaged is by delivering a “Holy Shit” moment. That’s right, don’t try to loosen them up with small talk or a joke but go right for the throat and bring importance to why they are there. If you can, wheel in the issue, show why the improvement has to be made but do it in a visual manner. Maybe, even start the event at Gemba or maybe even downstream from that. Add some realism to the problem by bringing in several customers to describe how they interpret or how the problem affected them. You need to set the stage, before Act 1 is over, you want everyone on the team to be muttering; “Holy Shit.”
An excerpt from a transcription/podcast with Karen Martin:
Joe: Well you have hosted and facilitated many Kaizen events, and they seem to have a bad rap at the moment. Are they needed? Are they a good way to introduce something?
Karen: Yes. The bad rap, just like the bad rap for planning, I think a lot people give things a bad rap when they haven’t really experienced, what’s good about it. So the bad rap comes first from people who have never experienced a good Kaizen event, and also from those who have grown up with a very pure view of Toyota Production Systems. And Toyota does use them, but they don’t use them extensively, because they’ve got a culture that can solve problems and get rapid results in another way.
Organizations that aren’t Toyota, and didn’t grow up with the Toyota thinking and management style are starting from a deficit position. And so kaizen events to me are first a way to shape behavior.
Yes, you get rapid results. I consider the shaping behavior as a bigger benefit to Kaizen events than the rapid results. I just don’t understand the nay saying that goes on around kaizen events because they are wildly effective.
I guess one thing I will say about the nay saying, one thing that people are correct about, is if organizations become what I call addicted to Kaizen events, where they only make improvements during a Kaizen event? Well, that’s of course just wrong.
You want to build daily improvement into the culture. But that’s not what I use Kaizen events for. I use them to build daily skill sets, so the organizations can perform that way in the years to come, without having Kaizen events. It’s to teach those behaviors.
Below are 3 great resources on Kaizen and Kaizen Events that I can hardly duplicate. If you have the time I would read or listen to each.
Karen Martin:
Podcast: Holding successful Kaizen Events, part 1, Holding successful Kaizen Events Part 2
Transcription: Holding Successful Kaizen Events
Mike Osterling:
Podcast: Kaizen in the Office Environment
Transcription: Lean Office Kaizen Event Ebook
Book with Karen Martin, The Kaizen Event Planner: Achieving Rapid Improvement in Office, Service, and Technical Environments,
Mark Hamel:
Podcast: How to Implement your Kaizen Event Successfully
Transcription: Sustaining your Kaizen Event Ebook
Book, Kaizen Event Fieldbook: Foundation, Framework, and Standard Work for Effective Events,
Presentation Resources:
The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience
Slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations
Also another great resource, 6 tips on Remote Presentations from Nancy Duarte
Other Resources:
The Back of the Napkin (Expanded Edition): Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
Another great resource I would recommend is Patrick Lencioni Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable…About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business and 
