Skip to main content

Kaizen projects: being honest about being off track

Projects, especially improvement projects, have a tendency to get off track. There is often a clear distinction between projects for customers and projects for ourselves. If our improvement projects fall behind then our customers won't be barking at us; it is no wonder that if something is going to slip it is our Kaizen endeavours.

For some people this can be a tough conversation to have. No one wants to be a 'failure' and pride often gets in the way. In my experience it seems that it is believed to be far more credible to ignore the requirement to improve than to admit that we aren't making progress.

So, if you find yourself (and your business) in this situation, what can you do about it?

Let me share with you two options to increase the visibility in your business around progress with projects and four options to help get your projects back on track.

Increasing visibility

Ok, no more hiding the status of Kaizen activities. This also means no more being precious about slipping behind. This stuff happens. It is normal, we just need to get better at dealing with it.

So, how do we do this and get this level of honesty to become normal?

  1. Add the status of your projects to a regular meeting so that you touch base with progress.
  2. Agree on a visual indicator that means that anyone, anytime, can determine the status of your projects. A simple RAG (red, amber, green) option can work brilliantly and they're quick to deploy. An example of this is as follows:
  • Red = completely off track and in need of resuscitation.
  • Amber = slipping, but can get on back track with a bit of focus and effort. 
  • Green = on track and on target.
This isn't a big shift for most businesses, but the results of becoming open, honest and accurate about the status of Kaizen can reap quick rewards.

Right, we're being visible and honest about our improvements. What next?

Getting projects back on track

Getting Kaizen projects back on track isn't rocket science. The points that I share below should seem obvious, but many businesses that struggle with achieving results don't seem to do them... Let me lay them out for you:

  1. Reschedule the improvement. Don't beat yourself up and come up with a new, more realistic, date. Throttle the number of your projects down, if you need to.
  2. Resource the change. Make sure that you have the right number of people and the right skills allocated to the task at hand. If you don't, change the team.
  3. Remove the obstacles. Find out what is, or will be, in the way and kick the obstacles out of the way.
  4. Re-plan the tasks. If the route isn't obvious to the team then they will get stuck. Make sure that each step is clear, achievable and understood.
Using the above, in isolation or combination, is the bulk of what it takes to get things back on track. Like most good management activities, it is not knowing what needs to be done that is the problem, it is doing it!




In summary

Start forming a habit of being open and honest about where you are on your projects. Ideally have all of them in one place and make it obvious how each one of them is doing.

Likewise, develop an approach (possibly based on the four points above) for how you get back on track with your projects if they slip. Take pride out of the equation and focus on results. It is better to have fewer projects delivered well than a big long list of stalled opportunities.

Have fun getting your improvement projects back on track and seeing your team thrive.

About the author:

Giles Johnston is a Chartered Engineer who specialises in helping businesses to grow and improve through better business processes and embracing Kaizen.

Giles is also the author of Effective Root Cause Analysis and 'What Does Good Look Like?'.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

What do you think?

Popular posts from this blog

The Kaizen Checklist is here!

Do you want to get better results from your Kaizen programme? Improve your business results quickly with my downloadable kit (including guidebook, workbook and templates) for only $39. Are you looking for a sustainable way to identify and implement improvements across your business? Practical improvement strategies The Kaizen Checklist is a downloadable kit that you can use with your management team to develop a system that suits your business and allow you to quickly implement Kaizen effectively at your place of work. This works great if you use it as the centre piece of your own internal workshop. The kit includes a 40 page guidebook, a workbook, four appendices and three templates. All parts of this kit are designed to get you up and running as fast as possible. If you are unfamiliar with Kaizen, let me stress that this is a simple improvement philosophy that is so much more than just  ‘a Japanese word for continuous improvement’. I’ll cover what it...
Read more

How to get started with continuous improvement

We all know that continuous improvement is a strategy that is essential for business. It involves constantly seeking ways to improve processes, products, or services in order to achieve better results and outcomes. However, for many people, the thought of starting on the path of continuous improvement can be daunting. The fear of doing it incorrectly or not knowing where to start can be overwhelming.    The key to successful continuous improvement is to start small and gradually build upon your successes. Here are some tips to help you get started if you are unsure of how to begin:   1. Identify areas for improvement: The first step in continuous improvement is to identify the areas that need improvement. This can be done by looking at the processes, products, or services that are not performing as well as they could be. It is important to involve all stakeholders in this process to gain a comprehensive understanding of the areas that need attention.   2. Set specifi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nail the number one improvement project

Over the past few weeks I have intervened in my client's continuous improvement programmes . I did this for one good reason: They weren't getting results. They caught the improvement bug, like so many organisations do. They got caught in the trap of wanting to change everything now! As I said, this happens to most of us from time to time. You start with some small improvements and you then identify more improvements you could get your teeth into. The next thing you know, you are trying to run ten improvement projects as well as deliver your day job. I know from bitter experience that this usually leads to having lots of loose ends rather than tangible increases in performance. So, what can you do about this? I know that with careful experimenting and resource management, you could find your sweet spot and figure out how many projects you can handle at once. Or, you can take the quick route and pare back your list until you have one priority. The one project that will give you t...
Post a Comment
Read more