Company Culture - KAIZEN
I have just come back from a month-long holiday in Japan. It has been an epic journey into the heart of Japan. We learnt so much about the history, art, culture and people of Japan and the more we learned the more we were fascinated by the country. Those who know me, know that we like hiking and everywhere we go we find great hiking routes. Japan was not an exception and we hiked in many different places where the nature was at its best.
It will not come to you as a surprise when I say, as a social psychologist, as an organisational development and cultural diversity expert that I love observing people and culture. My first observation about Japan is that It is an insanely clean country. Everywhere, every corner of the country is pristine clean. It is also a wonderfully organised country. And when you realise that you do not get surprised by its cleanliness.
Japan, the whole country, they live in KAZIEN. As you all know, Kaizen is a Japanese term meaning change for the better or continuous improvement. It is a Japanese business philosophy that concerns the processes that continuously improve operations and involve all employees. Kaizen sees improvement in productivity as a gradual and methodical process. “
As consultants we all have been working with business process improvements for ages for a long time and all of us are familiar with the concept. We have all witnessed success of the companies that practised KAIZEN as well as failures. Big failures. The most common reason for the failure has always been the company culture.
Well, Japan is living and breathing KAIZEN. Trains are running like a clockwork with almost no delays. People everywhere, be it in a restaurant or at the train station or airport, do their best. Even if what you have asked for it is not within their rules or processes, they go that extra mile to make you happy. Everywhere in the country when you give money to the cashier, they all hold it the same way!
Kaizen involves five key principles: know your customer, let it flow, go to gemba (or the real place), empower people and be transparent. I can tell you that I experienced all these in Japan.
I know the world is changing, and KAIZEN may seem like a term from the past. But company culture is not! It is our reality that we live in and work hard to change company culture to get better business and people results. Once the company culture starts supporting the values and the goals of the business, all the pieces of the puzzle come together.
Mata aimashoo = See you later
