When implementing a Kaizen implementation strategy, it is essential to create a culture of continuous improvement. 

There are three critical components of a culture of continuous improvement: 

1. Aligning goals with business strategy.
2. Creating an operational excellence team.
3. Establishing the culture.

These steps will help you create a successful Kaizen implementation. If you want to make your organization an operational excellence champion, follow these steps. You'll soon be on your way to building a culture of continuous improvement!
 
Aligning goals with business strategy
Aligning goals with your business strategy is the first step in implementing a Kaizen program. This process emphasizes the need for constant improvement. Kaizen methods have helped many organizations increase employee productivity and lower costs, while improving customer service and satisfaction. The ultimate goal of any organization is operational excellence, and Kaizen implementation is one way to achieve it. While projects and tools can help, a true culture change can be achieved with Kaizen. All employees are encouraged to participate in the improvement process. 
 
The next step is to align goals with the overall business strategy. Developing an operational excellence mindset requires the company to align its goals with its business strategy. By doing this, all members can see the value flow through the business. Moreover, successful implementation of Kaizen practices requires businesses to focus on improving their value proposition and delivery. 

​​Now let's take a look at the second critical component of continuous improvement culture- creating an operational excellence (OpEx) team.

Creating an operational excellence team
​Creating an operational excellence team will require a commitment to a vision that is aligned with the company's strategic objectives. The vision can be product or growth-oriented, or even market-focused. It should be communicated to all employees, to ensure alignment of effort and resources. Once all employees are on board with the new strategy, implementation will be easier. However, a company wide OpEx strategy will require time, resources, and education to be successful.
 
Before implementing any improvement initiative, a company should define an optimal value stream and work toward achieving it. Once a company has defined the optimal value stream, it should select a project that is both timely and effective. The company should then expand its operational excellence team by hiring more staff and establishing a portfolio of improvement projects. This team should be rewarded for its accomplishments and recognize the individual contributions of its frontline operational excellence leaders.
 
In order to implement a Kaizen implementation successfully, an organization must first determine what operational excellence is. To determine if a process meets those criteria, management must identify the problem and determine how to resolve it. An effective operational excellence team must be committed to bringing changes and identifying recurring problems. However, the team must be willing to embrace change and sacrifice old ways of doing things. It is vital to measure progress and make sure everyone understands what it means to achieve the goals.
 
When implementing a Kaizen program, companies must realize that they cannot achieve operational excellence without aligning their goals with the organization's strategic objectives. Without this alignment, improvement efforts tend to float in circles, with little or no strategic impact. Ultimately, it is imperative to align goals with strategic objectives. Only then can Kaizen efforts benefit the entire organization and its customers.

Coming to the third critical component of continuous improvement culture- establishing the culture of continuous improvement at your workplace. 
 
Creating a culture of continuous improvement
Creating a culture of continuous improvement is important, but how do you make it stick? The key is to get everyone involved. Rather than enlisting the help of managers and top executives, employees should make suggestions for improvement. While not every suggestion will be successful, many will. Employees are most familiar with areas that need improving, so gaining their input can be invaluable. Below are some tips for making Kaizen work at your organization. 
 
Commitment:
Kaizen requires the commitment of every member of the organization. There must be no "us versus us" mentality. All must work toward the same goal. For example, some automobile factories hold daily meetings of small teams to discuss one small change that can improve a process. This process must be conducted regularly, daily, and in a routine. Once implemented, the company will be on the road to continuous improvement.
 
Motivation:
Employees should be encouraged to take responsibility for the quality of their work. Kaizen will improve processes while instilling a sense of teamwork and ownership. Employees will be motivated to work on the problems they select and will be more likely to find a solution if everyone is involved in it. A recent published study revealed that only 36% of US workers were engaged in their work, while 15% were ‘actively disengaged’. Globally, 20% of employees are engaged at work. Getting employees involved in the process of continuous improvement will improve processes, reduce turnover, and boost innovation.

​Read more on Kaizen here.

​There are many challenges CEOs face in strategic decision-making. In addition to balancing the demands of running a business, CEOs are often required to make many decisions in a short period of time. 

As a result, these executives must prioritize and train employees to make the right decisions and quickly escalate the remaining decisions. This post explores some of the key challenges CEOs face. In addition, it explores the importance of flexibility and risk management.

Lessons learned during the pandemic
While the recent Corona virus pandemic has killed more than three hundred thousand people, the global health system did not adequately prepare for this epidemic. Despite the fact that the majority of scientific requirements for pandemic control were met, the global management of COVID-19 fell short of its expectations. The pandemic demonstrated that a robust crisis response capacity is necessary for ensuring the health and well-being of the population. It also underlines the importance of publicly accountable health systems, underpinned by the investments in people.

Organizations that survived the pandemic adapted to new environments by fostering a culture of creativity, problem-solving, and adaptability. Many of these organizations had adopted strategy models that did not take into account the dire circumstances. Those organizations that quickly responded to the crisis learned to adapt to the changing environment. Those that did not were forced to adjust their business model to accommodate the new realities and were able to ride out the pandemic.

Challenges faced by internal promoted CEOs
There are many challenges faced by newly promoted CEOs in strategic decision-making, including their inability to establish and maintain relationships with their immediate supervisors and peers. In the ideal scenario, an internal promoted CEO would have the support of all employees and colleagues. However, in reality, the new CEO will likely face opposition from former superiors and competitors. The new CEO must also assess all direct reports and key stakeholders quickly and build their own leadership team. The first step is to 'reenlist' existing employees through early conversations and identify those they can and cannot work with.

Boards should consider their own biases about internal candidates. Some internals may be stellar operators but lack the strategic thinking skills necessary to lead a company. Boards should be specific about the development needs of their key internals; observe how they develop and be open to a new narrative about them. This is particularly important for internal promoted CEOs, as they are more likely to be trusted by their peers.

Flexibility is an asset
Investigating the role of flexibility in strategic decision-making is critical. The concept is broadly defined as the ability to change one’s thoughts and beliefs to respond to changing circumstances. Leaders who have the ability to be flexible are better able to respond to unanticipated market responses and dynamic macro environments. There are many ways to improve one's mental flexibility.

In strategic decision-making, receptivity to change is an important quality of an effective CEO. A leader who is flexible in his or her approach demonstrates a willingness to learn from mistakes and adjust their strategy. The pandemic, for instance, demonstrated that even the best-laid plans can run into unexpected hurdles. A strong reviewing process helps CEOs develop the skills needed to change course or adapt to new situations.

Managing risk
Strategic decision-making is increasingly difficult for CEOs. New technology and disruptive business models require fresh thinking. Cybersecurity threats, disruptive competition, and the impact of a rapidly changing workforce all require rapid pivots and new business models. A pandemic requires rethinking everything - from organizational culture to leadership style and the workforce's evolving needs. CEOs must stay focused, adapt to new risks, and empower their teams to make the right decisions.

Delegation involves not only deciding who to delegate to but also ensuring that each member has the appropriate amount of control. Delegation is crucial, but the CEO must know his or her own capabilities to design a stronger team. When hiring, the CEO can broaden his or her scope and make more informed decisions. However, when it comes to making strategic decisions, the CEO must be conscious of the balance between reward and risk.

Communicating clearly as a CEO
As a CEO, you are often in the position to rally your team to win in a new environment. But you must learn to communicate in a way that keeps the CEO informed without the need for lengthy explanations and defense mechanisms. In addition to being prepared with facts, you must communicate new ideas and products in an unfiltered manner. I will briefly explore some key points that will help you communicate effectively as a CEO in strategic decision-making.

The first step in the CEO's role is to establish a culture of transparency and trust within the company. As a CEO, you must foster a culture of mutual trust among employees and subordinates. Communication is the basis for all business success and career advancement. You must demonstrate your commitment to effective communication by requiring and rewarding good communication practices. And make sure that those you lead follow through with this commitment.

​Checkout- Top Ten Strategic Decision-Making Tools for Operational Excellence

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​In this post, I will discuss some of the best decision-making strategies in business. These strategies cover everything from choosing which classes to take to setting the course of a business's long-term strategy. 

If you're unsure about what you need to decide, read on. Then, follow the steps below to implement them into your business. There are many benefits to following these strategies. You'll find that making the best decision for your business is less complicated than you might have thought.

Identifying/clarifying the decision to be made
Identifying/clarifying the decision to make in business is one of the most crucial steps to making the right choice. It is vitally important to define the decision's criteria, which may be easily quantified or conflicting. For instance, the desire to cut costs may conflict with maintaining product quality. Other stakeholders may also have separate criteria, which must be addressed. The decision-making process begins by determining how to get the relevant information and how to value it.

Systematic analysis
Intuition and systematic analysis often clash. Sometimes intuition will give you a sense of an uncomfortable situation when a decision is made based on an analysis; however, one should read both sides of the ledger before accepting an analysis. If this doesn’t happen in the analysis, it might mean that more thinking is needed. So, one must reconcile intuition with analysis. 

Elimination by aspects
The model of elimination by aspect is a mental shortcut that is used to make decisions. People tend to eliminate features from their lists that they don't need, and instead, focus on what's important. It avoids information overload, and results in satisfying purchases. However, this model does not take into account the fact that a desirable attribute compensates for the undesirable one. As such, it is often used in the wrong way to make decisions.

In a multicriteria decision, you must consider the value of each outcome and eliminate alternatives that do not meet one or more of the criteria. This strategy is useful for short-fuse decisions, where the decisionmakers may only be considering a few attributes. However, if the decision involves many factors, it's advisable to use the expected-value approach, which is more precise. In this approach, the elicitor sets a cut-off value for the most important attributes and allows the others to move on to the next alternatives.

Forecasting the outcome of each option
Developing effective forecasts can make or break a business. Moreover, when a forecast is made with more details, it will be more accurate, ethical and quality-based. The quality of a forecast is a result of its detail, complexity, and inclusion of critical elements of the problem scenario.
​
The first step is identifying the underlying causes of the problem. These causes will determine which alternatives are most likely to affect the outcome. Root cause analysis via cause and effect diagram, Ishikawa diagram, 5-Whys analysis and other investigative techniques are helpful in accurately identifying the underlying cause(s) of a business problem. The second step is identifying the decisionmakers. A decision made by person(s) who have no clear understanding of the problem situation may lead to a less profitable one. Hence, decisions must be made after considering views of all people close to the problem (process). Decisions based on a forecast that identifies the causes is more accurate.

Joint decision-making
In today's e-business environment, collaborating with partners is essential to achieve goals. But how can a company make joint decisions? A published research explored the influences of organizational factors on joint decision-making. This research collected corporate-level data through a Web survey and analyzed the data using a statistical method called PLS based on structured equation modeling. The findings revealed that joint decision-making is influenced by the knowledge creation capabilities of partners and inter-organizational process modularity.

An important point to note is that, the size and complexity of an organization can present some major hurdles to implementing joint decision-making. One common issue is overlapping responsibilities that can cause inefficiency and slow response to opportunities. Another major institutional challenge is a conflict between getting something done quickly and bringing the entire company along with the decision. Many times, fast decisions are celebrated and are not well-informed. The benefits of delegating/sharing (decision) responsibility are multiple, but the two major benefits are: the decision-making process becomes more efficient, and more people are involved.

​Checkout- Top Ten Strategic Decision-Making Tools for Operational Excellence

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​Keywords and Tags:

#operationalexcellence #decisionmaking #strategy #strategymanagement #decisiontools #strategicplanning  #challengesofdecisionmaking  #decisionmakingstrategies

If you are a leader looking to drive change and achieve operational excellence in your chemical organization, you may be asking yourself how to improve operational efficiencies in your company. 

Here are few important steps to take in this regard:

Advanced Process Control (APC) Implementation in the chemical industry can help you maximize margins and meet customer expectations.

APC is a process control and optimization technology that takes into account the multivariable interactive nature of process units to reduce variability and drive the process to an optimum.  APC includes model-based software used to control the process operation. It is also known as multivariable predictive control (MPC) or model predictive control.

APC's goal is to improve the control of production processes. APC helps simplify production and makes production output more predictable by ensuring that processes are under constant control.

You can achieve operational excellence in your organization with an APC implementation by following a detailed plan that takes into account the needs of your business and the requirements of your customers. Here are three things to consider when planning your APC implementation:

The first step in addressing the issue of operating efficiency is to recognize how value creation is rooted in individual chemical segments. Companies that have more than one business unit must differentiate their operating models and determine how corporate operations can influence the performance of these units. The second step involves determining which role corporate plays in day-to-day operations. Centralized operations stifle differentiation, while giving autonomy to each business unit can help it succeed.

Once you've mapped out the key components of your operational efficiency strategy, you'll need to decide on your next steps. Consider training operators and retaining knowledge. Also, consider mobile-enabled augmented reality and enterprise decision-support. While you can achieve operational excellence in your company by enhancing any one/ all of these four components, you'd be missing out on the true potential of these these components if you don’t control or eliminate wastes. Comprehensive operational excellence strategies provide immediate savings while driving excellence in the future.

Checkout- Top Ten Strategic Decision-Making Tools for Operational Excellence

While it's important to recognize that organic revenue growth is slowing down in several countries around the world, technical (e.g. additive manufacturing) and economic disruptions have hit various segments of the industry. For example, increased emphasis on circular economy and regionalization have impacted the petrochemical industry. Specialty chemicals, which focus on tailoring materials for specific applications, are now under threat. Further, the COVID-19 crisis has added further uncertainty to the supply chain, requiring additional investments and a broader outlook.

​Top Ten Strategic Decision-Making Tools for Operational Excellence book is your Go-To Reference Guide to increase Operational Excellence at your workplace.

The top ten tools described in this book are popular for strategic decision-making. However, they also offer another significant advantage, and that is- Operational Excellence gets multiplied manyfold when these tools are applied to various business processes in an organization. And this book tells you exactly how to do that!

Not many companies have explored this benefit. But as a successful Operational Excellence and Continuous Improvement Consultant, I’m using these tools for over two decades, so can say that they work super!

This book describes the top ten strategic decision-making tools for improving operational excellence and how to use them right. Also presented are several illustrations and examples from different industry sectors to elaborate and explain the concepts.

So as a decisionmaker, executive or a business-owner, you would like to take your organization on the growth mode, improve business resilience and operating efficiency, increase revenue and profit, then this book is for you!
​
Available as Paperback and digital editions on Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble and other popular stores worldwide!

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​Kaizen is a Japanese concept that emphasizes continuous improvement. It targets the processes and outcomes of a business to anchor it for long-term success. 

Although Kaizen is present in Japanese folklore for several decades, it was first applied in the corporate sector post-World War II, to improve manufacturing operations of the Japanese companies. It produced significant results for the Toyota Corporation, which led to the philosophy spreading across the world. Now, Kaizen is used by companies in almost all industry sectors.

Kaizen involves making small incremental improvements in a company. By implementing Kaizen into the company culture, it can be permanent. New employees will be trained in the principles of the Kaizen process, and the change will be sustained for years to come.

When considering how to improve customer satisfaction with Kaizen implementation, organizations must begin by recognizing the problem and identifying opportunities for improvement.

To do this, they should engage cross-functional personnel in the problem-solving process. Then test the proposed solution(s) in small groups before spreading them across the entire organization. The process should be supported by the top leadership of the company and include training and appropriate communication between employees.

A Kaizen committee should be formed of five to ten employees. This committee should meet weekly to discuss ideas for continuous improvement and to summarize the changes made after implementing them.

Let’s take an example of initiating Kaizen in an engineering company.

To get started, a Kaizen team must be established. The team should include a manufacturing engineer, a design engineer, two people from marketing & sales function and a quality engineer, in addition to the Kaizen leader. In some cases, the team should also include customers and suppliers to ensure success.

The team must review the current state of the business, product mix, customer base, complaint records etc. and identify the opportunities for improvement. Once the team has identified these opportunities, they can create a strategy to improve customer satisfaction.

The principles of Kaizen emphasize the value of continuous incremental improvements.

Kaizen-ing runs via Kaizen events. During Kaizen events, the Kaizen team must meet and work together with people at grassroot levels from the sales and marketing function to come up with potential solution(s) to the problem(s). These meetings should be centered around a specific problem such as- an increase in defective products, product returns, delayed deliveries etc. Also, the meetings must be held in a physical location within the company- the Gemba.

Further, two tools which will be extremely helpful in this initiative are- Kaizen board and Taguchi loss function. 

Tip: The Kaizen board is an excellent place to document ideas for improvements. 

Moreover, besides the Kaizen leader, the Kaizen sponsor aka process owner should also hold overall responsibility for the results of the Kaizen event. So, before you can implement a Kaizen board in your company, first make sure your stakeholders are willing to make it happen.

Tip: If Kaizen events are part of your business culture, you may want to consider holding them on a regular basis. Often, a Kaizen team uses a Kaizen Template to stay on track and initiate Kaizen in the organization. Using this method, each member of the team contributes to customer satisfaction and teamwork. You can read more on Kaizen here.

Besides improving the customer relationship process, Kaizen also promotes employee engagement and ownership of the company culture. With the right approach, your organization can benefit from increased employee morale and productivity. The benefits of Kaizen extend well beyond improved customer satisfaction!

Are you planning to initiate a Kaizen culture at your workplace?

​Keywords and Tags:

#kaizen #kaizenevents #gembakaizen  #customersatisfaction #gembawalks  #yamazumiboard  #kaizenboard #Taguchilossfunction

​Change management is an important component of business transformation and continuous improvement projects. And it is vital that change management be successful in order for transformation and continuous improvement to happen and sustain.

Several factors impact success with change management. Jick change model identifies 10 factors popularly known as ten commandments impacting major organizational change. Checkout this video to know more about- What is Jick change model?
​
This video belongs to my YouTube video series- One-minute guide to continuous improvement where I explain various topics related to continuous improvement for operational excellence and business growth. 

Are you ready to implement Continuous Improvement at your organization?

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1. One minute continuous improvement guide series.
2. Kaizen explained with examples and case studies.
3. Change management.

Keywords and Tags:

#changemanagement  #continuousimprovement #businessprocessimprovement #changemanagementessentials  #changemodels #changeimpactanalysis #impactanalysis #howtomeasurechange #successfulchangemanagement #changemanagementmodels  #organizationalchangemanagement  #differenttypesoforganizationalchange    #Jickchangemanagementmodel  #Jickchangemanagementframework  #Jickmodelfororganizationalchange   #Jickchangemodel​