An Overlooked Benefit of Kaizen Events
Everybody sees kaizen events as an opportunity to make an improvement. Most people also see them as an opportunity to train teams. But few regard them as a way to identify the future leaders of the company.
Employees working in frontline production roles have limited chances to demonstrate their skills. Of course, there are some who will shine through and will be noticed by their leaders. But the potential of many goes unnoticed, especially when leaders don’t spend a lot of time on the shop floor.
Consider using kaizen events as a way to develop skills and identify the character traits that provide the foundation for strong leadership. Assign frontline team members as assistant team leaders, or simply give them some planning tasks that will put them outside of their comfort zones a bit. Observe how they convince others to do things when they have no real authority. Watch how they organize their efforts. See how they resolve conflict.
And when the team meets for the project, put the potential leader in charge of a sub-team. Watch how they overcome barriers. See how others respond to the observee’s instructions.
3 Comments
Bernadette · August 11, 2011 at 12:01 pm
Jeff i am working at ford motor company of south africa.i still need to learn more about kaizen,thanks alot for making my job more easyer
Jeff Hajek · August 12, 2011 at 9:03 am
Bernadette,
No problem. I love writing and talking about continuous improvement, and it is even better when I hear that I’ve been helping people.
Good luck with you learning. Please let me know if you come across any topics you want covered in more details.
Regards,
Jeff
Christian Paulsen · April 20, 2011 at 8:11 am
Jeff,
This is an excellent point! I have seen this with Kaizen events and when launching 5S or TPM. You’ll often be surprised by who shines and disappointed with some who you think should do better. I can recall one operator who was placed in a Team Leader role for a 5S then Autonomous Maintenance (TPM) team. I was personally against putting him in that role and had to be talked into it because he was a bad apple. With some coaching he became pretty good in that role.
As a more recent example, I started a 5S launch with a new client just this last Saturday. I’ve written an article on this which is scheduled to be posted to my blog tomorrow morning. The post is about the hidden benefits which include your point.
Thanks for sharing.
Chris