Kaizen 101
Kaizen 101: Improve Your Life Continuously with the Kaizen System
What is Kaizen?
Kaizen, pronounced KEYE-zen, is the practice of continuous improvement in business, but it can be extended to all areas of your life. The word Kaizen means improvement.
Kaizen was originally introduced to the West by the author Masaaki Imai in his book Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success, back in 1986. Fast-forward 30 years, and Kaizen has become recognized worldwide as an important tactic in many corporations long-term competitive strategies.
• Kaizen is continuous improvement that is based on a set of guiding principles:
• Good processes bring good results
• Go see for yourself to grasp the current situation
• Speak with data, manage by facts
• Take action to contain and correct the root causes of problems
• Work as a team
• Kaizen is everybody’s business in a company
One of the reasons Kaizen has become so popular is that even the smallest changes can lead to big results. For this reason, it can be applied to all areas of your life, not just your business and career, but your finance, health and more.
In this course, you will discover what Kaizen is, how to start applying the principles of Kaizen, and how you can use it to transform specific areas of your life.
TO REGISTER:
To start studying this course, click on the button on the right, BUY NOW, to pay for the course. You will be asked to create a user name and password for this site. Once you have set up your free account, you can buy any course on the site. Pay via PayPal or any credit card.
Once you have paid, return to this course page. Instead of the BUY NOW button, you will see a “Start the Course” button instead. Click on it to start studying now.
Note: You may have to REFRESH the page for the button to update.
Navigate though the course through hitting the buttons at the bottom of each lesson to move forward, or use the clickable table of contents that will appear once you start the course to move up and down to the different sections if you wish.
The Kaizen philosophy is one of continuous improvement in business, but it can be extended to all areas of your life. It can also be termed a reflective practice, in which you assess where you are in life at the moment and what changes could improve things.
Kaizen has been dismissed by some as a process of making only small changes. However, small changes can lead to big results. In addition, it is often easier to implement small changes and stick with them, for overall results, than to try a huge change and give up after a day or two, like so many people do annually when they set and soon forget their New Year’s Resolution.
We can see that small changes can lead to big results if we look at trying to quit smoking tobacco. Most people who try to go ‘cold turkey’ and quit completely in one big step often fail. Those who have a plan and cut back on their smoking, having fewer and fewer cigarettes each day, tend to be more successful.
Similarly, those who go on crash diets often fail to lose weight. Those who count calories and exercise more in order to burn the calories they do consume are usually the ones who will lose weight successfully and be able to keep it off long term.
With the Kaizen system, big results come from many small changes accumulated over time. And everyone can work together to start making improvements. While the majority of changes may be small, the greatest impact may be kaizens that are led by senior management as transformational projects, or by cross-functional teams at kaizen events.
In terms of your personal life, evaluating where you are in life and where you wish to be can be transformational. You can also enlist the aid of others to help with your personal kaizens.
So let’s get started by meeting your instructor and getting your downloads. Then we will begin with Kaizen for your business.
Evan Stevens has been a personal coach for 20 years and a Kaizen advocate and instructor for more than 10 years. He is also teaches his students reflective practice.
