KaiNexus: Continuous Improvement, Leadership, and More

A popular ice breaker in business meetings these days is 3 Truths and 1 Lie. Each person says three true things about themselves and one made up thing and everyone tries to guess which is the lie. We thought that 10 truths and 1 lie would be a good way to introduce Standard Work. Can you guess which is which?

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you are probably aware by now that we produce a lot of educational material about continuous improvement methodologies, leadership, engagement strategies, and how to spread an improvement culture. Today we will look at an excerpt from our latest eBook, An Introduction to Continuous Improvement Software.

We expect that the best organizations are continuously improving. We hope they are using Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen, and other methodologies to engage everybody in continually reinventing and improving what they do and how they do it.

The practice of Kaizen along with the Six Sigma and Lean business process methodologies has been wide spread in manufacturing for decades. More recently other sectors have realized that the practices and principles of Kaizen can accelerate improvement in almost any organization. Like manufacturers, leaders in every industry from construction to higher education are leveraging Kaizen software to support and perfect their efforts to execute on more opportunities for improvement. For those who are not yet familiar with Kaizen software, we have put together this broad introduction.

We have noticed a theme to many of the conversations that we’ve been having with clients and at the events we have attended lately. Lots of folks have questions about the concept of Continuous Quality Improvement or CQI for short. We have put together some answers to the questions we are asked most often and even a few that people do not ask, but they really should.

We are not saying that your CEO needs shave his or her head, but depending on your improvement goals (and your CEOs attachment to their locks) it might be a great idea! To explain, back in 2016 KaiNexus set a Big Hairy Audacious Goal, known as a BHAG. A BHAG is a daunting, clear, and compelling goal an organization sets, which should not be financially driven, but it should be something that if the organization achieves it, would really move the needle forward and indicate the organization has accomplished something.

Donald J. Wheeler, PhD is a world-renown expert in continuous improvement, having worked with W. Edwards Deming and later writing the classic book Understanding Variation. Wheeler once wrote and said, Statistical Process Control is, at its heart, about getting the most from your processes. It is about the continual improvement of processes and outcomes. And it is, first and foremost, a way of thinking... with some tools attached.

I was at a neighborhood gathering the other day when I ran into an old friend who I had not seen in years. She asked me what I had been up to, so I told her a bit about my role at KaiNexus and mentioned that we have software that helps companies achieve success with business methodologies like Lean and Six Sigma. She said that she figured they just used spreadsheets and email.

Standard work is a term that practitioners of a continuous improvement methodology such as Lean, Kaizen or Six Sigma have probably heard before. It is simply a detailed written description of the most efficient and effective way known to complete a particular process or task, safely, with the highest quality result.

Webinar presented by Kevin Meyer, hosted by Mark Graban. In this webinar you will learn: The fascinating overlap between Lean and Zen. How to use that overlap to calm everyday chaos. How to become more productive by identifying and optimizing the best part of your day. How to grow as a person - and a leader. About the Host: Kevin Meyer is a co-founder and partner at Gemba Academy. He has over 30 years of manufacturing leadership experience in the automotive lighting, telecom electronics, and medical device industries. He has been responsible for lean transformations at Sylvania, Abbott Laboratories, Newport Corporation, and most recently as President of Specialty Silicone Fabricators. He guest lectures on business, manufacturing, and leadership topics at his alma mater Rensselaer as well as CalPoly. Kevin is on the board of directors of two technology companies and two regional public policy councils, and actively supports early stage entrepreneurship by investing with SLO Seed Ventures and mentoring startups at the SLO HotHouse.