KaiNexus: Continuous Improvement, Leadership, and More

It may seem odd for a company that sells process improvement software to declare that not every company is ready to buy it. We do like partnering with new customers, after all. But the thing is, we only want happy customers. And happy customers are organizations that have successful process improvement software rollouts, good adoption of the solution, and measurable impacts on key business metrics...

Organizations all over the world, in almost every industry, are turning to continuous improvement software to solve their most challenging issues. The most successful of these Lean organizations are aware that they need 5 elements to succeed in creating an improvement culture: bottom-up improvement, top-down improvement, strategy deployment, coaching, and visual management. That sounds like a lot...

Most people will only be involved in a Lean software implementation once or maybe a few times. We help companies with improvement software deployment every single day. Because we have been around the block many times, we have seen what leads to success and which mistakes should be avoided at all costs. We are happy to share what we’ve learned.

A growing number of construction firms are embracing the Lean methodology that emphasizes maximizing value for the customer while minimizing waste. The approach is simple and attractive in an industry where budgets, timeframes, and safety are all critical. But the Lean approach to project delivery is very different than traditional construction methods, making proper execution of the philosophy an...

Mark Graban and Greg Jacobson, MD from KaiNexus answer questions in this video webinar: How can you implement Lean without scaring people with change and Japanese concepts and language? When will Management realize that the employee on the front line is closest to the issue and concerns and usually has be best ideas? Any tips on Lean and Kaizen as applied to parenting? We're interested in KaiNexus...

There is a strong trend in organizations these days to apply improvement tools and techniques that originated on the manufacturing floor to other parts of the organization and other industries entirely. That is because the basis of these tools and the approach are not really related to manufacturing at all. Rather, they are about control, organizational alignment, and efficiency. What organization...

When you started on your improvement journey, you may not realize it, but you actually already made a technology decision. I bet you probably managed the work in spreadsheets and bulletin boards - these are technology! Now that you are starting to engage more people in it, though, I bet that you are finding that it is hard to get the visibility you need to spread that culture efficiently and make...

Communication and organization are the keys to the success of Hoshin Kanri because managing long-term strategy, short-term goals, and daily improvement activities can be a huge challenge, especially if you have many people involved in the effort. For years, organizations have relied on tools such as complicated spreadsheets, email threads, file sharing systems, and even paper boards to track and m...

What are the traits you look for when you hire new employees? If you are like most people, you look for employees that are intelligent, capable, problem solvers who take the initiative to get stuff done and do it well. It is a shame that these same people who got hired for their mental faculties then so commonly get relegated to being a pawn in the corporate machine, with no autonomy or power to i...

Continuous quality improvement (CQI) is one of those things like a snow cone. It is something that pretty much everyone can agree is awesome. Who would not want it? Yet for some reason, not every organization has a plan for how to achieve CQI. Fewer still, have systems and processes in place to support it, and many that try never successfully reach their goals.

We do not think that companies should deploy process improvement software unless they have a clearly defined vision of what success looks like. Every company is trying to achieve something unique, of course, but we find some common goals for process improvement software among the most prepared organizations we encounter. Here are a few.

It looks simple at first, and a quick Google search will tell you what you need to get started - a way to capture ideas, a way to collaborate, leadership behaviors - there is so much content out there on this topic, it is easy to feel like an expert. Then, when you struggle to spread your improvement culture, you are left with a bag of moldy seeds wondering what went wrong.

The beginning of summer must be a good time for Kaizen events because we have been getting a lot of questions about them lately. We thought we would take a few minutes to answer the ones we hear most often.

Taiichi Ohno also said that Kaizen is about changing the way things are. If you assume that things are all right the way they are, you cannot do Kaizen. So, change something. Yes, there is some effort and time involved in implementing Standard Work, but the upside is enormous. If you are not using it, that may be the most important thing to change.

Whether you are new to huddle boards or have decided it’s time to move yours from the wall into the cloud, we offer you congratulations. Digital huddle boards are an excellent way to organize and track improvement projects. They have the potential to increase the number of completed improvements and to help you prove how valuable this effort is to the organization.

Whenever I read a book, I try to apply myself to the situations discussed. How does this affect my personal life? How can I apply what I learned to my work at KaiNexus? Oftentimes, this can be difficult depending on the subject. The Devil In The White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larsen may not be as applicable to me as Start With Why by Simon Sinek (bu...

Gemba walks are an increasingly popular management technique. By visiting the place where work is done, leaders gain valuable insight into the flow of value through the organization and often uncover opportunities for improvement and learn new ways to support employees. The approach is a collaborative one, with employees providing details about what is done and why. Great results depend on thought...

Giving staff members a larger voice and the ability to solve their own problems increases productivity, increases the sense of responsibility in the organization, and increases their satisfaction in daily tasks. Giving team members a stake in how their work also increases the intrinsic motivation that organizations look for in culture of improvement or collective responsibility.

Whether you work in healthcare, politics, construction, or really just about any industry, providing Service Excellence is particularly important for your business. Part of the problem is false beliefs that creativity happens like flashes of inspiration that come out of nowhere like lightning bolts, or that creativity is something that happens to other people.

We get the chance to chat with folks who are interested in implementing strategy deployment software within their organizations almost every day. Most of the people we talk to really understand the need for this kind of solution and how it can benefit their company. Convincing others, however, can be a challenge.

KaiNexus recently invited The Toyota Way to Service Excellence author Karyn Ross to speak to our own Mark Graban, about How to Coach for Creativity and Service Excellence. Ross is a purpose-driven consultant and Lean coach at karynrossconsulting.com. Focused specifically on services, Karyn has worked with small, medium, and large organizations in sectors as diverse as insurance, financial services...

I doubt that you are still using index cards to organize your contacts, but your approach to huddle boards may be just as outdated. In the same way that an electronic contact database has a ton of advantages over a Rolodex, digital huddle boards offer valuable benefits that paper notes pinned to a poster on the wall. Here are the top reasons to consider an upgrade.

I doubt that you are still using index cards to organize your contacts, but your approach to huddle boards may be just as outdated. In the same way that an electronic contact database has a ton of advantages over a Rolodex, digital huddle boards offer valuable benefits that paper notes pinned to a poster on the wall. Here are the top reasons to consider an upgrade.

When you're thinking about rolling out Strategy Deployment in your organization, it can be intimidating to know exactly where to start, what pitfalls to avoid, and how to set yourself up for success right from the beginning. I've recently written an eBook that covers these questions, as well as information about the software you need to enable Strategy Deployment, that you can download on our blog...

Obviously, all of us here at KaiNexus are huge fans of continuous improvement. But I am not going to lie, I find the name to be a bit of a problem. It is clear, succinct, and meaningful, so what could be the matter?