Lean culture is largely defined by, or at least manifested in, engaged and empowered employees practicing voluntary kaizen. Engagement can be measured in a number of ways, but perhaps one of the most telling is the number of implemented suggestions per employee per year.

Awhile back, I developed an outline of Autoliv Brigham’s daily kaizen journey (see first figure below), which based on information from the book, How to Do Kaizen, by Bunji Kozawa and Norman Bodek (PCS Inc., 2010). Autoliv’s story is extremely compelling.

Often engagement evolves as an employee's line of sight evolves. Line of sight is my euphemism for the scope of the employee's ability and desire to see, understand, and care beyond the self. Successful organizations are clearly much more than a loose confederation of individuals.

Start somewhere

Lean transformations have to start somewhere.

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