Subject areaProcess and organisation
Kaizen (Japanese for change for the better) is continuous improvement in small steps, every day, made by the people who do the work.
Masaaki Imai introduced it to the West with «Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success» (1986), and it is the daily engine of lean: lean says what to remove, kaizen says how to do it one step at a time.
The principle holds well outside production. In a sales team kaizen is the short meeting after every lost deal, where one single thing to change in the next one is chosen. In marketing it is the single change to a page or an email, measured before moving on to the next.
Source: Masaaki Imai, Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success, 1986.
An example
A chemical company selling through distributors asks every salesperson, on Friday, for the most frequent objection of the week. The answer prepared for that objection goes into the sales material on Monday: one improvement a week, compounding.
Enrico Giubertoni. Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0: you may quote, translate and adapt this entry with the author’s name and a link, stating any changes. For commercial use, write to info@enricogiubertoni.com
Spotted an inaccuracy or something that needs updating? Write to info@enricogiubertoni.com and help make this glossary a better place.
What are your business challenges?
Tell us about your priorities and the objectives you want to reach.
You will receive a free, targeted answer within one working day.