1. Kaizen Team Leader Guide

2. The Six Basic Kaizen Rules
1. Respect others
Particularly the local operators, you are in their living room.
2. Tell the truth
If you make changes based on data, the data should be based on reality
3. Do your share
Everyone has something to contribute (you are a team)
4. Try something new
Be open minded. Try it instead of wracking your brain for reasons why it
won’t work.
5. Ask why
Gain complete understanding, assume nothing.
6. Be safe/think safe
Both in your actions and in what you implement as part of change.

3. General Traits and Characteristics of a Leader
• Eagerness to ‘see things as they could be’, not
necessarily as they are.
• Appreciation and respect for everyone on the team.
• Ability to move through the roughest times with spirit
of optimism and determination to get through it.
• Maintain a positive attitude at all times.
• Unwavering strength of purpose – strong
determination to ‘get the job done’

4. Leading Meetings
Five basic principles for an effective leader:
• Lead by example
• Focus on behavior
• Value others
• Build constructive relationships
• Make things better
Ask yourself:
• Am I acting the way that I want others to act?
• Am I looking at the facts or generalizing?
• Do my actions communicate that I value your contribution?
• Is there an opportunity for all to benefit from this change?

5. Managing Differences
1. Identify differences
• Listen carefully to diagnose what’s going on
• Ask questions to clarify differences
• Check in often with quiet team members.
2. Analyze the differences
• List options on a flip chart. Make options ideas, not opinions
• Analyze the ideas. Look for similarities. Consider alternatives.
3. Make the decision
• Don’t get stuck in discussion.
• Ask: “will this choice help us to achieve our goal?”
4. Implement the decision
• Once you’ve decided – Move on!

6. Managing Decisions
Decision Making Styles:
• Command
• Consult
• Majority
• Consensus
Not all decisions are equally important.
Have the team consider:
• How critical is this decision to the success of our project?
• How important is it that everyone fully supports the decision?
• Do we need to talk about the issues involved to collect more
information before deciding?

7. Tips for Leading the Kaizen Team
Delegate
• Ask a team member to execute all tasks
• Only take on the work that must be done by the
leader
• Don’t let yourself be the bottleneck
• When the leader is executing tasks, it is difficult to
make sure everyone else is engaged effectively
• Be on the look out for quiet people and people on the
fringes – get them involved helping you.

8. Tips for Leading the Kaizen Team
Coach
• You may have to pull individuals aside and remind them of the
Six Kaizen rules and roles of team members.
• You may have to ask a disruptive team member to leave the
team (rare occurrence).
• Tip for engaging resistant team member – give them concrete,
focused tasks to keep them busy. Idle hands make it worse.
• NEVER belittle a resistant team member. Always coach in
private. Company Values are required.
• Be very aware of hierarchical barriers and behaviors. Coach
any supervisors and managers on the team ahead of time that
they are on equal footing with the rest of the team. Make sure
they recognize the notion of “being in the operators living room.”
• Watch out for team members speaking on behalf of the
operators and shutting down the operators. This is quite
common, and creates a downward spiral. (Operator = People
who actually do the work)

9. Tips for Leading the Kaizen Team
Divide and Conquer
• Sub teams are often the most effective way to accomplish a lot
of work in short time.
• Sub teams can change purpose and membership throughout
the week – be flexible, and let the work define the structure.
• Always clearly identify the sub team leaders.
• Try to put a “ringer” on every sub team.
• Do not allow both the leader and co-leader to be on a sub team.
Someone has to rotate across teams to check on progress and
engagement, challenge sub teams, facilitate cross-team issues.
• When the full team needs to work together, have the leader, co-
leader, or KAIZEN facilitator watch carefully to make sure
everyone is engaged.

10. Tips for Leading the Kaizen Team
Managing the Day
• Always have an agenda for Day 1 before you start.
• At the end of each day, prior to the daily team leader meeting, identify
the work to be done the next day. Translate that into time blocks, who,
where, etc. before the next morning. Make it visible on a flip chart or
white board.
• Set specific times for breaks and lunches. START ON TIME. Don’t
wait for late arrivals or you encourage bad behavior.
• Designate a person(s) to capture learnings and daily accomplishments
throughout the day. This could be a role for sub team leaders,
KAIZEN facilitator, co-leader, etc. This makes preparation for the daily
meeting very simple. Have team members use the kaizen
improvement idea form throughout the week, which saves time
preparing for the closing meeting.
• Save all hard copy of spaghetti diagrams, Standard worksheets, Time
observation sheets, etc. to use at closing meeting.
• When the sensei arrives, work should not stop. The team leader and
KAIZEN facilitator should break away and quietly bring the sensei up to
date. Then the sensei may ask to observe the team, and interact with
the team.
• If electronic preparation is required for daily/closing meetings,
DELEGATE.

11. Kaizen Newspaper/30 Day Follow Up/Discovery List
What are they? How do we use them?
Kaizen Newspaper
• Start the newspaper immediately. It’s ok to start the newspaper before the event!
• Newspaper should contain all countermeasures required to achieve the target sheet.
• The objective is to close out 100% of newspaper items during the kaizen.
• Use the newspaper to allocate work to team members and sub teams. Use the dates, %
complete, and even time of day to set clear expectations.
30 Day Follow Up List
• The Kaizen newspaper turns into the 30 day follow up list if there are open items at the end of
the event.
• The 30 Day follow up list should represent all the work required to deliver the targets.
Discovery List
• This list is used to capture discoveries about additional opportunities outside the scope of the
event. Use this to capture good ideas you don’t want to forget.
• The team will not work on these ideas during the week (unless you finish early and want to keep
going!).
• This list is sometimes shared at the closing meeting to share follow up kaizen opportunities.

12. Tips for Leading the Kaizen Team
What should I hang on the wall?
• Six Rules of Kaizen
• Large Area Profile and Target Sheet
• Large kaizen newspaper forms
• Storyboard of data if appropriate
• Current State/Future State Value Stream Maps
Useful additions, depending on the team:
• Roles of Team Members
• Where is the Waste? Diagram
• Seven forms of Waste: TIMWOOD
• Others?

13. Tips for Leading the Kaizen Team
Preparing for the Closing Meeting
• Read the training guide and understand the closing checklist before the
event. Be Prepared is your motto.
• Utilize work throughout the week for the closing meeting. This is not a
fancy powerpoint presentation. If you gather improvement ideas and
materials each day, it’s easy to prepare for Friday.
• By mid-Thursday, have an outline of the closing meeting ready. By
end of day Thursday, assign the elements to team members. Ask
them to draft their presentation slides before Friday morning.
• On Friday morning, collect the drafts and let the team continue to work
on closing out newspaper items. Take a few team members and
review all the content for quality, flow, legibility. Ask each team
member to make their own upgrades. Make any overall outline
adjustments.
• Rehearse as a team. If there is more than one team in the closing
meeting, rehearse once in your own team BEFORE the full dress
rehearsal.
• USE THE CHECKLIST.
• Get the copies and overheads made.
• Put signed certificates in order of presentation and return to facilitator.

14. Standard Work for Kaizen Meetings
Opening Meeting
1. Welcome and Agenda Review KAIZEN Facilitator 5 min
2. Business Rationale for Event Process Owner 5 min
3. Area Profile & Target Sheet Team Leader 10 min
4. Closing Comments KAIZEN Facilitator 2 min

15. Standard Objectives for Daily Team Leader Meeting
Who attends: Management representatives who are responsible
for ensuring implementation.
Team Leader, Co-leader, KAIZEN facilitator, Sensei
Team continues to work during daily meeting!
Monday: Review Areas of Focus discovered during the day
Tuesday: What is the project? What are we going to tackle?
-make sure managers understand the focus
Wednesday: What is the likely outcome or solution?
-make sure managers understand and support the
solution
Thursday: Key issues for sustainment
-make sure managers understand what they and
the organization need to do to sustain the gains

16. Standard Work for Kaizen Meetings
Daily Team Leader Meeting
1. Target Sheet Update Team Leader 2 min
2. What did we do today? Team Leader 3 min
3. What did we learn today? Team Leader 3 min
4. What will we do tomorrow? Team Leader 3 min
5. Where do we need help? Team Leader 1 min
6. Sensei Feedback & Instructions Sensei 10 min

17. Standard Work for Kaizen Meetings
Closing Meeting
1. Welcome & Agenda Review KAIZEN Facilitator 5 min
2. Team Reports Team 12 min
-AP & TS Team Leader
-Individual Reports Team members
-Kaizen Newspaper Co-Leader
-Acknowledgements Team Leader
3. Sensei comments Sensei 5 min
4. Management comments Senior Leader 5 min
5. Presentation of certificates Senior Leader 5 min
6. Wrap up & acknowledgements KAIZEN Facilitator 2 min
USE THE CHECKLIST TO PREPARE!!!