Kaizen for Kids

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Paul Akers, the President of FastCap is a great advocate for staff-driven kaizen (or improvement) ideas in the workplace. Paul and his company bring many people through his company so they can see their fun culture of continuous improvement (as shown in this video). Paul also has a new book that I enjoyed called “2 Second Lean” – focusing on even the smallest improvements that save just two seconds in your day.

Here's a fun video that shows a kid who has taken this enthusiasm for improvement to his school:



Can you imagine building a lifelong habit of kaizen from your earliest days in school? What if everybody had an expectation that they should be able to participate in kaizen in the workplace?

In our upcoming book Healthcare Kaizen, we talk about the power of taking initiative to make small improvements that make your day easier or improve patient care. Joe Swartz and I want to have a website where people can share kaizen ideas from their workplace or home. I wonder if we can inspire people to make videos that highlight their kaizen improvements, as this kid did? What are your thoughts on the kid's video or the possibility of sharing kaizens via video and YouTube?


What do you think? Please scroll down (or click) to post a comment. Or please share the post with your thoughts on LinkedIn – and follow me or connect with me there.

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Check out my latest book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation:

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Mark Graban
Mark Graban is an internationally-recognized consultant, author, and professional speaker, and podcaster with experience in healthcare, manufacturing, and startups. Mark's new book is The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation. He is also the author of Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More, the Shingo Award-winning books Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen, and the anthology Practicing Lean. Mark is also a Senior Advisor to the technology company KaiNexus.

8 COMMENTS

  1. Hi Mark,
    I think experiencing kaizen should be required for every child.
    I have a 6 and 8 year old and want them to know that excellence is preferred over perfection. Continual improvement is central to my beliefs. I am fortunate, I worked with a kaizen master in my early career and she focused on daily improvements in my work and we accomplished great things over our 2 years of working together. Finding a weekend kaizen focused experience with parents and their kids would be a great idea. Art

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