8 Learning Cycle

The Learning Cycle and the Kaizen event

The “learning pump” lies at the heart of the learning organization. But change vehicles are often poorly understood. The kaizen workshop is a very effective vehicle for operational change. It can be difficult to decide which methodology, tools, and change vehicle to use to make the most out of every improvement opportunity, and the impact of mismatches can be fatal to a fledgling improvement program. We present a framework to reduce this risk.

8.1 Social and human dynamics

There is a fundamental flaw in the chess metaphor to represent strategy: in real life, the parts only move when they want to, and when they do, it is not always in the direction you had hoped.  Different process problems and opportunities present different challenges, and therefore require adapted change “vehicles”.  A change event needs to be tightly choreographed and managed.  Only thus can it create the required sequence of moments of truth to generate genuine and durable transformation.  These events must be part of an adapted change strategy.

Key concepts: Change vehicle, typology of process problems and opportunities, matching the vehicle to the job,  the kaizen event or workshop, moments of truth in the change experience, choreography of change, change management.

2018-12-06T10:40:15+00:00