March ‘12

Mission Dantotsu A journey towards excellence

Kaizen Quote True success is overcoming the fear of being unsuccessful – Paul Sweeney

Message From Director: For years, students and followers of kaizen, TPS, WCM, Lean etc. have grappled with some questions:

• What is the relationship between Kaizen & TPS? • Is Kaizen part of TPS? • Is TPS the outcome of kaizen in practice? • Do kaizen & TPS/ Lean/ WCM imply the same thing? • Toyota is history’s most researched, written about & copied company.

Yet, why is it that till date, by far, there is but one Toyota? • Why is it that no other company has even come close to matching

Toyota’s success over a sustained period of time (notwithstanding some recent year setbacks)?

When I sat down to hear Mike Rother’s keynote in November 2011 during the AME Conference in Dallas, I knew of his books. What followed was his version of (a highly plausible) answer to those questions, and prompted me to stand in a queue to get his book ‘Toyota Kata’ autographed by him!! His prognosis is

1. The world is copying the ‘visible’ aspects of TPS – the ‘solutions’ born out of the ‘invisible’ (latent) practices/ methods / ‘behavioral routines’ (called ‘Kata’)

2. The visible aspects of TPS (manifested in WCM/ Lean etc.) are solutions devised by Toyota’s employees to the problems faced by them, on their gemba

3. We are copying the ‘solutions’ (Tools), but are ignorant of the practices that have enabled the journey to these solutions – he calls them ‘Improvement Kata’, which is universally practiced by everyone, everyday, everywhere in Toyota

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That takes us back to our Kaicho – Imai-san. His definition of kaizen (1986, his first book KAIZEN) told us the same thing: ‘Kaizen means ongoing improvement involving everyone………’ However, over the years people remembered ‘ongoing improvement’; but forgot ‘everyone’, & the implied ‘everywhere’! So, we return where we started from – is that the ‘cycle of learning’? Mike Rother’s ‘Improvement Kata’ is his description of the process/ method/ routine of ‘Kaizen’ – as practiced by Toyota. His ‘Coaching Kata’ is the process/ method/ routine of ‘Leadership behavior’ to ensure that kaizen sustains in Toyota. Implication: TPS was born out of kaizen practices at Toyota. This was the subject of my session during IndiZen 2012 covered elsewhere in this issue. How to build a durable kaizen culture is a question, which continues to fascinate & intrigue practitioners. Perhaps Mike Rother has found one answer. Even though we may have viable answers,

a) Do we have effective methods of implementing those answers in other environments? b) Do we have enough senseis, who can coach those effective methods in real-life situations? c) Do we have enough enlightened corporate leaders with adequate patience to devote time &

effort for building a durable culture?

Possession of the right answers is no more than a beginning! I leave you with more questions than answers. Our quest for the right answers is perhaps the eternal pathway for human progress. May you, the readers ask the right questions. For, only the right questions can lead us to the right answers. - Vinod Grover

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Kaizen Story: The Crow and The Peacock

Once there was a crow. It had a burning desire to look more beautiful. The crow lived on a big Banyan tree. There lived a number of peacocks on the same banyan tree. The crow saw the beautiful plumes of the peacocks and cherished a desire to look like one of them. It often cursed itself for being ugly. It scorned the whole crow community

being black and ugly. It had an ambition to improve like a peacock so that the people may praise it.

In order to fulfill its ambition, it thought of how to break away with the crow community. After deep thinking it conceived of an ambitious plan. It decided to collect dropped off feathers of peacocks and fix them on top of its own, so that it may look as beautiful as a peacock.

The poor crow never imagined that only fixing of feathers could not convert it into a peacock. There are many other things such as color, size and crest, which are the essentials of a peacock. After putting on the feathers of peacock, the crow started considering itself to be a peacock. It was beside itself with joy. It decided to go and live with peacocks. It took a long flight and reached a place where some peacocks were walking around. It started walking up and down among the peacocks. The peacocks saw this strange bird with surprise. It looked half crow and half peacock. The peacocks, known for their self-pride, could not tolerate a crow posing to be a peacock. They could not tolerate the presence of an imposter among themselves. At once, they pounced upon the crow and broke away some of its artificial feathers. The crow was able to save its life with great difficulty. It flew away at full speed to save its life.

The crow took a long flight and reached a place where many other crows were perching. It began to move about proudly among the crows. The crows took it to be a different bird, resembling a peacock. They could not brook the presence of a peacock among themselves. They attacked it, pecking it hard with their beaks. Again, the crow had to fly away for its life. It was sad at heart and flew to a lonely tree in a jungle. It did not know what to do. It thought, it had tried to improve itself by fixing peacocks’

feathers onto its own, but they could not convert it into a peacock. The peacocks did not welcome it, rather attacked him for being an imposter. Not only this, even its own brethren, the crows, disowned it. It was at a loss to know what to do. At last, it tore off all of its peacock feathers and became a crow again. It was only then that the crows owned it as one of them, and welcomed it back among themselves. The foolish crow had a bitter experience & learnt a lesson for life.

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Moral o f th is s tory:

The story teaches us an important lesson that we should not try to improve ourselves only by imitating others, but through smart adaptation and sincere efforts.

We must not forego our intrinsic nature & values for attaining something.

Desirable ends do not justify undesirable means. Even if we achieve something through improper means, our achievement is devoid of values, is immoral & likely to be short lived.

Please share your feedback / suggestions for improvements to JPandya@kaizen.com