Embracing Kaizen through social media
Jul 22nd, 2010 by roncin
KAIZEN (Japanese for “improvement” or “change for the better”) refers to philosophy or practices that focus upon continuous improvement of processes… (current definition on Wikipedia)
Kazien is an operations philosophy often touted in the worlds of business, engineering and manufacturing – but what can it mean for a library? At its most basic framework, Kaizen is based on 5 key elements:
- Teamwork
- Discipline
- Improved Morale
- Quality Circles
- Suggestions for Improvement
The overall goal being a leaner, more efficient organization.
The key to effectively using Kaizen in any organization, however, depends entirely on participation and high-levels of employee involvement. While Kaizen is far from being a new concept (its origins date back to the pre WW2 years, and its highest levels of popularity were reached between 1997-2002), the addition of social media tools have immense potential to revolutionize Kaizen practices, especially in information organizations that might have previously considered it as being more fit for a production line.
It’s not too hard to imagine how teamwork can benefit from social media tools. Tools such as googledocs, slideshare, PBWorks/PB Wiki are all fantastic tools for employees of a library to collaborate using. Most libraries are staffed with employees possessing unique skillsets – some people think this way, others think that way. By allowing employees to connect their work with each other in real-time, this can potentially allow employees to magnify their strengths while allowing for the mitigation of their weaknesses.
Discipline can be achieved through certain social media tools when employees know that their peers are able to monitor or follow their progress. Nobody wants to be identified as the person not pulling their weight, and in an open environment employees might feel more obligated to put in their expected contribution.
Social Media can improve morale, if applied well, by allowing co-workers to recognize and react to each others contributions. Some employees are best motivated by a pat on the back from their boss – but peer-peer feedback and kudos allowed by social interactions can be especially powerful.
The use of quality circles, where employees can express their best ideas, concerns and suggestions to management can be improved through social media tools, as employees can be encouraged to speak their true mind in less confrontational environments than the traditional face-face method. Also, input can be obtained in real-time, rather than waiting for 4:45PM in the afternoon to gather everyone into a discussion group. These suggestions for improvement can often be better expressed through social media, as employees can enhance their proposals with peer feedback and links to relevant web content.
Kaizen, ultimately, aims to level the playing field and to empower all employees to participate in the improvement of their organization. Bringing social media into the equation can improve the chances of reaching the desired 100% participation level. Although not all employees will neccisarily use these tools instead of their traditional communication methods (and that’s perfectly OK!), by bringing in the voices who were previously marginalized or non-participatory, a library can learn more about itself and how to make the most of its finite resources.
The thing that is difficult in many offices in regards to social enterprise is getting all the employees on board with using social media, particularly if they don’t see it as being relevant to their jobs. And a lot of people hate being sold on something. How might one successfully implement social enterprise in an office setting?
I went to a discussion session at a Northern Voice social media conference a couple of years ago on social enterprise and introducing social media successfully in the workplace and one of the recommendations that kept coming up was to find ways of making it relevant for staff members’ daily work, such as using SharePoint and collaborating on a document (particularly when some staff from various offices/branches have varying schedules) or even using it to plan the staff barbeque. How would information professionals approach integrating it into their office setting?
That’s just it – it can’t be a hard sell (at least not at first).
Few employees want to be told how to do their job differently, but most don’t mind learning new techniques to do their job more effectively – especially when their compensation is tied directly to their performance.
Successful implementation (I believe) requires commitment and utilization amongst top management, it should have a visible and tangible benefit to the job, and paid-training should be optional, rather than mandatory.
Lastly, nobody wants to feel that this ‘new innovation’ is just another task to pile on top of their existing workload. If employees are already stretched to the max before adding a new task, it will likely be rejected. Instead, trying to find jobs or tasks within an employees existing workload that can be eliminated, reduced and delegated to another employee can sometimes help to keep the right balance.
Those are interesting ideas, Shawn. What I like about what you’ve done here is to take an operations framework and tried to apply social media to it to amplify it. That takes some thinking.
There’s a Japanese concept in business called “Ba” — to me there is a direct linkage of Ba to social media:
…”The concept of ba was originally proposed by Japanese philosopher Kitaro Nishida and further developed by Shimizu. Professor Ikujiro Nonaka adapts this concept for the purpose of elaborating SECI model of knowledge creation.
According to the theory of existentialism, Ba is a context, which harbours meaning. Thus, ba can be considered as a shared space that serves as a foundation for knowledge creation.
Accoding to Nonaka, “Ba” can be thought of as a shared space for emerging relationships. This space can be physical (eg. office, dispersed business space), virtual (e.g., email, teleconference), mental (eg. shared experiences, ideas, ideals) or any combination of them. Ba provides a platform for advancing individual and/or collective knowledge.
http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/ht/thonglipfei/ba_concept.html
The concept of ba was something I could relate to several past experiences, experiences where knowledge creation was shared.
At the pottery studio where I work we share tacit knowledge- of techniques, experimentations with form, function and glazes of pieces of pottery we have made. Our mental models of the process – the aesthetics of a piece, the determined strength of a piece – constantly evolve as we dialogue. When I consider the cyber phase of ba, I am reminded of the fact that pots are now being created and designed through the use of computer programs – raising the question -what is art. As well, now most potters have a web site where they promote their philosophy and wares; what has been a solitary pursuit has thus become much more communal. As with ba most of the learning for a potter comes through “self-refinement” which is part of a process of gradual growth and change. David Gauntlett talks about creating something with your hands, something unique, not necessarily perfect and yet expressive and reflective of you.
While I have yet to achieve the level of satisfaction I have in pottery when I creating on shared cyberspaces, I think I can begin to understand the potential source of that satisfaction.