Effective leadership is essential for organizational success in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape. One robust framework that can enhance leadership practices is Kaizen, a Japanese philosophy centered around continuous improvement. The following lines will explore the essence of Kaizen leadership, discuss everyday struggles leaders face, and provide actionable strategies to improve organizational leadership.
LET’S FIRST TRY TO EXPLAIN THE KAIZEN LEADERSHIP
Kaizen leadership extends beyond operational efficiency; it emphasizes continuous learning, experimentation, and growth at all levels. Here are the fundamental principles:
CONTINOUS IMPROVEMENT
What you cannot measure, you cannot improve. However, organizations must build a mindset for constant improvement implementation before measuring. Kaizen-driven leaders recognize that there’s always room for improvement. They empower their teams, believing that small and incremental changes can lead to significant long-term gains. All their steps lead to improvements that raise organizations to new levels. It may be a system where people submit ideas for improvement or a forum to discuss possible solutions, etc. But in the end, the goal is an improvement.
RESPECT FOR PEOPLE
Saying that the organization is Kaizen-driven is not enough. Kaizen-driven leaders see any individual in the team and the organization not as an asset but as an energy-driven component for improvement with its value. They focus on recognizing and showing appreciation for everyone’s contribution. Whether it is a one-to-one meeting, open dialogue, or public discussion, the Kaizen-driven leader shows appreciation, understanding, and belief that this action improves belonging to the organization and contributes to the team’s success.
THE PLACE WHERE WORK HAPPENS MATTERS
In the Kaizen framework, the concept of Gemba is crucial. Gemba refers to the exact place where everything is happening, the workplace. Kaizen-driven leaders actively engage with people in their workplace, breaking down barriers and rules for contact or appreciation. They operate in a fluid environment, the work floor, where they can gain insights and recognize challenges firsthand. This is where the flow of opportunities is created, allowing everyone in the team or the company to contribute in the best way possible.
KAIZEN (and not only) LEADERS MAY FACE DIFFERENT STRUGGLES, like:
STAYING HUMBLE
This attitude is what a leader needs to stay on track and help others stay engaged. When succeeding, leaders often move from humble behavior to believing they can take all the credit for what has changed. So, recognizing the value that others bring to the winning process may be crucial for the bigger picture.
SELF-CONFIDENCE
Now, if leaders think that they are responsible for everything achieved, there is also the opposite—the place where they believe that they are not good enough to achieve tremendous success. This often reflects the self-confidence a leader has built through the path of winning. Balancing humility with healthy self-confidence may be crucial for assuring that things are happening most positively.
IDENTIFYING WEAKNESESS
While being human is not a weakness, many leaders still present themselves as infallible. This may be a defense mechanism fueled by fear. However, what works here is to identify and admit weaknesses as humans. Leaders who embrace their vulnerabilities and work to improve themselves by embracing feedback, elevating progress, and constantly adjusting are the ones who truly embody the Kaizen spirit.
CLARIFYING ROLES
This is easier said than done. Often, there are conversations about how everyone must know their responsibilities. It is usually coupled with phrases like prioritizing high-impact activities over others and effectively managing change. But guess what? According to RJ Plant’s research from 2022, only thirty-one percent of leaders can turn those descriptions into real action agendas. Learning to work on that clarification and making it work for the organization and the team is a skill that helps everyone grow and, simultaneously, a struggle that most leaders experience so badly.
LEADING AUTHENTICALLY
Building trust and encouraging collaboration are two steps that create authenticity in leadership. However, working on authenticity also means overcoming the struggle to hide transparency. The more transparent the communication is, the higher the level of commitment and connectivity will be. At the same time, another element plays a crucial role in showing authenticity. This element is the opponent of the Ego. It is called vulnerability. The more the leader shows that they are like the others, with all their weaknesses, imperfections, and struggles, the closer they look to the image of the ordinary person in the team. Demonstrating both creates a genuine connection to the team.
Here are…
SEVERAL STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING KAIZEN LEADERSHIP
However, showing what makes the leader a person, like the others, is only one side of the coin. Conversely, there is a place for improvement and constant change in their lives. To build a leadership presence further, people in leadership roles must focus on themselves and others simultaneously and take what is best in an individual and team way to ensure sustainable support and change agenda. Here are five simple strategies to support that kaizen-leadership-building agenda:
PRACTICE SELF-CARE
It all starts with the person. The priority must be set on personal well-being. Learning to deal with overwhelming priorities that drain energy, exhaustion, and burnout is the starting point for every leadership agenda. The more experienced the leader is in that personal element balance, the better they react in other areas. The healthier the leader is, the more positive the impact on the organization they work with is. This emphasis on self-care shows that the leader values their own well-being, which in turn, fosters a culture of care within the organization.
DEVELOP CLEAR PRIORITIES
It is often the mantra everyone shares but it is not as simple as it sounds. Delegation is the key, most consultants and personal growth experts say. The leader must focus on the most impactful tasks in the company’s agenda to be effective and add as much value as possible. When analyzing the environment and the demands it creates, the leader should be able to identify the most impactful interactions and assign them to themselves. Everything left outside that circle of impactful work should be delegated to others in the room. With this action, the leader sets the level of clarity about global organizational goals and builds the ground for contribution for all the people below and around them to ensure the most effective execution of the broader growth agenda. This clear focus on priorities helps the audience feel determined and focused on their leadership roles.
BE PROACTIVE
Now, there are two types of leaders – those who work before things happen to ensure a smooth transition and those who follow the acting agenda after something has happened. It is not wrong to do leadership work, but how you do it defines how the company and the team develop and achieve results. Internally driven leaders must demonstrate pro-activeness and build the paths for success by preventing crises before they have even started happening and building resilience toward change and growth agendas.
LEAD BY EXAMPLE
Now, this one looks so easy and obvious, right? The surprising truth is that after researching the lead-by-example behavior, an HBR-published analysis from 2023 found that only thirty-six percent of the leaders fully cover that phrase’s meaning. Unsurprisingly, most leaders like to talk but have limited experience with practical action agendas today. With that in mind, the less experienced a leader is, the weaker the exemplary behavior they have to demonstrate will be. It is where a leader should learn how to explain the behaviors they expect from others in a more impactful way, and do that consistently, sustainably, and promptly. The more authentically the leader acts when demonstrating the behaviors they expect others to exhibit, the larger and stronger the impact will be on others.
SEEK CONTINOUS LEARNING
Kaizen is a concept to change lives. With no regret, we can say that no matter if the person is on the floor or working in a leadership role, the constant change will come to them only if they embrace the paradigm of continuous learning. The Kaizen leadership comes from encouraging learning at all levels and layers in the organization. Embrace Kaizen’s spirit by encouraging learning at all levels. It may mean investing in professional skills courses, leadership programs, and curricula and finding a mentor or coach to help the leader grow in the right direction and with the most appropriate skills. It may also take a lot of time, but following the Kaizen framework, this will be a continuous success.
IN CONCLUSION:
Leadership has never been easy. However, with the right investment agenda, it may be more than worth the effort. Embracing Kaizen principles and addressing common pitfalls and struggles may build a champion of continuous improvement and a leader who takes responsibility for the organization’s performance on a new and more rewarding level by allowing improvements to happen everywhere and bringing different people together. And that with the simple focus on embracing continuity in the learning area, without expecting fast and short-term results, but planning for a significant jump into the future.
The Human place - a path from you to yourself 