See what the experts have to say on how to make time for continuous improvement - even when you're sure you don't have any.

1. Experts Weigh In

2. “As CEO of my company I have a grasp of lean and have experienced
it in my career, but now that I’m CEO, I find it difficult to ask my
people to make time for improvement work. They’re already
completely busy doing their regular work.
Moreover, this company is in the outdoor sports industry, and many
people join these companies because they want time to climb,
backpack, canoe, etc., and I’m reluctant to ask them to work more
hours and sacrifice time for these activities. Any advice?”
- via TheLeanEdge.org

4. “The time to do kaizen is staring you in the face. Check your
assumptions.”
“The CEO does not ask people to make time for
improvement. The CEO sets a vision. The people convert
the vision into aligned improvement activities and targets.”
Read his entire post here

5. “…it’s a matter of priorities… funny how we don’t have time
to make improvements, but we have plenty of time to
perform work inefficiently and keep resolving the same
problems over and over. Ultimately, I believe it’s a matter of
choice, will, and belief in a better tomorrow.”
Make improvement small (don’t pick huge projects to start)
Read his entire post here

6. “How can we level the workload of time we spend on
improvement? The answer is by smoothing it out and doing
a little bit everyday (15 minutes).”
“… many small, rapid iterations are more effective then a
big blast of implementing and trying to absorb a mountain
of information.”
Read his entire post here

7. “If the workforce isn’t conditioned to see it, waste becomes
the norm and that is where your time truly lies.”
“Leaders have to be taught to lead in a way that recognizes
those hidden nuggets out there as the conduit to
recondition the mindsets of team members at all levels to
see lean as developing the people to see find the “coveted
time” in the form of wastes.”
Read her entire post here

8. “Sorry, but answering e-mail, texting, sitting in meetings,
sorting, reworking, answering phones, etc. are not all value
added work. They are wasteful and can be curtailed
immediately or reduced without much effort or additional
activity. People go on vacation and work still gets done all
the time right? You find time. You make time if necessary.”
Read his entire post here

9. “Time is relative, what they don’t have is called priority,
and Kaizen is not their priority. People who understand the
benefit of Kaizens, make them a priority. They make time to
exclusively devote to these activities.”
Read his entire post here

10. “If you want to do it you will find the time.” People seem to want
that level of thinking, “just give me the simple fix to my
problem”. If you want to find the solution to your problem and
you put in the time and effort, you can find a way. If you just
want to find a reason to avoid something, that is easy. Just say
“No thank you”. At least that is an honest choice!”
Read his entire post here

11. “We only have 24 hours in a day. We each generally choose
to work only X hours. Of those X hours, we’d hopefully be
able to spend some time on continuous improvement or
Kaizen, otherwise we are a rat who never gets off that
spinning wheel. We can let “We don’t have time” be an
excuse or we can pose that as a problem to solve. How can
we make time? If it’s important, we’ll find a way to make
time.”
Read his entire post here

12. • “… compared to resting on your oars, or milling around
aimlessly, kaizen is difficult.
• As Dave suggests, it’s much more honest for a person, or
an organization to simply say, “No, thanks. This is too
hard.”
• Which begs another question: Is TPS/Lean for
everybody?”
Read his entire post here

13. Watch this free webinar to learn how you can make more time for
continuous improvement for yourself and your staff by using
continuous improvement software to:
• Empower employees
• Streamline communication
• Increase efficiency
• Improve visibility
WATCH NOW