Every day there is news from the world of business that indicates the need for more process improvement, including the methodologies of Lean and Six Sigma. The latest comes from General Motors, where nearly 50,000 United Auto Workers have gone on strike.

One of the main issues in the strike is the lack of communication between management and employees, according to Forbes. The business site notes that process improvement methodologies such as Lean and Six Sigma are designed to help with exactly that situation.

They also could benefit from a “Kaizen mindset,” which means a culture of continuous process improvement. That’s something needed in American business, as studies have shown that improving company culture is a top priority for a majority of organizations.

What is Kaizen?

Kaizen is a Japanese word that loosely translates into “improvement.” In the context of Lean Six Sigma, it’s the concept of instituting a daily mindset of process improvement and making changes where they are needed.

By its very nature, it involves input from employees at every level. The bottom line is to have everyone in an organization on the same page and moving in the same direction. That can only be accomplished through hard work, commitment and implementing the principles of process improvement.

Lack of Communication A Factor in GM Strike

The latest strike by the GM workers shows the importance of one of the key components of Lean Six Sigma: communication between all levels of the organization.

The gap between executives and employees at GM is one of the main reasons for the strike, according to Forbes. The business site spoke with Errette Dunn, CEO of Rever Inc. and an expert in employee-management relations. He pointed out that many employees feel their creativity and ideas go to waste because executives pay little to no attention.

“Frontline employees make up more than 80% of the workforce, yet they are an untapped and underutilized creative resource. They are the ones who are closest to products, processes and customers. They already know the answer to many chronic problems,” he told Forbes.

How Lean Six Sigma Helps

The tenets of Lean Six Sigma can help address this issue. Frontline employees play a key role in making improvements to processes.

As pointed out by Forbes, Lean Six Sigma is designed to “break down barriers to communication and problem-solving” by using techniques and tools that “put everyone on a level playing field and eliminate breakdowns in trust and communications.”

How can this be accomplished? Examples include:

  • Kaizen Events, in which a small team from all areas of an operation are brought together for a short period to focus on operational challenges and solutions
  • Gemba Walks, in which leaders are asked to visit frontline operations and become familiar with how they work
  • The eight wastes of Lean require that employees and management work together to identify areas of waste in an operation and find ways to make improvement

An example of these ideas coming together comes from Jabil Inc., a St. Petersburg, Fla., electronics firm that implemented Kaizen at a plant in Shanghai. The employees talked about the rewards of the experience, including learning about Six Sigma approaches such as DMAIC and improving brainstorming sessions.

Another comes from the University of California – Santa Barbara, where employees used Lean Six Sigma training to solve on-campus problems.

Creating a Healthy Lifestyle, Not Dieting

In a column about continuous process improvement written for Industry Week, Shingo prize-winning author Dan Markovitz wrote that many companies focus too much on employees earning Lean Six Sigma belts rather than practicing daily Kaizen meetings and putting process improvement in place. He compared this to dieters who count calories rather than build a healthy lifestyle.

Dieters should focus on “not just fewer calories, but a better variety of food, less alcohol, more exercise and more sleep. You might lose a few pounds by counting calories, but it’s unlikely to be sustainable over the long term.”

In the same way, earning Six Sigma belts and completing projects should be just one part of an overall plan to implement continuous process improvement.