Engagement & Kaizen August 20, 2009
Posted by Bill in : Adult Education, Management Training, Outdoor Learning, Outdoor Management Development , 3comments
This video, although a bit cheesy to start with goes on to the real core issues regarding employee engagment in Local Authorities and is well worth a look. It highlights the value of many of the projects currently being worked on in the CHSD team. i.e. the East Lothian Way, Transformational Leadership and the forthcoming Open Team Meetings.
I enjoyed the Aberdeenshire clip which mentioned the use of Kaizen techniques. Not having heard of this it encouraged me to find out more;
Kaizen =a Japanese word adopted into English referring to a philosophy or practices focusing on continuous improvement in manufacturing activities, all business activities, or even all aspects of life”
It is also a process that, when done correctly, humanizes the workplace
It very much emphasises improvement but the “humanising” element struck a chord with me, as it has links with the Transformational Leadership programme which focuses on leadership behaviours( linked with high performance organisations) as opposed to being weighted on more transactional management.
Intersting also to note in the wealth of information on Kaizen techniques that when new programmes /strategies are introduced to organisations there is often inital success which then trails off ….
In the case of Kaizen strategy this is because the company lacks the first three most important conditions for the successful introduction and implementation of Kaizen strategy
1. Top management commitment
2. Top management commitment
3. Top managament commitment
I guess it follows that this is true of many leadership, engagement, service improvement and emerging strategies within a LA. The CE’s talking in the video clip are certainly behind that.
Have been enjoying Ollie Bray’s post on engaging pupils and cant help wondering if we could use some of these technologies for El employees?
