The Kaizen Wall of Fame

Whenever I have a really good idea, I'm anxious to share it with my friends, my boss, or anyone else who is willing to listen. Part of what makes us feel productive and fulfilled when we come up with a solution is the ability to share it - to gloat a little. Steal This Idea: The Kaizen Wall of Fame suggests a way to celebrate the ideas of a Kaizen event's participants and to give credit for the team's accomplishments. They suggest holding a simple Kaizen event, targeted at seeking simple problems and solutions. Adding a recycling bin by the copy machine to eliminate clutter could be one of the basic improvements implemented. Although this is a rather small improvement, giving credit to the person or persons who identified this need, created a solution to the problem, and implemented the change helps to create a culture that offers intrinsic rewards for participation. When I was involved in the early stages of process improvement, the affirmation I received from the team and the management was the reason I continued to brainstorm and create more cost effective solutions to be more efficient.

Mike Wroblewski suggests a Kaizen Wall of Fame for several reasons:

By posting the idea on the wall, you give instant recognition to your employees for making the improvement. You also encourage the small, frequent kaizen approach. Another benefit is that you create a company-wide communication board to share all these ideas. Finally, it helps motivate everyone to join in the fun of Kaizen.

Photo courtesy of relaibleplant.com