Behind the Curtain: Adventures in Continuous Improvement

Organizations typically have too many priorities, all competing for the same people, time and resources. As the maxim goes, if everything is priority, nothing is priority. Hoshin kanri, also known as strategy deployment or policy deployment, aims to wrangle this conundrum into a plan the entire organization can get behind. In this episode of Behind the Curtain: Adventures in Continuous Improvement, hosts John Dyer and Dr. Mohamed Saleh discuss the key role alignment plays in making hoshin kanri successful. 

Organizations rarely become more consistent or disciplined if their leadership isn't. Leader standard work builds consistent, explicit leadership routines that support a continuous improvement culture. Lasting discipline depends on connecting routines to a meaningful purpose.

 Use Plan Do Check Act as a learning cycle for solving problems, rather than as a checklist for implementing solutions.

Accountability is not punishment or blame; it is a two-way commitment between workers and leaders.

Without transparency, visual management is merely decoration. 

Behind the Curtain podcast hosts John Dyer and Dr. Mohamed Saleh launch a new series of episodes exploring key behaviors that determine the effectiveness of well-known lean and continuous improvement tools. This episode highlights gemba walks. 

You may be busy, but are you creating value or fighting fires? The reason you are too busy is likely the very reason you need to introduce a team-based continuous improvement initiative like lean or Six Sigma. 

Lean adoption often fails not because people inherently resist change, but because organizational trust, context, capability and implementation practices are overlooked.  

True success is defined by long-term sustainability rather than initial implementation. 

Is it true or is it a convenient excuse when progress is hard to see? It can be both, say the cohosts of Behind the Curtain: Adventures in Continuous Improvement.