For the past few months, I've been going pretty much off the deep end, easily triggered into intense flare-ups with John. They were a worry. So, off we went to talk to the always amazing insightful illuminating Kim Vargas, a talk counselor I connected with through a grannie client. She'd done wonders for my older friend - maybe she could help us, me.
By working with John, have seen swift & stable improvement. Could never have done it on my own. It took partnering with my husband, making Kim part of our team. The very epitome of kaizen.
Kaizen is actually a business term, introduced to the West in Massaaki Imai's book, Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success in 1986.
Most Americans familiar with the term think that it refers to the process of continuous improvement, to big results that accrue from many small successes. As I understand it, at its heart kaizen is about teamwork, about circles of committed others making lasting improvements to a given situation. Kim, John & I.
What are the basics of kaizen?
- That good processes bring good results
- To grasp the actual situation, see it for yourself
- Speak with clarity, manage with reality
- Identify the root causes of problems
- Act to reduce eliminate eradicate them
- Involve those touched by the problem in finding solutions
- Don't give up! Big results can come from many small changes, but over time.
How old was I when it first dawned on me that life as I was living it wasn't the way it was meant to be lived? 24 years old - almost 40 years ago! That was when I first had the image of myself as a swan skimming along the surface of a beautiful pond, longing to dive down through the waters to the bottom yet held afloat by the buoyancy of my feathers. Always yearning, never able. My goal was to remain what I was yet be able to make that long dive through the depths.
Took me over thirty years, but I did the dive, went through & experienced the depths of the waters, reached the bottom & found it was as soul satisfying as I'd always imagined. It involved taking many small steps, making many small changes, but it didn't really hit stride until partnering with John. Kaizen needs partnership, teamwork, and in my Keet I found my ideal counter balance, my complement.
Kaizen - change for better, by everybody everyday everywhere.
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