Kaizen is a Japanese concept that refers to continuous improvement. While this concept works in all areas of business and personal growth, many medical and dental practices have particularly enjoyed success using Kaizen. The key is to implement strategies that inspire teams. When everyone is inspired and involved, those small improvements add up and create a healthy practice.
Kaizen strategies to inspire teams
Employees should be at the heart of a practice’s Kaizen strategy. This goes beyond the top of the chain employees. Everyone, including janitors and support staff, is needed for this strategy to work. Once everyone is involved, employees will feel inspired. To ensure inspiration, employers must train employees, empower them, and measure the results.
Train employees on Kaizen
Before a practice can implement Kaizen strategies, it must ensure that employees fully understand it. All employees must receive training on Kaizen. The strategies are simple and include:
- Improvements with small, incremental changes
- The ideas come from the employees
- Feedback for all changes
- The results are measurable
Practices should train all current employees. Also, new employees should be trained on Kaizen when hired. Once everyone is on the same page, it is time to implement the strategies. Then, the practice can make small improvements and inspire employees.
Empower employees and teams
To truly inspire, practices must empower employees. All employees should be encouraged to share ideas to improve their positions. Employees give suggestions to supervisors, who then empower them to implement the change immediately. This gives employees the freedom to make meaningful changes in the workplace.
Practices should also encourage teams to work together to brainstorm ideas for changes. When working in teams, it is common to have several solutions. The team should select one of the ideas and start with it. Then, if that idea does not provide the desired results, the team can try a different idea.
Measure the results
Kaizen works because it is measurable. Supervisors must measure the outcome after the changes are implemented. After the results are tracked, the employee meets with the supervisor to go over the results. If both agree that the results showed a positive outcome, the new practice can be standardized and enforced. It will continue to be the standard mode of practice until someone else comes up with a new way to improve the results.
Employees cannot help but feel inspired after their ideas become standard practice. These employees are making a difference on the practice. That causes employees to work hard to come up with additional ideas as well. It is exciting to have a role in changing a practice.
Grow your practice with Kaizen
Significant changes are challenging to implement and often do not provide the results you need for your practice. With Kaizen, you can use small changes to transform your practice. You might not notice huge changes overnight, but after using Kaizen for a few months, you will start to see significant results. Possibly, more importantly, your employees will be inspired and take ownership of their positions. Use these tips to implement strategies that get your employees excited to contribute at work.
Doctor Genius, located at 2 S Pointe Dr #200, Lake Forest, CA 92630, provides a range of services for practice success. We seek to meet our clients’ needs by providing a variety of marketing, SEO, practice optimization tools, and coaching to transform the healthcare experience. Though we work to provide the most accurate information, the content found on this website is solely intended for entertainment purposes. Therefore, we cannot guarantee that the information provided is entirely correct. You may not use the information on this site to cure, prevent, or diagnose a perceived medical issue. If you have healthcare-related needs, please speak directly to a healthcare professional. Never self-perform medical treatments discussed on this website. All images displayed are also for entertainment purposes only, and personal experiences may differ. Please note that the business tactics mentioned on this site might not be applicable to your industry or practice.
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