Explaining the Lean Management System Part 4 Kamishibai

 


Lean Nation,

 In this five-part blog series on introducing the lean management system, the series focuses on discussing some of the key elements of the daily management system.  This work, completed by organizational leaders at all levels, is essential in having a thriving improvement system.  I find four elements are essential in engaging all employees, building the correct improvement habits /behaviors and sustaining improvement. 

 These four include:

1) Process or production control - This is used to ensure standard work is performing as designed and to provide hourly insights into waste creeping back into the system
2) Daily tiered huddles - These are used to monitor outcomes of processes aligned to true north measures
3) Kamishibai task audits - These daily audits are used to satisfy your curiosity that things are operating as designed with special emphasis on key standards, best practices, compliance, safety, etc. 
4) Leader standard work - This practice to designed to ensure time is being spent on improvement by leaders at all levels of the organization. 

Thus far we have discussed the production control board ( previous blog Explaining the Lean Management System Part 2 Production (or Process) Control ), and the daily tiered huddle with primary emphasis on the tier one huddle ( previous blog Explaining the Lean Management System Part 3 Managing for Daily Improvement ).  This blog will focus on kamishibai.     This is the fourth blog ion the series and the third tool we will discuss.

A control point for the visual management systems and standard work that leverages staff engagement is a system known as Kamishibai. This daily audit system is used as a peer-to-peer feedback mechanism to re-enforce the maintenance of operational standards. Kamishibai  loosely translates to "paper theatre"”  and  is part of a long tradition of picture storytelling, beginning as early as the 9th or 10th centuries when priests used illustrated (cartoon) scrolls combined with narration to convey Buddhist doctrine to lay audiences.[1] The Buddhist monks used the kamishibai scrolls to allow the audience a self-reflection to determine if they were living the correct Buddhist lifestyle.   This system is wildly popular in Japan today with children and the cartoon-based stories are used to teach behaviors such as sharing and punctuality.

In a lean organization, the kamishibai system is used to reinforce to the auditor that he/she is living a "lean lifestyle." An example of a visually managed kamishibai system looks like this:

A group of papers on a wall

AI-generated content may be incorrect.

 

First, audits are created. On any unit, or in any department, many different types of audits cards can be created.  The audits are pictures that represent the key standards for the organization. An example of a kamishibai card for agriculture  is shown below.

A white and black checklist with red text

AI-generated content may be incorrect.

 

Every staff member can conduct daily,  a single 3–5-minute audit using a card created from one of the department standards.

If the audit is passed, the green side of the card is slotted in the board. If the audit fails, the red side of the card is slotted. A red audit is dealt with in real time and the auditor discusses the result with the person being audited. Real-time feedback, both positive and negative, is the best way to change behavior. In addition to re-enforcing the standard for the person being audited, value created is for the auditor. While completing the audit, the auditor gets a chance to reflect on the standard and evaluate if he/she is following the standard.


Failed audits are trended based on frequency. The frequency of the failures can be summarized in a pareto diagram for further action. The type and number of cards in the system is dynamic. Cards can be added and subtracted based on what is being found in the audits. For audits that fail frequently, more cards can be added into the system so these standard adherence shortfalls can be reviewed more often. In the same light, for audits that pass consistently, cards of this type of audit can be removed, thus they are audited less frequently. For the example below, the team is having a problem with adherence to the standards detailed in cards 14, 3, and 7.

The key point of Kamishibai is that while completing the audit, the auditor is re-enforcing their own understanding of the importance of following standards. It is through this self-reflection that the staff assesses if they are following a lean lifestyle. A lean lifestyle is one where everyone follows standards until a better standard can be created.

Two common issues that every organization faces when implementing a culture of continuous improvement include getting every to follow standard work and creating the capacity to audit all of the standards which typically falls on management; Kamishibai addresses both of these concerns.  By having every staff member engaged in the audit process, everyone doing the work is involved with auditing standards. The process of auditing is designed to have the auditor self-assess if they are following the standards. This reflection helps the entire staff support the new approaches to work that support improvement in quality, access, and cost. The process of getting everyone to follow the standards is the key to improvement sustainability. Secondly, by having everyone participate in the kamishibai system, the workload of auditing is shared by everyone. Audit work that might take a single manager two or more hours can be spread across all shifts in 3- 5-minute increments. In addition to distributing the workload, having everyone engaged allows broader coverage of all the standards. Yet another benefit of kamishibai is that like the other management systems, the audit system is entirely visual. The audits to be completed, the results of the audits, the pass-fail status of the audits, and the corrective action for failed audit are all posted for everyone to see.

When is the last time you audited your standard work?  Most organization do this when preparing for a certification audit like joint commission, or ISO 9000.  This approach is not frequent enough to ensure adherence to standards and fails to get everyone involved. 

Juice up your results and introduce kamishibai to your improvement environment.

Lean Blessings,

Ron

Ron Bercaw, President, and Sensei

Breakthrough Horizons

www.breakthroughhorizons.com     

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ron-bercaw-882a0a8/   



[1] Tara McGowen, Kamishibai for Kids, Kamishibai a Brief History, http://www.kamishibai.com/history.html , accessed April 2024

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How to Draft and Publish a Book

Breakthrough Highlights: Why Do Transformational Efforts Fail?

Another Major Risk to Transformational Efforts