One of the key elements of a kaizen event is conducting a report out at the end of the event. Having led over 400 kaizen events, I believe I have found a successful report out format. Learn about my successful kaizen event report out format in this blog.
Every company does their report outs differently. During the report outs where I coach companies, we have the team present their outcome using a PowerPoint presentation. These vary in length depending upon the activity, but each team member gets one to several slides to present.
You should require a report out after your kaizen activities. This does several things. First, it allows the team members to present their ideas to the management team. Depending upon the size of the company, it may be the team member’s only exposure to leadership.
Don’t discount this important aspect. Employees don’t want to work for some faceless executive they’ve only heard of, but not seen. This also drives employee engagement. One element of a successful lean transformation is to increase employee engagement. Getting to be a part of a kaizen or value stream mapping event helps.
What should be in the report out? Let’s go through an example.
Topic 1
A team picture. I always start with a team picture and have one team member introduce everyone.
Topic 2
Review the A3. Have someone review the A3. Make sure they cover the area of focus and the intended improvement gains.
Topic 3
Value Stream Map. Whether you take a picture of the VSM or develop one in Visio or excel, present the current state VSM and mark the areas considered for improvement. You can include a future state VSM later in the presentation.
Topic 4
A picture of the brainstormed ideas, DOWNTIME chart, and PICK chart if used. I use both pictures and generate replicas in PowerPoint for easy understanding. Make sure everyone understands you considered many different options before making improvements.
Topic 5
Action pictures. As a kaizen leader, make sure you capture kaizen action pictures. These are great to insert into the report out. Leaders love to see their employees working hard to make the company better.
Topic 6
Expected results and savings. Here is where you cover the expected results and savings. You can also share the future state VSM and share any processes eliminated or time saved across the value stream.
Topic 7
Action item log. The goal of any kaizen should be to complete 90% of the activities within the event. Occasionally everything gets completed, but there are often open items that need follow-up. Training that needs to occur for the new process. Standard work that needs to be developed.
Make sure the action log captures open items and assigns an owner to every open item. I like to print out a copy and place it in the area so that everyone knows the status of open items.
Topic 8
Questions. Allow time for the team to answer questions. Hopefully, someone from leadership will ask the team how they liked the process. Ask them if they would suggest others in the company get involved in kaizen. Ask them what they liked best during the event.
If you follow this format, I know you will have a successful kaizen event report out!
It is an honor to serve you, and I hope that you and your company are getting better every day!
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