Saturday, September 13, 2008
Kaizen
Last night, DH and I watched No Reservations with Anthony Burdain (sp) who was in Tokyo. If you haven't seen the show, Anthony (a former head chef) goes around a city..sees the sights and eats local food.
So, when he's in Tokyo Anthony visits places like a soba noodle house where they make their own noodles...a knife maker...the ultimate sushi guy, and a flower arranger to learn about the Japanese way of doing things.
The common thread of all of these sites was the idea that in spite of precise attention to detail, none of these people felt they had mastered their trade even after 50 years of doing so. Soba noodle guy said that after 20 years of making noodles, he's still learning. Sushi man said that there is no such thing as the perfect sushi...there is always the way to make it better.
DH and I watched this show after our dinner out where DH told me about the 'Kaizen Events' at his manufacturing employer. They throw some engineers in a room for a few days..they think up some process improvements...and they go back to their jobs. Kaizen is about ongoing incremental improvement...not throwing out ideas.
Americans don't get the concept of Kaizen. The end result is not the goal. It's the journey to the unobtainable goal of perfection that is the focus. We, Americans, focus on getting it done and moving on....so we don't have the attention to detail because the process itself is unimportant. Our leaders; military, business, or educational, teach us to take the hill any way we want to.
I'm not sure one way is always better than the other...balance almost always leads to a better result. But the concept that the journey itself is valuable is a lesson I'm trying to learn (and teach to my children)
So, when he's in Tokyo Anthony visits places like a soba noodle house where they make their own noodles...a knife maker...the ultimate sushi guy, and a flower arranger to learn about the Japanese way of doing things.
The common thread of all of these sites was the idea that in spite of precise attention to detail, none of these people felt they had mastered their trade even after 50 years of doing so. Soba noodle guy said that after 20 years of making noodles, he's still learning. Sushi man said that there is no such thing as the perfect sushi...there is always the way to make it better.
DH and I watched this show after our dinner out where DH told me about the 'Kaizen Events' at his manufacturing employer. They throw some engineers in a room for a few days..they think up some process improvements...and they go back to their jobs. Kaizen is about ongoing incremental improvement...not throwing out ideas.
Americans don't get the concept of Kaizen. The end result is not the goal. It's the journey to the unobtainable goal of perfection that is the focus. We, Americans, focus on getting it done and moving on....so we don't have the attention to detail because the process itself is unimportant. Our leaders; military, business, or educational, teach us to take the hill any way we want to.
I'm not sure one way is always better than the other...balance almost always leads to a better result. But the concept that the journey itself is valuable is a lesson I'm trying to learn (and teach to my children)
