The Customer Success Manager (CSM) role at KaiNexus identified a challenge: they were unable to scale processes.
To solve this challenge, they used a structured two-day Kaizen event and leveraged a hybrid approach: in-person collaboration combined with the KaiNexus platform to ensure ideas were captured, structured, and made actionable. The Kaizen event followed a two-phase approach:
The success of this Kaizen event was fundamentally rooted in the comprehensive pre-work conducted in the weeks prior. As the facilitator, I recognized that the effectiveness of the live sessions depended on a clearly defined scope built on correlated data, not assumptions.
A critical first step was gathering qualitative and quantitative data.
Gathered Intelligence: Surveys and interviews were conducted with key stakeholders to understand pain points and opportunities from multiple perspectives.
Centralized in KaiNexus: To ensure all participants entered the event with a shared understanding, I utilized KaiNexus as the central hub for all preparatory information. All survey results, interview notes, existing enablement materials, and the detailed event agenda were collated and linked to a single parent "Kaizen Event" item within the platform. This created a single source of truth, allowing the department leader and I to review the data and agree on the approach beforehand.
The Kaizen event itself was designed to foster creativity and collaboration while maintaining a sharp focus on actionable outcomes.
The first day was dedicated to understanding the current state. We used high-engagement tools like large sticky notes and dry-erase boards to map the current champion support flow, identify waste, and prioritize key problems using an Impact vs. Effort matrix.
The second day focused on creating the future state. Groups brainstormed countermeasures using "How Might We..." prompts and developed a new, scalable champion enablement map that defined the roles of the upcoming LMS, support resources, and the CSMs themselves.
A core philosophy of this approach is recognizing that not all work has to happen in KaiNexus, but it fills the critical gap of having a centralized location where all information and work can be found. The free-flowing, unstructured nature of brainstorming on a whiteboard is essential for creativity. KaiNexus provides the framework to give that creativity structure and longevity.
The key to preserving the momentum from these sessions was our end-of-day process. In less than 30 minutes each day, we translated the physical work into our digital system:
We took pictures of all brainstorming outputs and Miro map summaries. These images were attached directly to the relevant items in KaiNexus, preserving the rich context of our discussions.
Each agreed-upon countermeasure became a distinct child item under the parent Kaizen event in KaiNexus. The specific tasks required to implement each countermeasure were then nested underneath.
We assigned owners and agreed-upon due dates for every task directly within KaiNexus, transforming broad ideas into a concrete project plan.
The results of this hybrid facilitation approach were immediate and profound. Participants were "blown away" by the volume and quality of what was accomplished in just two and a half days.
Unprecedented Clarity: The team left the event with a fully documented, time-bound implementation plan. There were no questions about who was responsible for what or when it was due.
Complete Buy-In: By involving stakeholders from the beginning and visually building the plan together, we achieved shared ownership and enthusiastic commitment to the path forward.
Sustainable Momentum: By capturing everything in KaiNexus, we built a living plan that could be tracked, updated, and reported on. The outputs of the Kaizen event became the starting point for ongoing improvement work, not a static document destined for a folder.
This event proved that the combination of focused pre-work, energetic in-person collaboration, and disciplined digital capture in KaiNexus is a highly effective model for driving meaningful and lasting organizational change.