This post is the second in our series about Kaizen Event Templates. If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, check out our guide to the ultimate pre-event template. We don’t want to sound like a broken record, but the success of a Kaizen event is highly correlated to the amount of effort put into planning and preparation. Our pre-event template will help.

You’ll also want a template to use when the big day arrives. Our clients who get the most from Kaizen events use a standard template so that all of the right information is captured and can be shared in a familiar format. Kaizen software supports this by allowing users to create and disseminate their event templates.

You will probably have some unique needs or elements to capture, but here are the basics for a useful and simple Kaizen event template.

Problem Summary - This doesn’t need to be a novel, but it should concisely communicate the issue to be addressed.

Measurable Objectives – What are you trying to achieve that can be quantified?

Team – Identify the team members and their role during the event. Be sure to have a facilitator, executive sponsor, and front-line staff.

Condition – The team should discuss and document the current condition of the target process as well as the desired condition.

Possible Obstacles – If you’ve used our pre-event template, you can pull the obstacles you identified right into the during event template but be sure to revisit them to see if anything has changed.

Dates – Identify the dates for your event and any follow up that is expected to occur.

Root Cause Analysis – One of the first things that should happen during the event is a discussion about the root cause of the problem. It is often helpful to use the 5 Whys technique to get to the heart of the problem. Your template should have a section for this analysis.

Key Deliverables – Hopefully, you’ve identified the expected deliverables before the event, but they should be reaffirmed and included on your during event template.

Scope – The team should agree on the scope of this event based on the charter. It is equally important to identify elements that are out of scope for this event. It’s a good idea to capture any opportunities for future improvement that come up, but there needs to be limits on what is addressed during the event.

Files and Links – It is common that documents will be created during your event. Be sure there is a place on your template to capture things like process maps, Standard work, A3s, flowcharts, control charts, or other items that the team drafts.

Lessons Learned – This section allows the team to capture any new insight about the target process that will be useful for a future improvement cycle. It is also important to record any lessons learned about the Kaizen event process itself.

Daily Tasks and Timeline – There should be a spot on the template to capture the planned and completed tasks for each day of the event. You’ll want to be able to see the status and the owner for each.

Impact Summary – The goals for each event will vary, but there are some common impact areas that most organizations include in their event templates. They include cost savings, revenue generation, and time savings. Other areas of measurable impact for Kaizen events include customer satisfaction scores and defect reduction. Be sure to consider both one-time and recurring impacts.

Comments – Your template should make it easy to capture any comments that the team has related to the event. One goal of a Kaizen event should be to make the next one even better, so any relevant thoughts should be captured.

By using a template that contains each of these items and other elements that are specific to your organization, you’ll ensure that you will achieve consistency in terms of what transpires during each event and what data you come away with.

If there are any other Kaizen event template items that you find essential, please let us know in the comments.