Kaizen: the smartest way to run a business

How many management models can be applied to an organization? For many companies, the answer seems to be several. Lean, Agile, Six Sigma… Each new model is welcomed as the ultimate solution until it is surpassed by the next. What is the result? Demotivated teams, fragmented organizational cultures, and short-term improvements.

What if the true path to excellence was not about multiplying models, but deepening and maturing consistent practices? The seventh paradox of the Kaizen Culture challenges this view, stating that sustainable results are not guaranteed by a variety of approaches, but by the discipline of a living culture of continuous improvement.

The Kaizen methodology is more than just another tool to add to your set of strategies. It is a comprehensive management system in which everyone strives for improvement every day, resulting in excellence becoming the standard. In this article, we explore why Kaizen is the smartest way to run a business, and how the company’s way of thinking, acting, and evolving changes when continuous improvement ceases to be a temporary initiative.

What are paradoxes?

At first glance, a paradox appears to be a contradiction, an idea that challenges common sense. However, paradoxes are counterintuitive realities that, when understood, reveal more profound truths about how organizations function.

In management, many behaviors that seem logical or practical at first glance ultimately limit performance in the long run. The paradoxes of the Kaizen Culture expose these ingrained beliefs and show how true organizational excellence requires a new way of thinking.

The 7 paradoxes of the Kaizen Culture

The seven paradoxes of the Kaizen Culture reveal the main mindset shifts necessary to transform continuous improvement into a living and strategic practice. These are:

1. Practice over tools.
2. Small is not the only Kaizen.
3. Efficiency begins with flow.
4. Standardize to improve.
5. Kaizen is more than operations.
6. Kaizen is a meta-strategy.
7. Kaizen is the smartest way to run a business.

In this article, we will dive into the seventh paradox: “Kaizen is the smartest way to run a business”.Kaizen is based on the principle that improvement is not a one-time event, but a culture rooted in a growth mindset.

The problem with traditional management models

Traditional management models often fail to deliver sustainable results. They are usually based on large, sporadic initiatives, led in a top-down manner, which do not create the conditions for a living culture of improvement. Instead of fostering continuous learning and adaptation, they tend to solidify structures and behaviors that limit the organization’s ability to evolve.

Improvement as a project, not as a practice

In the traditional approach, improvement is often treated as a project with a defined start and end, led by experts or external consultants. While this can generate short-term gains, it does not develop internal capabilities or build improvement habits within teams.

As soon as the project ends, improvements stop and, often, the results achieved begin to slip away because there has been no real change in behaviors or day-to-day processes.

The turnover of management models

Another recurring problem is the successive adoption of management models such as Lean, Agile, Six Sigma, among others, which often reflects an eagerness to find quick solutions to complex problems. The enthusiasm for the “model of the moment” shows a short-term mindset, confusing novelty with effectiveness.

This turnover is not only ineffective but also symptomatic of a deeper issue: a lack of strategic direction. Instead of cultivating a management philosophy rooted in the organization’s reality, many companies swing between frameworks without time to transform behaviors, integrate routines, or measure real impact.

Even worse, each new wave brings its own language, parallel structures, and “quick” training. The result is a fragmented culture, where teams become skeptical, not out of resistance to change, but due to the overload of disconnected changes.

Excellence does not come from the accumulation of models but from the maturation of a practice. And maturation requires time, repetition, learning, and continuous improvement.

Directive leadership and stagnant culture

Traditional leadership models are based on control, imposing solutions, and a management approach that focuses solely on results. This mindset undervalues team knowledge, limits autonomy, and hinders initiative. The result is a passive organizational culture, where problems are ignored or pushed upwards, and change is met with resistance.

Without leadership that guides, listens to, and develops teams in the practice of continuous improvement, the culture remains stagnant, focused on maintaining the status quo rather than driving evolution.

The new vision: Kaizen as a management model

While traditional management models emphasize tools and methodologies applied in isolated, top-down initiatives, Kaizen proposes a more profound transformation: a living culture of continuous improvement, practiced by everyone, every day.

More than just a technique or philosophy, Kaizen is a true management model, with principles and values that guide decisions, practices that shape behaviors, and systems that sustain performance over time. Instead of focusing on one-time changes, Kaizen emphasizes the daily development of organizational excellence.

Kaizen is not a methodology, it’s a culture

Kaizen is often confused with a set of tools or a methodology for continuous improvement. But its true essence goes far beyond that. Kaizen is an organizational culture with a mindset of growth, where improvement is not an occasional event, but a way of working and thinking.

In a Kaizen environment, everyone, regardless of their level in the organization, plays an active role in identifying problems and seeking solutions. Improvement doesn’t depend on one-time projects, external consultants, or temporary programs. Instead, it’s embedded in daily routines, promoting frequent and structured cycles of reflection, learning, and action.

It is this constant and shared practice that turns Kaizen into a living and self-sustaining culture of continuous progress, and it’s what sets it apart from traditional management models.

Four components of a Kaizen Culture

Four interconnected components support a solid Kaizen culture:

• Values and principles: These are the foundation of the Kaizen Culture. They represent how the organization thinks, decides, and acts. They reflect deep convictions that guide daily behavior and shape the company’s collective identity.
• Practices and behaviors: Culture becomes real only when it translates into real practices and observable behaviors. These routines must be clearly defined, aligned with values, and adapted to different levels and functions within the organization.
• Systems and tools: Cultural transformation requires structural support. Systems and tools provide method, discipline, and reliability to the improvement process, enabling systematic and sustained problem-solving and process optimization.
• Results and impact: Implementing a culture of continuous improvement is one of the most effective ways to achieve business excellence, understood as outstanding performance in all dimensions of the business.

A present leadership

In a Kaizen culture, leadership shifts from being about control to being about empowerment and supporting improvement. Leaders don’t just issue orders or set goals. They are present on the field, observing processes, actively listening to teams, and removing obstacles that compromise performance.

This approach is based on a highly engaging leadership model, where managers act as facilitators of change rather than controlling figures. Their role is to support problem-solving, reinforce improvement behaviors, and create the conditions necessary for continuous improvement to happen every day.

By promoting autonomy and responsibility, leaders increase team engagement and ensure that the progress made is sustained over time. It’s about building a culture where improvement is everyone’s job, every day.

Applying the Kaizen Model: 5 steps to transformation

Adopting Kaizen as a management model requires a commitment to daily improvement practices. It’s not about launching isolated initiatives or applying standalone tools, but about building a living and systematic culture. Below are five essential steps to transform the organization based on the Kaizen Culture.

1. Create a leadership model that encourages daily improvement

Change begins with leadership. Leaders must move away from the role of “order givers” and adopt the role of facilitators of improvement. This means:

• Being present on the Gemba (workplace).
• Listening to employees with empathy and attention.
• Removing obstacles to improvement.
• Teaching problem-solving methods.
• Reinforcing behaviors consistent with the Kaizen Culture.

2. Structure frequent improvement cycles

Continuous improvement needs rhythm. Instead of sporadic large-scale transformations, Kaizen promotes regular and structured improvements, such as:

• Daily meetings for quick identification of problems and making decisions at the right time.
• Structured improvement cycles of 3 months, with Value Stream Analysis and Kaizen Events involving multidisciplinary teams.
• Periodic reviews of Hoshin Kanri, allowing for the detection of deviations, adjustment of plans, and reinforcement of strategic alignment.

This cadence makes improvement a habit, not an exception. 

3. Involve the entire organization in improvement

A Kaizen Culture becomes truly transformative when the commitment to continuous improvement spans the entire organization, from Gemba to top management, including areas such as sales, human resources, and finance. It’s about creating an ecosystem where everyone, at all levels and functions, actively participates in identifying and solving problems. To make this involvement a reality, it’s essential to:

• Train all employees in continuous improvement methodologies, adapted to their context and role.
• Promote cross-functional teams that combine perspectives and accelerate innovation in solutions.
• Value and recognize improvement contributions, reinforcing the culture of participation and learning.

4. Focus on flow efficiency, not just resource efficiency

Improvement is not about keeping resources always occupied, but about creating flow in processes. By prioritizing flow over resource efficiency:

• Waiting times, rework, and excess stock are reduced.
• The experience of both customers and employees improves.
• Productivity increases without sacrificing quality.

This focus on flow requires examining the process as a whole, rather than just individual departments.

5. Integrate improvement into the company’s DNA

For Kaizen to be sustainable, it must be part of the organizational identity. This means:

• Aligning improvement efforts with strategic goals.
• Including improvement behaviors in performance evaluations.
• Investing in talent development with a focus on leadership and problem-solving.
• Creating a support structure, such as a Kaizen Office.

By following these five steps, organizations stop treating improvement as a project and begin living it as a culture. This transition from a one-time initiative to a management model enables sustainable excellence.

Kaizen is more than an improvement strategy

The seventh paradox of the Kaizen Culture challenges a deeply rooted belief: the notion that excellence arises from large-scale transformations, sophisticated models, or one-time initiatives. In reality, sustainable excellence stems from the daily practice of improvement, by everyone at all levels, every day.

Kaizen is not just a set of tools or an operational efficiency initiative. It is a complete management model that combines principles, behaviors, systems, and results. It is a culture that transforms how organizations think, decide, and act.

By adopting Kaizen as a management system, companies can build a more agile organization, one that is more aligned with the customer, more motivated internally, and better prepared for future challenges.

Kaizen is, therefore, more than an improvement strategy; it is the smartest way to run a business.

Article based on the book The Kaizen Culture Paradox – The Smartest Way to Run a Business by Alberto Bastos and Euclides Coimbra (now available).