Should Your CI Team Be Centralized or Decentralized? — Karen Martin

Why It Matters

Aligning CI team structure with a coaching mission ensures organization‑wide skill growth, driving faster, sustainable performance gains.

Key Takeaways

• CI teams should coach, not do work for others.
• Purpose matters more than centralization or decentralization in CI.
• Decentralized teams need regular coordination to maintain standards.
• Share lessons via “grand rounds” or lean‑coffee sessions.
• Hybrid structures with dotted‑line leadership balance control and autonomy.

Summary

The video debates whether continuous‑improvement (CI) teams should be centralized or decentralized, emphasizing that the decision hinges on the team’s core purpose rather than its location.

Karen Martin argues the CI team’s mission is to teach, coach, and embed improvement skills across the workforce. A pull‑based model—where business units request help—prevents the team from becoming a crutch and spreads capability regardless of structure.

She cites practical tools: regular “grand rounds” style case reviews, lean‑coffee meetings, and Toyota’s hybrid model with a central standards keeper. Even in decentralized settings, a dotted‑line leader can enforce consistent terminology and methodology.

For companies, the takeaway is clear: choose a structure that aligns with cultural maturity, maintain frequent cross‑functional forums, and ensure a single standards authority. Doing so accelerates skill diffusion, reduces siloed practices, and sustains continuous‑improvement momentum.

Original Description

Centralized or decentralized continuous improvement team -- which is better? Karen Martin says the answer matters less than the mission: CI teams should be teaching and coaching, not doing the work for people. When the organization is pulling the CI team in rather than having work pushed at them, the org chart structure becomes secondary.

Karen and Mark Graban also discuss internal "grand rounds" for sharing improvement stories, why multi-site organizations need regular cross-pollination, and how Toyota maintains standards through a central group without centralizing the improvement work itself.

From a KaiNexus "Ask the Expert" webinar with Karen Martin, founder of TKMG and TKMG Academy.

Full webinar: https://youtu.be/BmnGHvv3G0M

Learn more about TKMG Academy: https://tkmgacademy.com

Learn more about KaiNexus: https://www.kainexus.com

#ContinuousImprovement #Lean #Leadership #OperationalExcellence