Kaizen: Giving Seven Days’ Grace on a New Idea [Video]

Here's another video in the series that Joe Swartz and I shot at Franciscan St. Francis Health back in October. See them all here or via a YouTube playlist.

You might remember pharmacy manager (now director) Ronda Freije from two previous videos.

Here, she talks about a concept called “Seven Days' Grace.” It's a concept that Joe Swartz and I wrote about in Healthcare Kaizen using stories from Franciscan (see excerpts via Google Books).

Or read this one excerpt (click on the image for a larger view):

Here is Ronda talking about this approach:

When a new change is being tested (to see if it's actually an improvement), we sometimes don't know if something is better right away. Sometimes the first time you try something new, it's more awkward and maybe seems worse than the old way of doing something.

There's an art in knowing when to “give up” and go back to try something different (in the Study and Adjust phases of PDSA) or when to keep trying because you're just not giving the new way a fair chance yet.

Listen to Mark read this post (with Ronda's audio) — Learn more:

It's not a hard set rule, but “seven days' grace” can be a helpful approach. You're asking people to give the new way a legitimate try AND you're leaving open the possibility of changing back to the old way (or trying something new… Study and Adjust).

What do you think of this approach? Please scroll down and leave a comment. There's also a transcript of the video down below.

It's really awesome to see this culture of continuous improvement in place. Don't you wish you could see this too? Oh, now you can!

New On-Site Workshop at Franciscan St. Francis Health

Joe Swartz and I are very excited to announce that we're going to pilot a new on-site workshop at the main Franciscan St. Francis hospital in Indianapolis, April 22 and 23.

It's going to be a day and a half of discussion, gemba visits, talks from managers and senior leaders, and a chance to see what a “culture of continuous improvement” really looks and feels like. I'll be there with Joe Swartz to help facilitate discussions and focus discussions on what YOU can do to repeat this success.

Read more and register here

You can get 10% off as a “Lean Blog” reader. Use code “LEANBLOG” (available for the first 10 to register with this code). You're among the first to know about this workshop!

Video Transcript:

Rhonda:  That was my reaction to all of the people. We drastically changed how the drugs were stored in this area. A team of six or seven individuals work very hard to implement this. We considered many, many things.

We considered how it affected their shift. We looked at how quickly we could replenish our surgery trays doing it this way versus the other way. I felt like we had spent a lot of time identifying the problem, thinking through resolutions.

Then the next shift came in and didn't like how the drugs were stored and immediately red flags and a lot of complaining.

I said, “Listen, this team has put together a lot of thought into this process. We owe them seven days grace, and to try this, to give it a good try and not come in and complain.”

I think we only had to invoke that a few times. Now, people know the culture is, “We've got to give it a try.” They're very open now.

Before, it was very rigid and people didn't like new things. I think as Kaizen…A lot of people don't like change. Healthcare has changed so they've gotten used to it a little bit better.

But Kaizen has changed and that's constant change. They're getting used to Kaizens coming through.

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Check out my latest book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation: