Tag: Culture
Not All Improvement Ideas Require “Projects”
In this post, I share some thoughts and build upon one of the presentations at last week's Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit, where, Tim Pehrson, a regional CEO for Intermountain Healthcare, talked about how they piloted a continuous improvement process in one region... and how they're now spreading it throughout the system. This leads to confusion, in online discussion, about terms like projects, suggestions, ideas, and such...
Upcoming John Toussaint Webinar: Five Changes Great Healthcare Leaders Make to...
How big is the opportunity for improvement in healthcare? As Dr. Toussaint's hand gesture, above, indicates... it's a huge opportunity. There's a huge need.
What's...
Why and How This Pizza Restaurant Owner Engages People Through Kaizen
A culture of continuous improvement is really powerful - in a pizza restaurant or any type of workplace. It engages Milennials and people from other generations too...
A Lesson From Toyota: Thanking Employees for Pointing Out Problems
Thanks to Lean Frontiers for sharing a story from Mike Hoseus on LinkedIn. Mike is, of course, co-author of the excellent book Toyota Culture: The Heart and Soul of the Toyota Way (written with Jeff Liker, who I just learned is retiring from the University of Michigan... more on that soon).
The Good and the Bad of the United CEO’s Follow Up...
It's good that United's CEO has taken responsibility for system problems. It's great that they are changing some policies. But why does he say they don't have a culture problem if employees aren't empowered? That sounds like "culture" and a "problem" to me.
James Hereford – A #Lean COO from Stanford Becomes a Lean...
In today's post, I write about James Hereford, a Lean thinker and leader who is now CEO of Fairview Health Services in Minnesota. I share some links to and highlights from a past podcast with him and other blog posts with his thoughts.
Who Are Your “Decision Makers?”
I was at an organization recently where one of the relatively senior leaders kept using a curious phrase that made my ears perk up. The senior executives were continually being referred to as "the decision makers." Why can't everybody be a decision maker?
Learning & Emulating Without Copying Blindly from Duke Hoops, Toyota, or...
While I'm writing here about Northwestern men's basketball learning from Duke (without copying everything), the same ideas apply if you're Ford learning from Toyota or a hospital learning from ThedaCare.
“The Rock” Says Getting Lean is Something Anybody Can Do… If...
Why did "The Rock" and his movie make me think about Lean? Are many individuals (or organization's) willing to put time into continuous improvement every day for 20 years? If so, the results and "after" picture seem astonishing, right?
From Kaizen Live! 2016: Gemba Walk Tips for Leaders — Do...
Mischelle McMillin, from Franciscan St. Francis Health, shares “dos and don’ts” for leaders going out to the “gemba” (the workplace). What is “the riddler” and why should you avoid being one in your efforts to create a culture of continuous improvement?
Lean as Redesign and Continuous Improvement, for Organizations or a Blog
Lean sometimes gets, I think, an unfair rap that it’s only a method for incremental improvement. See this article, for example: “Limits of Lean — Transformative Care Redesign Must Go Beyond Typical Lean-Based Improvements.”
Improving Safety & Quality Matters, but a $54 Million Cost Savings...
I saw this article a few days ago in one of the larger healthcare industry trade publications: How One Woman Saved IU Health $54 Million The headline is misleading, as addressed in the opening sentence / sub-headline of the story (via HealthLeaders): “With a little help from about 10,000 of her friends and colleagues, the head