Tag: Kaizen

What if "easier" is less safe? Great question. It begs the question of why Safer isn't first in Shingo's list? Is it because safety is assumed to be such a fundamental pre-condition in the Toyota culture or the Lean approach? Safety is such a non-negotiable point that it doesn't need to be said?

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...

Here are three audience questions we didn't have time to address after a recent talk that I gave... questions about engaging people in improvement and about how to share and spread improvement ideas broadly.

Today's reader question comes from somebody who has been put in the position of what I call "the lone wolf" in a health system. This happens a lot. A health system hires or designates one person to be "the Lean change agent." It doesn't matter how amazing and/or experienced this individual is... I'd very skeptical about the organization's Lean journey.

If you don't have 20 minutes for meditation, you should.... do what? Does this classic Zen quote apply to Kaizen and continuous improvement?

Back in 2012, I did a podcast interview (Episode 153) with a psychologist and family therapist, Robert Maurer, PhD. It's been almost five years since the discussion, but I'm often reminded of what I learned from his books and his advice about small change.

I was interviewed for Dr. Diane Hamilton's internet radio show and podcast, called "Take the Lead." We talked about Lean Hospitals, Healthcare Kaizen, and more.

A Lean-thinking physician from Canada asks how many people an organization or department should have in a dedicated Lean or continuous improvement function. How much time is needed from staff and managers?

Today, Mark Graban and KaiNexus host Kevin Meyer in presenting a webinar about Lean and Zen. Also, we try to practice what we preach about Kaizen at KaiNexus, as we describe in a blog post and podcast episode.

Last week, I received a few questions from somebody at a hospital system and I thought I'd address one of them here: "Can you suggest any "quick wins" to get staff engaged in a Lean culture?"

This recent tweet of mine struck a nerve, apparently, based on the number of times it was liked and retweeted -- "Heard often: "We don't have time for improvement." Heard never: "We don't have time for fire fighting."

Can leaders get some improvement just by asking for it? Does improvement stall out if we don't have a method for doing so? What can "process behavior" charts show us in our work today?