Kaizen is often misunderstood as small ideas or isolated improvement events. In practice, Kaizen is a daily, people-centered approach to learning and improving work—supported by leadership, good systems, and psychological safety. This archive brings together blog posts, podcasts, and real-world examples of Kaizen in action, across healthcare and other industries, with a consistent focus on leadership behaviors, respect for people, and learning from problems rather than hiding them.
An andon cord lets a team member signal a problem and call for help. In the Toyota assembly process I observed in 2012, the signal brought a team leader to the work. If the issue could not be resolved before…
While I’m in Japan this week (read about the trip), I’m going to keep my blogging light – my aim is to share one picture or thought each day. The tour starts on Monday with a visit to a Toyota…
Updated 11/8 to include a link to the recording and changing the post to past tense. Gregory Jacobson, MD, co-founder and CEO of KaiNexus (disclosure: I’m on the management team) gave a free webinar next Tuesday, November 6 at 3…
Here is the seventh in our series of short, simple Kaizen education videos from KaiNexus, a software startup where I am on the management team. We are embedding these videos into our web-based (and iOS) software, to provide short tips and hints…
Suggestion boxes collect ideas–but Kaizen builds capability. In this short video, I explain why continuous improvement depends on leadership behaviors, not passive systems. The Lean Enterprise Institute recorded this short video while we were at the recent Northeast Shingo Prize…
Although I don’t get to play much anymore, I used to be a pretty serious drummer (I almost said “musician,” but that invites jokes that drummers aren’t really musicians). I was more of a percussionist — playing everything from timpani…
I’ve always been intrigued by entrepreneur (and billionaire) Elon Musk. He founded PayPal (which I have used for over ten years), founded SpaceX (which I would love to use, but can’t afford), and is the CEO of Tesla (not really…
The team at KaiNexus (where I am the “chief improvement officer”) is always improving. I want to share a few of these improvements, as our CEO/co-founder Greg Jacobson, MD and I are presenting today at the annual conference of the…
Here is the sixth in our series of short, simple Kaizen education videos from KaiNexus, a software startup where I am on the management team. We are embedding these videos into our web-based (and iOS) software, to provide short tips and hints…
Mark’s note: Today’s guest post is from a friend of mine from The Netherlands. I had a chance to visit Marc and his hospital back in 2009 and I’ve seen Marc and colleagues the last three years at the Lean…
Mark’s Note: Today’s guest post is from a great friend of mine and this blog, Dean Bliss, of the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative. Check out my podcast with him. By Dean Bliss As someone who’s been doing Lean in healthcare for…
Today’s guest post is by Duke Rohe, a Quality Improvement Education Consultant at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. I know Duke from his heavy involvement with the Society for Health Systems. Kaizen’s Test for the Best Idea…
