ThedaCare has long been regarded as one of the most influential examples of Lean thinking in healthcare. These posts explore what ThedaCare’s journey actually teaches leaders—about management systems, executive commitment, strategy deployment, culture change, and the fragility of improvement when leadership changes.
Rather than treating Lean as a set of tools or success stories frozen in time, this archive examines real lessons, missteps, evolution, and leadership reflections from ThedaCare and others who have studied or worked with the organization.
Recently, the Wall Street Journal put some focus on the issue of so-called “door to balloon” times in our hospitals. “Door to balloon” is a measure of time from a patient with a serious type of heart attack (“STEMI“) arriving…
Almost two years ago, I wrote an article for FierceHealthcare.com called “How lean management helped hospitals avoid layoffs.” Here in 2012, I see headlines daily about a hospital somewhere in the U.S. who is “forced” to lay off staff (or…
Ted Stiles is one of the handful of key recruiters I know in the world of Lean healthcare. Disclosure: I recently joined the advisory board for the firm Stiles & Associates, for which I receive a stipend. He was interviewed…
This announcement caught my eye recently: “New site lets you tell your boss anything, anonymously.“ A startup’s website allows you to send anonymous ideas or feedback, “the modern age’s equivalent of the old suggestion box.” 2022 Update: This company seems…
Here is about five minutes of video (no longer available, sadly) of Paul O’Neill (former CEO of Alcoa and former Treasury Secretary) talking about the power of Lean healthcare on CNBC. O’Neill talks about leading organizations like Virginia Mason, Intermountain,…
In this 2012 conversation, Mike Stoecklein reflects on nearly a decade of learning directly from Dr. W. Edwards Deming — attending and helping with the famous four-day seminars, exchanging letters, and watching Deming consult with clients. Mike also tells the…
Here’s a question from a healthcare leader that I thought I’d share for input from you, the blog readers. This person is looking to change their hiring and people “sourcing” practices, after visiting ThedaCare and learning about their “Human Development…
I’ve done a number of radio interviews recently to talk about our soon-to-be-released book Healthcare Kaizen. I haven’t posted them all here, but check out this page for links to what is already been aired (MP3 files). In at least…
Here’s a nice interview with Kathryn Correia, CEO of HealthEast in Minnesota, a former ThedaCare executive: “Lean approach at HealthEast.” From the piece: Correia is a firm believer in “Lean Business,” a management framework popularized in the 1997 book by…
Following up on my notes from Day 1, here are some notes and key points from Day 2 of the Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit. It was great to meet and get reacquainted with so many blog and book readers. It’s…
Here are some notes and key points from Day 1 of the Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit. There are over 500 people here from North America and around the world (including a group, again, of about 40 from different hospitals and…
Virginia Mason Medical Center, a world-renowned leader in the application of Lean principles in healthcare, has a new blog: Virginia Mason Blog. They name blogs the way I do, simple and direct :-) One of their first posts highlights a…
