KaiNexus: Continuous Improvement, Leadership, and More

Every process problem is a customer problem in disguise. CI teams are good at finding waste, reducing variation, and improving flow. Customers experience those same breakdowns as uncertainty, frustration, effort, and broken trust. Slides, the resource list, and the full recording are on the episode page: https://www.kainexus.com/customer-signals-continuous-improvement-webinar This episode is the a...

Voice of Customer has been a fixture in Lean and Six Sigma for decades, but the word "voice" carries a hidden assumption: that the customer has to do something -- answer a survey, write an email, lift a finger -- before you learn anything. Most of the time they don't, and you're left improving in the dark. In this preview of our next Continuous Improvement Webinar, host Mark Grab...

Improvement efforts stall for reasons every CI practitioner knows by heart: unclear problem statements, missing data, inconsistent teams, rejected countermeasures. Anne Frewin argues those are symptoms. The root cause is the environment leaders create -- and Gallup's data backs her up: 70% of team engagement comes down to the manager. In this episode, recorded as part of the KaiNexus Continuou...

Most continuous improvement programs don't stall because the strategy is wrong or the tools are missing. They stall because of what leaders do, or don't do, every day. In this short preview, host Mark Graban talks with Anne Frewin about her upcoming KaiNexus webinar, Every Moment Matters: How Leadership Behaviors Shape Results Every Day , airing live on Tuesday, May 26 at 1 pm Eastern. Ann...

Karen Martin joins Mark Graban for a wide-ranging Ask the Expert session, answering audience questions on organizational clarity, leadership behavior, value stream mapping, and continuous improvement. Topics and questions covered include: Why organizations adopt Lean tools but still lack clarity around priorities, roles, and decision rights -- and the first discipline leaders should adopt to fix i...

Karen Martin -- founder of TKMG Inc. and TKMG Academy, and author of "Clarity First" and "The Outstanding Organization" -- joins Mark Graban for a short preview of the upcoming KaiNexus Ask an Expert webinar on March 11th . In this conversation, Karen shares how she went from working in hospital laboratories as a microbiologist to building and running operations at a fast-growing HMO -- and eventu...

Read the blog post TL;DR: Toyota’s real competitive advantage is not its tools -- it is mutual trust and mutual respect. Leaders are responsible for cultivating both. When trust is present, employees speak up, problems surface early, and continuous improvement accelerates. Without it, Lean becomes mechanical and unsustainable. When executives discuss Toyota, the conversation often centers on tools...

Read the post TL;DR: Respect for People is the foundation of Lean management. It means engaging employees as problem solvers, creating psychological safety so people speak up, developing standardized work with teams instead of forcing it on them, and implementing improvement software with people -- not to them. It includes high standards and accountability. Without Respect for People, continuous i...

Read the blog post A dysfunctional workplace culture isn’t just an HR problem—it’s an operational one that directly affects retention, innovation, safety, and financial performance. In this episode, we explore the most common warning signs of a broken culture, including resistance to change, disengaged employees, burnout, lack of diversity in leadership, and the “black hole” where ideas and feedba...

Read the blog post Operational Excellence rarely fails because of a lack of ideas. More often, it breaks down when strategy, daily work, and improvement efforts operate in silos. In this episode, Mark Graban explores what it really means to take a unified approach to OpEx—one that connects strategy deployment, process discipline, employee-driven improvement, and leader-led initiatives into a singl...

Webinar page with video, slides, and more What makes a Lean transformation last not just a few years, but two decades? At Electrolux, the answer wasn’t more tools, more training, or more Kaizen events. The breakthrough came when the company realized that leadership behaviors — not Lean mechanics — were the deciding factor in whether improvement stuck. In this episode, Sandro Casagrande shares the...

In this preview episode, Mark Graban talks with Sandro Casagrande of Electrolux about the upcoming KaiNexus webinar: “Unlock the Power of Leadership: The Electrolux Manufacturing System (EMS) Way.” Register for the full webinar (Dec 10, 1 pm ET): https://info.kainexus.com/unlock-the-power-of-leadership-the-electrolux-management-system-ems-way/webinar Sandro shares insights from more than 30 years...

The blog post This blog summarizes key insights from a comprehensive  whitepaper  detailing UMass Memorial Health's remarkable transformation journey.  When Dr. Eric Dickson stepped into the CEO role at UMass Memorial Health (UMMH) in 2013, he inherited what most would consider an impossible situation. The healthcare system was hemorrhaging money with a record $55 million operating loss, teete...

In this special “Ask Us Anything” episode, Mark Graban and KaiNexus CEO Greg Jacobson answer listener-submitted questions and share candid thoughts on: 🔁 The five habit cues (and how to use them for lasting change) 📚 Books that shape how leaders think and grow—including new takes on familiar topics 🔍 What it really means when a measure becomes a target 🔊 Why audio learning fits modern leadersh...

In this KaiNexus Continuous Improvement webinar, Mark Graban (author, speaker, consultant, and Senior Advisor at KaiNexus) is joined by Tracy O’Rourke (Lean consultant, coach, and co-author of The Problem-Solver’s Toolkit) for a powerful session on:“Leveraging Psychology for Effective Behavioral Change with Process Gemba Walks.” Get slides and more Gemba walks are a cornerstone of Lean and continu...

Registration link To be presented Sept 30 at 5 pm ET by Tracy O'Rourke. Do you have a painful process, but people don’t seem to want to embrace change to improve it? Does it seem that people are comfortable with the status quo? One of the most powerful Change Management tools you have is…Gemba Walks!   Tracy O’Rourke Co-Author "The Problem-Solver's Toolkit" Co-Founder of the Just...

In this episode, Mark Graban reads a recent KaiNexus blog post by Danielle Yoon: “What Makes Employees Actually Participate in Continuous Improvement Programs?” Here is the blog post Employee participation is the heartbeat of any Lean or continuous improvement effort. Without it, even the best strategies stall. Drawing on research by Dr. Shweta Chopra and Jayaruwani Fernando—conducted inside a hea...

Read the blog post Summary The continuous improvement model is a systematic approach where organizations constantly implement small, incremental improvements to services, products, and processes. Built on seven core principles, this model enables businesses of any size to reduce waste, increase efficiency, and engage employees in meaningful change that directly supports strategic goals.

Read the blog post You’ve identified inefficiencies. You have a clear roadmap. You know your improvement initiative can move the needle. What's next? You need  executive buy-in . One of the most common challenges for CI and OpEx leaders is getting senior leadership to engage, support, and actively champion improvement work. It's not that leaders don't care about the performance of CI a...

The blog post Manufacturers in the automotive sector face significant pressures today, from rising material costs and supply chain disruptions to the demand for faster production times and stricter regulatory requirements. Achieving continuous quality improvement (CQI) remains critical, as it not only enhances product consistency and drives compliance but also helps manufacturers stay competitive...

Link to the blog post If you’re a CI leader, you’ve likely experienced the paradox: you’re driving improvements across the organization, but your executive team still sees your program as “supporting work” and not strategic work. You may hear positive feedback, even encouragement. But behind closed doors, your program is being measured against a different standard. The good news? The C-suite isn’t...

A webinar presented by Scott Gauvin, CEO of Macresco Consulting and the Co-founder of the Respect for People Roadmap Video, slides, and more Learning objectives: Identify the hidden barriers that prevent Lean from gaining traction—and discover practical strategies to overcome them Learn the nine behaviors leaders and employees can adopt to build a culture of continuous improvement Gain strategic i...

In this special episode, I'm joined by Bill Canady , CEO of Arrowhead Engineered Products and Chairman of OTC Industrial Technologies. Bill has spent over 30 years leading companies to profitable growth, building what he calls the “Profitable Growth Operating System.” He’s also the author of The 80/20 CEO , with a second book, From Panic to Profit , on the way soon. We recorded this live as pa...

Watch the recording Presented by Lindsey Booty, RN, BS, CNOR, is the Supervisor of Performance Improvement Christopher Thomas, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at LSUHSC and Chief Quality Officer LeaAnn Teague, MBA, MT(ASCP), SBB, PMP, is Sr. Director of Performance Improvement from  Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center In many hospitals, the process of recording, priorit...

In this special preview episode, Mark Graban is joined by Lindsey Booty, Supervisor of Performance Improvement at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Register for the webinar Lindsey shares how their team has built a culture of high reliability and accountability by combining weekly patient safety rounding with the powerful capabilities of KaiNexus—including wei...