Lean Blog Audio: Practical Lean Thinking, Psychological Safety, and Continuous Improvement

I'm planning two different workshops in the coming months:Boston 3/31: "Successful Lean Teams" - Personal Kanban (with Jim Benson) and Kaizen Indianapolis 4/22-23: On-site Kaizen Workshop at Franciscan St. Francis Health System

http://leanblog.org/audio19 This article caught my attention the other day: "Philly VA employees ask for golf shirts in suggestion box for improving veteran care." I hesitate to throw stones, but there are some very predictable dynamics involved here... and I will provide some ideas about a better approach and not just criticize.

It's easy to point fingers at others who don't do what they know they're supposed to do. It's sometimes helpful to be reflective and introspective instead of just trying to figure others out...

What is the "productivity paradox" as coined by Erik Brynjolfsson of MIT and is there also a "Kaizen paradox?" http://leanblog.org/audio17

I recently re-watched parts of a DVD I helped produce a few years back for the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value -- Thinking Lean at ThedaCare DVD: Strategy Deployment, Alignment&Leadership. In the video, ThedaCare's CEO, Dr. Dean Gruner, is talking about their "True North" objectives. First and foremost in that list is safety. We can include patient safety and provider/employee safety in...

http://leanblog.org/audio15 I have lived in Boston two different times, but I'm hardly a New England Patriots fan. I realize they have been accused of cheating (the previous "Spygate" controversy where they violated league rules by videotaping the hand signals of opposition defensive coaches and the recent "deflategate" controversy).For an organization to be truly admirable, integrity has to come...

My wife and I were late to the wildly popular podcast "Serial," but we listened to the first six episodes while traveling over the holidays. I ran hot and cold on the serialized non-fiction story about a murder... it was somewhat interesting, but a bit drawn out. The show requires a lot of patience (and at least eight hours of listening).I wonder how many of you were hooked on Serial, as many of m...

Here's look back at a post from 2011 that talks about some of the misunderstandings that are thrown around about Lean and Six Sigma, with some new content and an audio clip from a speaker who gets this very wrong.

A look back at my visit to a Toyota plant in Japan, with a group of global healthcare leaders, in November 2014 (part 2 of episode 11 of this series). Topics include andon cords, proper breaks, and 5s (or is it 4s?).

A look back at my visit to a Toyota plant in Japan, with a group of global healthcare leaders, in November 2014.

It's sad and unfortunate when leaders SAY they want a culture of continuous improvement, but don't walk the walk.

Working with a personal fitness trainer has helped me see parallels to what I do with Lean... how my clients maybe see the world and things that I can do better as a coach, trainer, mentor, and consultant. I don't often get to be on the "coachee" side of the coaching equation. When I work with other consultants, like Karen Martin, that gives me a chance to get coached -- receiving positive feedbac...

Continuing the“Throwback Thursday” theme for the 10th anniversary of my blog, today’s post looks back at and builds upon one of my favorites from 2007. The post is a “GM War Story” from 1995 when I was just starting my career: “GM Got Gamed (Or, How to Fudge Your Production Numbers)” You can hearthat in episode 1 of this podcast - http://www.leanblog.org/a...

It seems to me that a strategy deployment process can be described as a series of hypotheses that are tested over time. Strategy deployment is a high-level annual PDSA cycle that contains embedded PDSA cycles of analysis, improvement, measurement, and adjustment. http://leanblog.org/audio7

A post from 1/13/15. Why are healthcare professionals afraid to speak up, in military medicine or other settings? http://leanblog.org/audio6

A post from 1/12/15, looking at how the two teams in the College Football Playoff championship game are doing some things differently than the way things have always been done. http://leanblog.org/audio5

A post from 2007... I was thinking back to some first-hand experience I had when I started my career at a GM engine plant, circa 1995. It’s the most blatant example of someone intentionally distorting data that I’ve ever seen… but it’s totally understandable. I blame the senior leaders, not the front-line supervisor in this case...,

Looking back at two slides Mark used about 10 years when introducing Lean to healthcare executives http://leanblog.org/audio3

Mark describes some key points from the book "Four Days With Dr. Deming." Learn more at http://www.leanblog.org/audio2

This post is about the small difference that led a nurse supervisor and her team to go from "no ideas" to having lots of ideas. Visit http://www.leanblog.org/audio1 to read the original article http://www.leanblog.org/audio1