I recorded my Podcast interview with Dr. Sami Bahri, “The First Lean Dentist,” last night. What a treat it has been to talk with Dr. Bahri. I can’t wait to get this edited and released so you all can hear the discussion. Dr. Bahri is pretty humble, but I am so incredibly impressed with his Lean understanding — the tools, the employee involvement, the management system, the drive for continuous improvement.

One example of what jumped out at me was his discussion of leadership and PDCA. I’m paraphrasing, but Dr. Bahri said he tells his employees “Don’t trust me” when he has an idea. He doesn’t want them implementing or changing something because he says so. He wants them experimenting to see if the idea works or not. Sometimes the ideas don’t work, and that’s OK. He is setting a great example of PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) for his employees, so they will give their own suggestions and follow that same model.

About LeanBlog.org: Mark Graban is a consultant, author, and speaker in the “lean healthcare” methodology, focused on improving quality and patient safety, improving access, reducing costs, and fully engaging healthcare professionals. He is also the Chief Improvement Officer for KaiNexus.

Tagged as: Doctor, Healthcare, Kaizen, Leadership, Lean Dentist