tl;dr: Deming’s Red Bead Experiment shows that most performance variation in healthcare comes from the system–not individual effort. Incentives, threats, and goals don’t reduce defects; leadership must redesign the system and create psychological safety for improvement. Later next month, at the Northeast L.E.A.N. Conference, I’m facilitating the famous “Red Bead Experiment” of W. Edwards Deming (sometimes referred to as the “Red Bead Game”). If you will be there, please join me on Tuesday, September 29. … Continue reading Running Deming’s Red Bead Experiment: What Healthcare Leaders Must Learn About Systems