Are your improvement efforts falling flat, or are you constantly chasing red dots? Are you interested in improving the way we improve?
I've had to re-tool my Cincinnati workshop (June 17th) since my collaboration partner is now, unfortunately, unable to make it.
Join me for a practical and thought-provoking day exploring two essential foundations for sustainable performance: psychological safety and modern leadership metrics.
In the morning, we'll explore how psychological safety fuels continuous improvement–not just as a “nice to have” but as a must-have.
In the afternoon, we'll untangle data confusion and overreaction by learning to apply Process Behavior Charts and other concepts from my book Measures of Success.
This interactive workshop is for executives and change leaders who want to lead clearly, respond thoughtfully to variation, and create the conditions for people to feel safe speaking up and improving.
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More Info:
One Full-Day Workshop | Two Practical Sessions | One Powerful Transformation
Join internationally recognized author and consultant Mark Graban—recipient of the 2025 Shingo Publication Award–for a full-day executive workshop focused on elevating your organization's approach to leadership, culture, and performance improvement.
This interactive workshop is designed for executives and improvement professionals who want to lead more effectively, react less, and create the conditions for sustainable success.
Morning Session: Psychological Safety as a Foundation for Continuous Improvement
Most improvement efforts fail not because of bad strategy or weak tools, but because people don't feel safe enough to speak up.
In this eye-opening and practical morning session, you'll explore how psychological safety fuels innovation, quality, and engagement–especially in environments striving for continuous improvement.
You'll learn:
- What psychological safety is–and what it is not
- The Four Stages of Psychological Safety and how to assess progress
- Key leader behaviors that foster trust, openness, and respectful challenge
- Why psychological safety is essential to any Lean, Agile, or CI initiative
This session is grounded in real business outcomes, not theory. You'll participate in anonymous polling, guided discussion, and peer exchange to explore how to build cultures where people speak up, share ideas, and drive improvement forward.
Afternoon Session: Measures of Success – React Less, Lead Better, Improve More
In the second half of the day, we shift to data and decision-making. Are you tired of chasing every red dot on a dashboard? Frustrated by arbitrary targets and knee-jerk reactions?
This session introduces concepts from Mark's acclaimed book Measures of Success, including a live hands-on facilitation of Deming's Red Bead Experiment–a fun and revealing way to uncover the flaws in traditional performance management.
You'll leave with practical skills to:
- Create and interpret Process Behavior Charts (PBCs)
- Distinguish between “signal” and “noise” in your performance metrics
- Identify real improvement–and avoid overreacting to common-cause variation
- Connect better measurement with more effective leadership and coaching
This isn't about dashboards. It's about leading with clarity in the face of complexity.
Who Should Attend
- CEOs, COOs, and other senior executives
- Continuous improvement, quality, and operations leaders
- HR and culture leaders driving organizational transformation
- Anyone responsible for performance, safety, or innovation
Why Attend
- Learn how psychological safety unlocks performance–not just engagement
- Equip your leaders to stop overreacting and start improving
- Understand and apply modern methods for leading with data
- Leave with tools, templates, and a new lens for smarter leadership
Casual and Relaxed Networking — Take Me Out to the Ballgame!
As an added bonus, each class has been specifically scheduled to join a group (led by Mark) to enjoy a Cincinnati Reds home game at nearby Great American Ballpark, providing for a relaxed setting to continue valuable conversations with the facilitators and attendees after the workshop.
Free Copies of Measures of Success and The Mistakes That Make Us.
Each attendee will receive a signed copies of Mark's two latest books, Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More and The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation.
Possible Bourbon Distillery Visits
For those willing and able to stay over for Wednesday, June 18th, we have possibilities of arranging a tour of the nearby New Riff Distillery in Newport, KY — or to possibly take a group trip further south to famed distilleries such as Buffalo Trace or Woodford Reserve.
Questions?
If you have any questions about the aim of the workshop, the agenda, or expected outcomes, please contact Mark Graban.
Location Details
The location will be announced soon. It will be held in downtown Cincinnati, or one of the two Kentucky towns that are directly across the river — Newport or Covington.
If you're attending from out of town, everything is walkable or a short Uber ride away once you arrive from the CVG airport.
Who should attend: CEOs, COOs, CI leaders, HR, safety, and ops executives.
Leave with tools, new thinking, and a renewed ability to lead smarter–not just harder. I hope you'll join us.
Save 10% using code LEANBLOG.
See testimonials from recent participants below…
Testimonials from Australia and New Zealand Participants
I recently taught this same workshop in six cities across Australia and New Zealand. Here are some testimonials from the attendees:
“Psychological Safety is an important behaviour for leaders in this decade to learn and mentor their team members, getting to know and think about how we create a safe environment in workplace was really inspiring and insightful. Thank you.
“Great session using practical examples and very good practical examples and discussion.”
“This event has been so valuable to reinforce the work my team does,and meet like minded people doing the same work and facing similar challenges in their organizations. Mark was a fantastic, knowledgeable presenter who shared experiences and techniques in ways that made sense and that I can see as applicable in my day job.”
“Mark is a very good speaker. I enjoyed the red bead task it was fun and something different in the day.”
“The AME workshop was very engaging and insightful. It was great to also meet people from other organisations and hear about their experience and share stories throughout the session. The presenter was very knowledgeable, entertaining and grabbed our attention throughout the session. The content was very relevant to what we do, practical and engaging. I highly recommend attending.”
“Being fairly new to Lean principles and all that comes with it, I still found this workshop very interesting and engaging. As a designer in manufacturing I'd recommend this to expand your thinking.”
“Really liked how Mark showed how basic charts can show so much data. Really enjoyed it and I'll take a lot back to the workplace with me. Thanks.”
“Such a great introduction to Psychological Safety in the workplace, so much to take away and implement in our teams.”
“Clear, engaging and well researched on the topic. Highly rated.”
“Enjoyable and thought provoking session delivered by an absolute expert in his field.”
“10/10 a great introduction to phychological safety.”
“Engaging fun session – good to see a CI specialist focus both on data and the human side of CI.”
“A terrific, engaged day with practical relevant outcomes. Mark is a great speaker and able to breakdown philosophies to an enjoyable and understandable approach.”
“A great way to think about how to do better in your job, without all the ‘corporate jargon'”
“Great workshop full of practical information on psychological safety and application of process behaviour charts. It has definitely improved the way I improve.”
“A fantastic interactive activity that brought to light the simple concepts in an accessible way to dramatically change approaches to data and improvement.”
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Let’s build a culture of continuous improvement and psychological safety—together. If you're a leader aiming for lasting change (not just more projects), I help organizations:
- Engage people at all levels in sustainable improvement
- Shift from fear of mistakes to learning from them
- Apply Lean thinking in practical, people-centered ways
Interested in coaching or a keynote talk? Let’s talk.
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While Toyota does not use Red-Green charts for performance management, Western management seems fascinated by them. In some circles, it is apocryphal to suggest that there is a better way to chart process performance. While Red-Green charts are simple and intuitive with emotion-laden color coding, they do not, as you have so well illustrated, communicate an accurate report of process performance. What is going on in many daily management meetings today is similar to what Daniel Pink described in his TED Talk about motivation: There is a big differences between what science knows and what management does.
Well said, Eric.
I haven’t seen evidence in my travels of Toyota using Process Behavior Charts for their metrics, though.
Mark, Yes. That is my understanding as well. They used control chart many years ago and I believe still teach them as basic quality tools, but formal, regular use of control charts is rare today.
I suspect they think of control charts as a “manufacturing quality” tool, the way GM did even back in 1995 when I worked there — looking at the size of holes in machined parts, etc. Instead of viewing them as a tool for performance metrics.
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