Mark Graban

Joining me for Episode #303 is Craig Deao, a senior leader with Studer Group. Today, we're talking about his book The E-Factor: How Engaged Patients, Clinicians, Leaders, and Employees Will Transform Healthcare. We'll talk about the differences between satisfaction and engagement, how to tell if people are engaged in their work, and how to engage various stakeholders, including employees, clinicians, and executives. We'll also talk about how Studer Group became a recipient of the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award in 2010.

Measures matter. The proper analysis of data and performance metrics allow us to separate good changes from bad, progress from stagnation. The methods in my book, Measures of Success, help us determine if our performance is getting better, getting worse, or essentially remains unchanged. Having the right set of balanced scorecard metrics is important. But the role of leaders is important, too. How do leaders interpret measures? How do they respond to changes in metrics? How do they know if a change is worth reacting to?

Last week, a nurse manager downloaded the free first chapter of my book Lean Hospitals and wrote this message in the contact form: "Interested to see how the disconnect between management and the staff supervised can be helped. Too many managers refuse to help those they supervise. A growing number have never done the work that they are in charge of getting done. Patients and residents feel it, not healthy. Poor PR. It does get back to the consumer. Difficult to fix at that point." In my experience working with many hospitals, her comments resonate with me. Identifying problems like these doesn't mean Lean provides easy solutions for organizational transformation.

I'm really happy to be playing the role of host for this free webinar that's being presented next Friday, March 30th: Engaging Leaders and the Baldrige Framework to Advance Excellence A Look into the Extraordinary Work at Mary Greeley Medical Center The webinar is being presented by Karen Kiel-Rosser and Ron Smith from Mary Greeley Medical Center. If you can't attend the live session, we'll send you the recording if you register. The throwback component of this post is a look back at a podcast that I did with Karen three years ago this month:

My guest for Episode #302 is Katie Anderson. Today, we're chatting because I've just returned from a short trip to Japan and Katie's going back in May (and you can join her). We're sharing observations and reflections on topics ranging from standardized work to Kaizen. Would it be easier to "implement Lean" (or whatever term you'd use) if you're a Japanese organization? And what are some of the approaches you see with quality improvement and Lean in Japan's hospitals? Our conversation also meanders into topics like eating sushi and more.

Over the years, many people have asked me some variation of the question: "Why are my employees not embracing Lean?" More often than not, the tone of the question is of blame... blaming the employees for not embracing Lean. In this post, I share something I originally wrote on LinkedIn and I'll elaborate a bit and share some of the LinkedIn comments...

Today, I'd like to share the latest in my series of articles about "Champions of Change," which is based on a discussion I had with Joe Swartz about continuous improvement in materials and supply chain settings.

Today, I'd like to share the latest in my series of articles about "Champions of Change," which is based on a discussion I had with Suzi Collins, an experienced Lean healthcare supply chain leader.

Monday, I blogged about the sushi-making class I took on my last Sunday in Japan. Later that same Sunday, I did a walking food tour in the Shibuya area. Walking food tours are a great way to explore and learn about a city. In our small group, there was a couple from Australia and a retired couple from South Africa. Between stops on the tour, the South African gentleman, a retired mining company manager or executive, asked me why I was there in Japan for work.

I’ve heard a lot of rumblings recently about what might be happening at ThedaCare, a health system in Wisconsin that’s been considered one of the best examples of "Lean healthcare" anywhere in the world for more than a decade. It seems that there is an evolution occurring in their approach to Lean. I’ve received a formal statement from ThedaCare public relations, which you can find in this post, so I will stick to the facts that they have given me and other information that's publicly available online.

Last week, I got back from my third trip to Japan and we visited three hospitals, Toyota, another manufacturer, and heard from a cafeteria services company leader about their Lean and continuous improvement journeys. As I've blogged about before, some of these organizations have been practicing TQM for 30 years and are adding elements of Lean methods on top of that foundation. I'm hardly an expert on Japan. I still feel like I view the country with fresh eyes. Standards and Standardized Work... at Work During this trip, I heard a number of people talk about the cultural imperative about following rules and laws. In the workplace, we might call these rules "standardized work"...

I sometimes try to share some light or funny on Fridays to get into the weekend with a laugh. I want to thank @BrianSJ on Twitter for his tweet pointing me to a hilarious video from a British TV show "That Mitchell and Webb Look."