Mark Graban

I'm at the fourth annual KaiNexus User Conference in exciting Austin, Texas. We have customers here from many industries, which corresponds with the growth of KaiNexus and the way we've been pulled into other customers outside of our initial home in healthcare. In this post, I talk about a workshop I did yesterday and a talk I'm giving today.

oday's episode is the second time that friend and podcast guest Jamie Flinchbaugh has turned the tables by playing host to interview me about my new book, Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More, which has recently been the #1 best selling book in Amazon's Total Quality Management category. Jamie is very knowledgeable on these topics, so he was a great person to interview me and to have more of a conversation about choosing the right metrics and then managing them the right way. I hope you enjoy the conversation and future podcasts will return to the usual format where I interview guests and try to let them do most of the talking.

I presented a 30-minute webinar on Monday, August 27 at 1 pm EDT. This one was hosted by Lean Frontiers as part of their summer webinar series.

Here's a blog post written by three physicians: Can the auto industry improve spinal fusion surgery? It's interesting that they so closely associate Lean with the auto industry when, at this point, Lean is used in virtually every industry and setting. That's why I used the word "Lean" in the title of my blog post here. They are also authors of a journal article titled "Application of Lean Principles to Neurosurgical Procedures: The Case of Lumbar Spinal Fusion Surgery, a Literature Review and Pilot Series," published in Operative Neurosurgery. In my post, I comment on their work...

Here are a few items and thoughts related to "Process Behavior Charts" and my book Measures of Success. I'll share some charts related to sales of my book about charts and management. I'll also share an updated article of mine and two podcasts that had me on to talk about the book.

Today, I'm sharing a video and an update about this event that I'm helping organize in Texas, September 26 and 27, 2018: Symposium on Learning Organizations: Agile, Lean, Deming, and More

Why do people fear change? Why are adults afraid of talking about their fears? My guest today is eminently qualified to answer such questions and to provide advice that can help us. My guest for Episode #315 is Robert Maurer, Ph.D., author of the outstanding book Mastering Fear. Bob was previously my guest for Episode #153, where we discussed one of his earlier books on Kaizen, One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way. By the way, earlier this year I noticed that his other book The Spirit of Kaizen was one of the few books by an American author that Toyota was selling at the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology in Nagoya (see photo below). I hope you enjoy today's discussion on Mastering Fear. As the subtitle says, can we "harness emotion to achieve excellence in health, work, and relationships"?

Hosted by Catalysis, I shared some key concepts from my new book Measures of Success (now available in the Apple Books store among other places). This webinar was geared toward a healthcare audience that is also, likely, interested in or practicing elements of Lean Daily Management. This was held Monday, August 20 at noon EDT.

Somebody pointed Dominic Rubino to me as somebody who could be a guest on his podcast. His podcast is focused on cabinet makers and woodworkers. I don't know anything about that field. But, I think our conversation goes to show that concepts of Lean, Kaizen (continuous improvement), and practices for metrics are pretty transferrable across industries.

I haven't done a Throwback Thursday in a while, but here's a new one. I was reminded of an article I wrote for LinkedIn back in 2013: The Carrot and The Stick "On Steroids" The article begins: There are a few cliché expressions that I've heard a lot of recently at healthcare conferences. Some of these clichés really need to be retired, including the phrases "carrot and the stick" and "on steroids."

Today I have two guests joining me for Episode #314 of the podcast. They are Skip Steward, the Chief Improvement Officer at Baptist Memorial Health Care in Tennessee and Brandon Brown, the owner and "Master Kata Coach" of his firm, Continuous Coaching Commitment, LLC. In this episode, we discuss their use of methods such as "Training Within Industry" and "Toyota Kata" in the important work of healthcare improvement. Skip and Brandon both have backgrounds in manufacturing, but they have been able to translate Lean skills and mindsets into healthcare. We'll also talk about their dynamic as consultant / client and how the roles of "coach" and "learner" are often very situational and how we can be both at different times.

It's been a while since I've contributed something to the Lean Enterprise Institute's online publication, The Lean Post (see past articles). Today, they're allowing me to introduce some ideas from my book Measures of Success. Many "Lean thinkers" just haven't been exposed to these ideas. Many haven't read Deming or Wheeler... it's not their fault for not knowing of Process Behavior Charts and methods like this. But, I hope this post helps people see that "bowling charts" and "red/green" analysis are not the only way (or the best way) to look at metrics. My article: "React Less and Improve More by Using SPC More Effectively"