Popular Posts
A Lean Management System That Doesn’t Depend on the Lean Team — Emily Swaney, OhioHealth Creating a Continuous Improvement System in Accounting: Nick Katko on PDCA, Culture, and Psychological Safety Signals & Levers: Elisabeth Hendrickson and Joel Tosi on Change Theater, Open Loops, and Systems Thinking for Software Teams
No posts found.

Mark Graban

Lean Leadership, Psychological Safety, and Continuous Improvement

Since 2005, LeanBlog.org has shared practical insights from real-world work in healthcare, manufacturing, and beyond.

Books Keynote Speaking Coaching / Advisory Podcasts
Books by Mark Graban on Lean, Leadership, and Learning (4)

Lean Blog Interviews Podcast

John Toussaint, MD on Potent Medicine and Reforming Healthcare Through Lean

John Toussaint, MD on Potent Medicine and Reforming Healthcare Through Lean

ByMark Graban May 2, 2012 1760
Episode #146 is a discussion with a returning guest (#54, #62, #72), John Toussaint, MD, the CEO of the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value. Today, we're talking about his latest book, recently...
Podcast #145 – Interview with Natalie Sayer, Author ‘Lean for Dummies’

Podcast #145 – Interview with Natalie Sayer, Author ‘Lean for Dummies’

ByMark Graban April 25, 2012 1671
Episode #145 is a conversation with Natalie J. Sayer, co-author of the recently updated 2nd edition of the book Lean For Dummies. I was able to meet Natalie at the recent ASQ Lean and Six Sigma...
Dean Gruner on Lean Healthcare and Accountable Care Organizations at ThedaCare

Dean Gruner on Lean Healthcare and Accountable Care Organizations at ThedaCare

ByMark Graban April 16, 2012 2503
Episode #144 is a discussion with Dean Gruner, MD, the president & CEO of ThedaCare, talking about Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and how ThedaCare is using this approach, along with Lean...
Podcast #143 – Mark Graban & Ron Pereira (Gemba Academy): SPC Webinar Q&A, Statistical Process Control and Management

Podcast #143 – Mark Graban & Ron Pereira (Gemba Academy): SPC Webinar Q&A, Statistical Process Control and Management

ByMark Graban April 5, 2012 1349
Listen Like podcast #133, this episode is a Q&A that follows up a webinar I did for my good friends at Gemba Academy recently, on the topic “Using Statistical Process Control (SPC) to Make...

More Blog Posts

Happy 5th Birthday to Measures of Success: Lessons from Five Years in Print

Happy 5th Birthday to Measures of Success: Lessons from Five Years in Print

Mark GrabanByMark Graban March 11, 2024 2083
TL;DR: Five years after the print release of Measures of Success, the core lesson still holds: reacting less to data and understanding variation leads to better leadership decisions–yet many...

Ryan McCormack’s Operational Excellence Mixtape: March 8, 2024

Ryan McCormackByRyan McCormack March 8, 2024 5223
**Alt Text:** A presentation slide from GE Aerospace's Investor Day featuring CEO Larry Culp. The slide is titled "Introducing - FLIGHT DECK" and includes the following text: - GE Aerospace's **proprietary lean operating model** - A **systematic** approach to running our business to deliver exceptional value as measured through the eyes of our **customers** - **Accelerating** our lean progress to ensure focused execution as a public company Larry Culp is pictured on the left side of the slide, wearing a black suit and speaking against a backdrop with a gradient of warm colors. On the right side, there is an image of a turbine or engine component. The GE Aerospace logo is displayed at the bottom, and the slide is marked "2024 GE Aerospace Investor Day" with the page number 13.

Inside GE Aerospace’s Flight Deck: How Larry Culp Leads with Lean and Safety

Mark GrabanByMark Graban March 7, 2024 11988

Why Psychological Safety Should Lead to Candor — Not “Being Vulnerable” at Work

Mark GrabanByMark Graban March 6, 2024 5434

A Better Question Than “Do You Have Any Questions?”

Mark GrabanByMark Graban March 5, 2024 2007

Webinars

karen martin ask the expert webinar kainexus

Ask Karen Martin Anything on Operational Excellence: A KaiNexus Webinar

March 5, 2026
Karen Martin is one of those people I've been lucky to know and learn from for a long time. She's...
1. Professor with glasses in front of EMS 20th anniversary logo and KaiNexus logo on blue background.

Unlock the Power of Leadership: A Preview of the Electrolux Manufacturing System (EMS) Webinar

December 4, 2025
KaiNexus recently hosted a webinar I was especially looking forward to: “Unlock the Power of...
Breaking Through Cultural Friction: Respect for People and Sustainable Performance

Breaking Through Cultural Friction: Respect for People and Sustainable Performance

June 9, 2025
When organizations struggle to sustain Lean transformation, people often look first at tools...
Driving a Culture of Patient Safety: Lessons for Healthcare and Beyond

Driving a Culture of Patient Safety: Lessons for Healthcare and Beyond

April 28, 2025
Recently, I had the pleasure of moderating a webinar titled “Driving a Culture of Transforming...
Why Lean Fails Without Psychological Safety

Why Lean Fails Without Psychological Safety

April 16, 2025
TL;DR: Lean tools don't fail because people resist change–they fail because people don't feel...
Preview: Driving a Culture of Accountability – Transforming Patient Safety with KaiNexus (Webinar, April 15)

Preview: Driving a Culture of Accountability – Transforming Patient Safety with KaiNexus (Webinar, April 15)

April 8, 2025
One of the most powerful elements of continuous improvement is the ability to learn from each other...
My Upcoming Webinar on Mistake-Proofing Across Industries

My Upcoming Webinar on Mistake-Proofing Across Industries

February 3, 2025
I'm excited to be presenting this webinar on February 12th at 1 pm ET as part of the KaiNexus...
Top 5 Takeaways from my KaiNexus Webinar: Psychological Safety as a Precondition for Continuous Improvement

Top 5 Takeaways from my KaiNexus Webinar: Psychological Safety as a Precondition for Continuous Improvement

January 8, 2025
TL;DR: Psychological safety isn't optional for continuous improvement. This KaiNexus webinar...
Creating Leader Standard Work (LSW) Across a Distributed Business Model — Webinar Preview

Creating Leader Standard Work (LSW) Across a Distributed Business Model — Webinar Preview

November 7, 2024
I'm happy to be hosting and moderating this webinar that will be presented by Brent Loescher, a...
Embedding Change Management into your Continuous Improvement Initiatives – Webinar Preview

Embedding Change Management into your Continuous Improvement Initiatives – Webinar Preview

September 25, 2024
I'm happy to be hosting and moderating this webinar that will be presented by Melissa Sherman, a...
View Our “Ask Us Anything” Event on Psychological Safety and Lean

View Our “Ask Us Anything” Event on Psychological Safety and Lean

August 20, 2024
Psychological safety is often described as “feeling safe to speak up.” In Lean...
From Strategy to Execution: Webinar with Karen Friedenberg

From Strategy to Execution: Webinar with Karen Friedenberg

July 17, 2024
Are you looking to transform your business strategy into actionable results? Join us for our...

Videos

No posts found.

Mark Graban on YouTube

Psychological safety means everybody can have their say. It doesn’t mean they get their way. The goal is candor, not agreement. Psychological safety also isn’t all or nothing. It varies by team, by who’s in the room, and by topic. Someone might feel safe pointing out a machine that’s been down all week, but not safe saying the project is $50,000 over budget. That’s why it’s a problem when a leader says, “We already have psychological safety.” The people who say that are often the ones who feel safest. This clip is from my new course, Leading with Psychological Safety, from TKMG Academy. The course covers: 🔵 What psychological safety is, and common misconceptions 🔵 The four stages of psychological safety (from Timothy R. Clark) 🔵 Two reasons people stay silent: fear and futility 🔵 Four leadership behaviors that build it: Model, Encourage, Enable, and Reward 🔵 How to assess progress 13 lessons, about an hour total. Also available in Spanish. Learn more and purchase here: https://tkmgacademy.com/courses/leading-with-psychological-safety/
Psychological Safety Means Everyone Gets Their Say, Not Their Way
Someone sees a problem coming, a wrong assumption, or a risk in the plan. They don’t say anything, and the moment passes. That silence is what this course is about. People speak up when two things are true: it feels safe, and it feels worthwhile. In Leading with Psychological Safety, my new course from TKMG Academy, I explain what leaders can do to create both conditions. The course is for senior leaders, frontline managers, continuous improvement professionals, consultants, educators, and anyone who wants a culture where people speak up to improve how work gets done. The course covers: 🔵 What psychological safety is, and common misconceptions 🔵 The four stages of psychological safety (from Timothy R. Clark) 🔵 Two reasons people stay silent: fear and futility 🔵 Four leadership behaviors that build it: Model, Encourage, Enable, and Reward 🔵 How to assess progress 13 lessons, about an hour total. Also available in Spanish. Available now. Learn more and purchase here: https://tkmgacademy.com/courses/leading-with-psychological-safety/ Music used with permission, copyright ID code AA2WMUIT7Z48VWPQ
Why People Stay Silent at Work: Leading with Psychological Safety Preview
Counting how many teams run Agile ceremonies is measuring activity, not improvement. Elisabeth Hendrickson and Joel Tosi call that “change theater,” and it’s one of the illusions their new book Signals & Levers is built to dismantle. In Episode 550 of Lean Blog Interviews, I talk with Elisabeth and Joel about Signals & Levers: Systems Thinking Tools to Unblock Software Delivery (IT Revolution, September 2026). The book applies systems thinking, Deming, Shewhart, Argyris, and Donella Meadows to software delivery, but most of the conversation applies to any organization trying to improve. In this conversation: 🔵 The three illusions that travel together: predictability, progress, and control 🔵 Why “running open loop” means changing things without ever checking whether the change worked 🔵 How organizations accidentally create latency by separating strategy from execution and skills from each other 🔵 Why Joel introduced process behavior charts (Shewhart charts) to software teams, and what he wanted to stop arguing about 🔵 Why story points are an opinion, cycle time is a fact, and doing math on an opinion still gives you an opinion 🔵 Why a Chris Argyris “Model One” organization scores itself high on psychological safety surveys while behaving otherwise 🔵 Why you can’t fix fear by telling people to be brave Chapters: 00:00 Meet Elisabeth Hendrickson and Joel Tosi 04:30 Origin stories and a Toyota supplier lesson 11:50 Systems thinking applied to software 14:07 Three illusions: predictability, progress, control 17:32 Every change is a hypothesis 20:16 Open loop vs closed loop 25:24 Change theater and measuring activity 28:15 Latency that organizations create by accident 36:21 Process behavior charts and variability 44:11 Why story points are opinions 47:17 Psychological safety surveys that mislead 55:31 You can't fix fear by telling people to be brave 58:40 Everyone has levers About the guests: Elisabeth Hendrickson is the founder of Curious Duck Digital Laboratory, where she advises and coaches technology leaders. She was previously VP of R&D at Pivotal, leading about 170 engineers, product managers, and designers, and she is the author of Explore It! Joel Tosi is co-founder and CTO of Dojo & Co., which helps organizations improve the flow of work through immersive learning environments. He has more than 25 years of experience delivering software and is co-author of Creating Your Dojo and Coaching for Learning. Joel previously appeared in Episode 351 with Dion Stewart: https://www.leanblog.org/351 Signals & Levers: https://link.amazon/B0cmgBGmU Curious Duck Digital Laboratory: https://curiousduck.io Dojo & Co.: https://www.dojoandco.com Full show notes and transcript: https://www.leanblog.org/550 Mark Graban is an author, consultant, and speaker on Lean management, continuous improvement, and psychological safety. His books include Lean Hospitals, Healthcare Kaizen, Measures of Success, and The Mistakes That Make Us. His next book is The Silence Tax: How Lean Leaders Drive Out Fear and Futility. He hosts the Lean Blog Interviews and My Favorite Mistake podcasts and writes at https://www.leanblog.org Subscribe for more conversations on Lean, leadership, psychological safety, and continuous improvement. #LeanBlogInterviews #SystemsThinking #SignalsAndLevers #SoftwareDelivery #PsychologicalSafety #ProcessBehaviorCharts #ChangeTheater #Deming #DevOps #ContinuousImprovement
Change Theater and the Illusion of Progress | Elisabeth Hendrickson & Joel Tosi
Subscribe

Trending now

Retro cassette tape with unspooled brown magnetic tape winding across a table past three map location pins, a coffee cup, and a map
Ryan McCormack’s Operational Excellence Mixtape: September 25, 2026
Joel Tosi and Elisabeth Hendrickson stand against a light blue radial background, one holding a megaphone and the other presenting on a podium
Signals & Levers: Elisabeth Hendrickson and Joel Tosi on Change Theater, Open Loops, and Systems Thinking for Software Teams
Man in light blue shirt standing indoors next to icons indicating conditions for speaking up, safe, and worthwhile.
Why People Stay Silent at Work: My New Psychological Safety Course
Nick Katko in blue shirt beside chalkboard reading ACCOUNTING with chalk gears labeled Payable, Ledger, Assets, Expenditure, Review
Creating a Continuous Improvement System in Accounting: Nick Katko on PDCA, Culture, and Psychological Safety