Popular Posts
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 How Toyota Turned Around Its Kentucky Plant: Darril Wilburn on Leadership
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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.

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Books by Mark Graban on Lean, Leadership, and Learning (4)

Lean Blog Interviews Podcast

Lean Transformation: Revolutionizing the Housing Industry with Mike Kaeding

Lean Transformation: Revolutionizing the Housing Industry with Mike Kaeding

ByMark Graban October 4, 2023 2534
Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guest for Episode #486 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Mike Kaeding, the CEO of Norhart. They design, build, and rent apartments. They...
Lean Interview with Erica Lee Garcia on Navigating Change, Suggestion Programs, and Much More

Lean Interview with Erica Lee Garcia on Navigating Change, Suggestion Programs, and Much More

ByMark Graban September 20, 2023 2831
Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guest for Episode #485 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Erica Lee Garcia, a perfect blend of problem solver, leader, and entrepreneur...
Reflections on GE’s Lean Mindset Event: Learning, Leadership, and Culture

Reflections on GE’s Lean Mindset Event: Learning, Leadership, and Culture

ByMark Graban September 12, 2023 5615
This bonus episode captures an unscripted, post-event conversation with Jim Womack, Katie Anderson, Jamie V. Parker, and Mark Graban reflecting on GE's “Lean Mindset” event. Together, we...
Interview with Keith Ingels on Developing Your People and Making Lean /TPS Your Own

Interview with Keith Ingels on Developing Your People and Making Lean /TPS Your Own

ByMark Graban September 6, 2023 2869
Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guest for Episode #484 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Keith Ingels, who previously joined us in Episode 390. He's the RLM Manager of...

More Blog Posts

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Ryan McCormack’s Operational Excellence Mixtape: May 15, 2026

Ryan McCormackByRyan McCormack May 15, 2026 4258
Thanks, as always, to Ryan McCormack for this. He always shares so much good reading, listening, and viewing here! Subscribe to get these directly from Ryan via email. News, articles, books, podcasts...
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GM Wrote It Down in 1987. They Still Didn’t Get It. [Lean Coffee Talk]

Mark GrabanByMark Graban May 15, 2026 8694
Lean Blog Post Cover Image - 2026-05-03T211750.203

The Magic of Small, Odd Experiments: What Rory Sutherland Can Teach Lean Practitioners

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MLB Walks Are Up With Robot Umpires. The Skill Is Knowing What to Ignore.

Mark GrabanByMark Graban May 12, 2026 590
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What a “Perfect” Process Map Missed: A Lesson From Third Shift

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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

See How a British Psychiatrist is Using LEGO Videos to Explain Lean Healthcare

See How a British Psychiatrist is Using LEGO Videos to Explain Lean Healthcare

ByMark Graban July 21, 2015 Comment (0) 1468
A collection of creative videos was recently brought to my attention and I'd like to share them...
What’s a Kanban System? This Video From Saskatchewan Provides a Great Overview

What’s a Kanban System? This Video From Saskatchewan Provides a Great Overview

ByMark Graban June 8, 2015 Comments (11) 1958
Today, I'm sharing a 10-minute video that was shared by the Five Hills Health Region within the...
Safety Huddles in Healthcare: How Daily Huddles Improve Patient Safety

Safety Huddles in Healthcare: How Daily Huddles Improve Patient Safety

ByMark Graban May 13, 2015 Comments (5) 2391
Following up on yesterday's post on seemingly successful experiments with ACOs, here's another...

Mark Graban on YouTube

How did Toyota’s Georgetown, Kentucky plant go from needing to build almost 90% of its capacity just to break even, to a much healthier 60%? Former Toyota team member Darril Wilburn, co-author with Hiro Yoshiki of Courage, Humility, Kaizen: The Three Disciplines of Toyota Leadership, tells the inside story. We talk about the andon cord myth, “healthy paranoia,” why Toyota never talked about being number one, sending managers back through jishuken, why every VP’s first A3 was sent back by design, and why doing TPS was never the point. Full episode page, links, show notes, and transcript: https://leanblog.org/551 What you’ll learn: 🔵 What really happens when someone pulls the andon cord 🔵 Why psychological safety at Toyota includes being challenged 🔵 How “healthy paranoia” keeps an organization from getting complacent 🔵 How TMMK cut its break-even point from nearly 90% to 60% 🔵 Why Hiro Yoshiki rejected blame and focused on equipping people to succeed 🔵 How Toyota turned its masters’ know-how into teachable curriculum 🔵 Why humility had to be built into how executives were developed Chapters: 00:00 Introducing Darril Wilburn and Courage, Humility, Kaizen 01:47 How Darril met Hiro Yoshiki 05:52 The andon cord myth 07:59 How andon escalation actually works 11:35 Building psychological safety before line-off 13:23 Respect for humanity includes challenge 15:56 Healthy paranoia 18:36 Why Toyota didn’t talk about being number one 20:03 Toyota’s careful entry into the U.S. 22:36 Rapid expansion and a 90% break-even point 24:47 The turnaround: from 90% to 60% 25:39 No blame 27:00 Pulling wisdom out of the masters 30:36 Why expertise had to be dragged out 33:52 Breaking the cycle of rescue teams 35:11 Jishuken and the humility to relearn 37:04 Straight talk instead of spin 40:35 Hiro, not heroes 42:52 Formal and informal communication 46:08 Can you help someone become more humble? 47:42 Every VP sent back on the first A3 51:07 “Doing TPS was never the point” 52:32 Toyota is a business 53:48 Stop counting kaizens when you’re losing money 54:36 Closing Subscribe to Lean Blog Interviews for more conversations on Lean, leadership, continuous improvement, and psychological safety: http://leancast.org/ #Toyota #LeanManagement #ToyotaWay #Kaizen #Leadership #ContinuousImprovement #PsychologicalSafety
Toyota’s Kentucky Turnaround: Courage, Humility, Kaizen | Darril Wilburn
Wrong-site surgery didn’t disappear once healthcare introduced timeouts, checklists, and surgical-site marking. In this clip, Dr. David Mayer explains why those safeguards matter—but also why they aren’t enough on their own. Healthcare began improving these systems because clinicians started talking openly about errors that had previously remained hidden. Without transparency, organizations lose the opportunity to understand how mistakes happen and prevent them from happening again. That’s the larger patient-safety lesson: checklists and mistake-proofing matter, but learning also requires a culture where people can speak openly about errors, near misses, and system failures. This clip is from my My Favorite Mistake conversation with Dr. David Mayer about wrong-site surgery, medical error, transparency, and patient safety. #PatientSafety #MedicalErrors #SurgicalSafety #Healthcare #PsychologicalSafety #MyFavoriteMistake
Why Wrong-Site Surgery Still Happens — Even With Checklists
What happens when experienced problem-solvers start letting AI do the thinking for them? In this clip, Dr. Jeffrey Liker shares a cautionary story from a hospital CEO. Highly trained problem-solvers started using AI—and, as he puts it, “forgot everything they knew about problem-solving.” They were jumping to AI-generated solutions, sometimes solving the wrong problems, without finding root causes or testing their assumptions. The response wasn’t to abandon AI. It was to use it differently. Instead of asking AI for solutions, they learned to prompt it to challenge their assumptions and push their thinking. The result: AI became more of a sparring partner than a substitute for problem-solving. This clip is from an upcoming episode of Lean Blog Interviews with Dr. Jeffrey Liker, author of *The Toyota Way* and the new book *Tech and AI: The Toyota Way: Think, Test, and Learn Your Way to Prudent, Targeted Technology Adoption*. Full episode coming soon. https://www.leancast.org #Lean #AI #ProblemSolving #ToyotaWay #ContinuousImprovement #Leadership
AI Problem-Solving: Stop Asking for Answers, Ask Better Questions
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