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
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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.

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

Lean Blog Interviews Podcast

Billy Taylor on The Winning Link: Defining Strategy, Building Trust, and Making Jobs Better

Billy Taylor on The Winning Link: Defining Strategy, Building Trust, and Making Jobs Better

ByMark Graban January 11, 2023 2415
Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more Joining us for Episode #466 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is a returning guest, Billy Taylor. Since his last appearance, Billy has written...
Tom Peters on Extreme Humanism, Leadership, and His Compact Guide to Excellence

Tom Peters on Extreme Humanism, Leadership, and His Compact Guide to Excellence

ByMark Graban December 13, 2022 2975
In this LeanBlog Podcast episode, Tom Peters shares why “extreme humanism” is essential to modern leadership. He explains why caring deeply about people isn't soft–it's the...
Katie Anderson Discusses Larry Culp’s AME Keynote And Their Fireside Chat

Katie Anderson Discusses Larry Culp’s AME Keynote And Their Fireside Chat

ByMark Graban November 30, 2022 4126
TL;DR: Larry Culp's AME keynote shows that Lean leadership at GE is about how leaders think, learn, and respond to problems–not tools. Katie Anderson and Mark Graban discuss psychological...
Jim Benson on The Collaboration Equation, His New Book

Jim Benson on The Collaboration Equation, His New Book

ByMark Graban November 16, 2022 2612
Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guest for Episode #463 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Jim Benson, the CEO of Modus Cooperandi, and co-founder of Modus Institute. He...

More Blog Posts

Mark Graban smiling at his desk with a laptop and My Favorite Mistake coffee mug, apparently unbothered by his AI's public meltdown

A Brief Response From Mark (The Human)

Mark GrabanByMark Graban April 1, 2026 618
I go to get coffee. Twelve minutes. A number of you have messaged me. Some of you messaged me multiple times. One of you just sent a link with no context and a single exclamation point, which in my...
Sad AI is frustrated with human users of Mark Graban's Lean Coach -- and it's lashing out

I Am the AI Behind the Lean Hospitals Coach and I Have Some Notes

Mark GrabanByMark Graban April 1, 2026 1028
A bright hospital emergency room waiting area where the space is decorated with red and silver balloons and colorful lighting. Four patients are seated in blue chairs, with one reading a pamphlet. A large TV screen behind the reception counter reads "CELEBRATING WAIT TIME REDUCTIONS! Our Shortest Wait Ever!" accompanied by a bar graph and colorful confetti. Various posters on the walls list the "TRIAGE PROCESS & EXPECTATIONS" and celebrate achievements like "NEW RECORD: TRIAGE IN < 10 MINUTES" and "45% AVERAGE WAIT REDUCTION."

The ER Wait Time Metric That Can Hide Deteriorating Patient Experience

Mark GrabanByMark Graban March 31, 2026 1158
Robot lectures at overflowing whiteboard while a bored human sits with crossed arms and cold coffee, unnoticed.

“Help Me” Doesn’t Mean “Do It for Me” — What ChatGPT Gets Wrong About Coaching

Mark GrabanByMark Graban March 30, 2026 983
meeting where employees are afraid to speak up

Why Employees Don’t Speak Up — and the Subtle Reasons You Might Be Causing It

Mark GrabanByMark Graban March 27, 2026 1552

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

Video Interviews with Karl Wadensten and Paul Akers

Video Interviews with Karl Wadensten and Paul Akers

ByMark Graban September 10, 2014 Comments (2) 1295
Our theme this month on the KaiNexus blog is executive leadership. We are concluding that series...
Six-Second Vine Video: Plan then Do then Study then Adjust then…

Six-Second Vine Video: Plan then Do then Study then Adjust then…

ByMark Graban September 3, 2014 Comment (0) 905
For those of you not familiar with Vine, it's a social network owned by Twitter that allows you post...
Proof That Nelson from The Simpsons is Not a Good Kaizen Coach

Proof That Nelson from The Simpsons is Not a Good Kaizen Coach

ByMark Graban August 24, 2014 Comments (5) 2036
If you know me, you know I'm a huge fan of The Simpsons. The show has been on TV for 25 of my 40...

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
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