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Ten Psychological Safety Outcomes, and What They Do and Don’t Prove The Independent Double Check and the Risk of Human Error Somebody Pulled the Cord and the Chairman of Radiology Showed Up
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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

Don Koeffer, smiling in a professional setting, with colleagues in the background discussing data charts.

How Don Kieffer Applies Toyota Thinking to Modern Knowledge Work

ByMark Graban December 3, 2025 4278
Why do so many Lean efforts fail in offices, engineering, and executive work? In this episode, Don Kieffer explains why copying Toyota's rituals misses the point–and how Dynamic Work Design...
From Firefighting to Flow — Darren Walsh on Lean Leadership Routines That Sustain Results

From Firefighting to Flow — Darren Walsh on Lean Leadership Routines That Sustain Results

ByMark Graban November 12, 2025 3322
Why do so many Lean efforts stall after early wins? In this episode, Darren Walsh explains why firefighting feels productive but prevents real progress–and how leaders can build daily routines...
Why Leaders Get Trapped in Firefighting: Nelson Repenning on Lean, Flow, and Work Design

Why Leaders Get Trapped in Firefighting: Nelson Repenning on Lean, Flow, and Work Design

ByMark Graban October 29, 2025 4713
Why do capable leaders spend their days firefighting instead of improving the system? In this episode, MIT professor Nelson Repenning explains how poorly designed work systems trap organizations in...
Why Psychological Safety Is Essential to Quality and Continuous Improvement

Why Psychological Safety Is Essential to Quality and Continuous Improvement

ByMark Graban October 22, 2025 9675
In this special bonus episode, Mark Graban and C.J. Kaufman preview the ASQ Cincinnati-Dayton 2025 conference and explore why quality, leadership, and psychological safety are inseparable foundations...

More Blog Posts

Factory equipment cabinet stenciled with two identical labels reading LEAN and TPS

Toyota Doesn’t Call It Lean? Its Own Websites Say Otherwise

Mark GrabanByMark Graban August 17, 2026 222
Somebody says it in the comments of nearly every post about Lean, usually with a few exclamation points. “Toyota doesn't call it Lean!” It gets offered as if it settles the matter. I've...
Conceptual illustration of one hospital reporting a safety incident, with the warning transformed into shared learning that spreads through connected pathways to multiple hospitals, each shown with safety shields and improvement symbols.

What If Every Hospital Learned From Every Other Hospital’s Safety Incidents?

Mark GrabanByMark Graban August 14, 2026 235
A single open door stands alone in a wide, empty slate-blue space, with warm light spilling through the doorway and casting a long beam across the floor.

An Insulin Error Killed a Hospital Patient. How Does Every Other Hospital Learn From It?

Mark GrabanByMark Graban August 13, 2026 324
A vintage “Suggestion Plan” booklet sits between a dark, top-down factory culture and a bright, collaborative improvement team, illustrating how the same formal system can produce very different results.

Toyota Copied Ford’s Suggestion System–and Got Far Better Results

Mark GrabanByMark Graban August 12, 2026 578
nursing error medication syringe

“Most People Wouldn’t”: Fear, Gratitude, and Reporting Medical Errors

Mark GrabanByMark Graban August 11, 2026 284

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

A LinkedIn Live Event on Visual Workplaces & Lean Management [Recording]

A LinkedIn Live Event on Visual Workplaces & Lean Management [Recording]

ByMark Graban December 9, 2024 Comment (0) 1235
The recording is available now… How this was promoted: Join us for an unscripted...
Psychological Safety is the Foundation for Continuous Improvement [Video]

Psychological Safety is the Foundation for Continuous Improvement [Video]

ByMark Graban September 16, 2024 Comment (0) 5643
TL;DR: Psychological safety is the foundation of continuous improvement. Without it, Lean tools...
From Strategy to Execution: Webinar with Karen Friedenberg

From Strategy to Execution: Webinar with Karen Friedenberg

ByMark Graban July 17, 2024 Comment (0) 1679
Are you looking to transform your business strategy into actionable results? Join us for our...

Mark Graban on YouTube

Airline captain and retired Navy pilot Steve Montague explains why aviation stopped expecting pilots to be flawless. He cites a figure he recalls from NASA Ames research that pilots make about seven errors an hour, and he flags in the moment that he had not looked it up before we talked. The number matters less than what follows it. Pilots catch most of their own errors. A colleague catches some of the rest. A controller or the technology traps others. The system is built so that a normal rate of small mistakes does not turn into an accident. Steve traces the cultural piece back to a flight instructor saying "keep an eye on me." Nobody boasts about screwing up, and he names the barrier honestly: if you call out what looks like your supervisor's mistake and you turn out to be wrong, now you are the one who was wrong in front of everyone. That risk is real in a cockpit, on a shop floor, and in an operating room. Watch the full conversation: https://youtu.be/vfVTIKqi45I
Why Aviation Expects Pilots to Make Mistakes | Steve Montague
Airline captain and retired Navy pilot Steve Montague describes what he did to make speaking up more likely on his flights, and none of it was a poster or a training module. He shook hands and made eye contact with every flight attendant before the flight, walking to the back of the aircraft if he had not met them yet. In his briefing he told them to bring anything that did not look right to him or to the purser immediately. With the other pilots he was more direct: if you see anything I am doing that looks wrong, I expect you to speak up. His point about repetition is the one worth borrowing. If enough people say it to each other on enough flights, it stops being a personal preference and becomes the culture. He also notes that the closer you sit to the instruments, the less you see. The relief pilot in the jump seat, two feet back and not flying the airplane, misses nothing. Watch the full conversation: https://youtu.be/vfVTIKqi45I
How a Captain Makes It Safe to Speak Up | Steve Montague
Too many leaders think a gemba walk means going to the floor to look at a metrics board. That's just moving the dashboard closer -- you've changed your location, not your thinking. Gemba is the real place, where the work actually happens. But going there like an inspector teaches people to tidy up before you arrive and tell you what they think you want to hear. You went to the real place and still didn't see reality. In this short, I cover what a gemba walk is actually for, the three questions that change everything about how it goes, and why curiosity beats judgment every time. More on Lean leadership, psychological safety, and continuous improvement at https://LeanBlog.org. #Gemba #GembaWalk #Lean #LeanManufacturing #ContinuousImprovement #Leadership #LeanLeadership #OperationalExcellence #Kaizen #ProcessImprovement Notes: I led the hashtags with #Gemba and #GembaWalk rather than the broad #Lean, since this one has real term-specific search intent behind it — someone looking up gemba is closer to your audience than someone browsing #Lean generally. And I pulled the "you went to the real place" line into the description on purpose; it's the strongest line in the script and it does double duty as a hook for anyone reading before watching.
Your Gemba Walk Isn't a Gemba Walk If You Do This
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