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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
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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

Podcast #267 – Steve Shortell on #Lean Healthcare Research

Podcast #267 – Steve Shortell on #Lean Healthcare Research

ByMark Graban November 7, 2016 2540
Joining me for Episode #267 is Stephen M. Shortell PhD, MPH, MBA. He is Blue Cross of California Distinguished Professorship, HPM and is a Professor of Organizational Behavior at the...
Podcast #266 – Karyn Ross on Lean for Service Excellence

Podcast #266 – Karyn Ross on Lean for Service Excellence

ByMark Graban October 25, 2016 2346
My guest for Episode #266 of the podcast is Karyn Ross (@KRCLean4Service on Twitter), co-author of the new book (with Jeff Liker): The Toyota Way to Service Excellence: Lean Transformation in Service...
Lean Principles for Hospital Architecture and Design – A Podcast with Bernita Biekmann

Lean Principles for Hospital Architecture and Design – A Podcast with Bernita Biekmann

ByMark Graban October 12, 2016 2045
Joining me for Episode #265 of the podcast is Bernita Beikmann, AIA, EDAC, LSSBB, a Principal and Director of Lean Strategy at HKS, an international architecture firm. Bernita is originally...
Integrating Lean, Six Sigma and ITIL: Insights from Tyrone Butler – Lean Podcast Episode 264

Integrating Lean, Six Sigma and ITIL: Insights from Tyrone Butler – Lean Podcast Episode 264

ByMark Graban September 26, 2016 2331
My guest for Episode #264 is a friend from here in the Dallas / Fort Worth area, Tyrone Butler. He is LSS Managing Partner at his company, Butler Active Business Solutions LLC. He has a...

More Blog Posts

Safety First: GE Aerospace’s Lynn Facility Demonstrates True Lean Leadership

Safety First: GE Aerospace’s Lynn Facility Demonstrates True Lean Leadership

Mark GrabanByMark Graban January 9, 2025 3041
At its core, Lean is about people–respecting them, empowering them, and ensuring their well-being while driving continuous improvement. Recently, GE Aerospace's Lynn, MA, facility provided an...

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

Mark GrabanByMark Graban January 8, 2025 1838
A fortune cookie partially wrapped in clear plastic packaging rests on a dark surface. Next to it, the fortune reads, "Most success springs from an obstacle or failure."

Wisdom from a Fortune Cookie: Succeeding via Obstacles and Failures

Mark GrabanByMark Graban January 7, 2025 2094
arm and finger of a workplace boss pointing a finger of blame at an employee who looks scared to share their idea.

How Blame-Free Leadership Builds Psychological Safety: Lessons from Japan and Toyota

Mark GrabanByMark Graban January 6, 2025 4949

The Best of Ryan McCormack’s Operational Excellence Mixtape 2024

Ryan McCormackByRyan McCormack December 28, 2024 5417

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

Womack & Jones at the Gemba: “Spread” and Innovation

ByMark Graban October 29, 2009 Comments (2) 14
Womack and Jones video on spread – Blog – ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value From...

What “Grey’s Anatomy” Got Right About Blame, Systems, and Medical Errors

ByMark Graban October 26, 2009 Comments (3) 1329
TL;DR: A Grey's Anatomy episode offers a sharp lesson in patient safety: when leaders focus on who...

Lean at Windsor’s Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital

ByMark Graban October 8, 2009 Comment (1) 1089
Here is a video from Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital (HDGH) in Windsor, Ontario Canada about their Lean...

Mark Graban on YouTube

Tyler McBroom asked to reschedule a 10:30 PM call about partnering with Tony Robbins, then spent three years trying to get it back. When the offer finally came, he understood why the wait may have protected his firm. What you’ll hear: 🔵 The rescheduling request that turned into three years of follow-up 🔵 What Tyler sent every month while he waited, and the silence that came back 🔵 How his firm grew from four people to 24 before the partnership arrived 🔵 Why landing it the first time might have caused the firm to implode 🔵 The math on doubling your price and losing half your clients 🔵 The “grin test” for any tax deduction you’d have to defend in an audit Tyler McBroom, CPA, MBA, is the CEO of TRM CPA and the author of Cash Flow and Grow. Watch the full episode: https://youtu.be/lq3VF9othSA Episode page and transcript: https://markgraban.com/mistake371 Subscribe for new episodes of My Favorite Mistake, where leaders talk candidly about the mistakes that taught them the most.
Getting the Deal Early Would Have Sunk Us | Tyler McBroom
Why don’t employees speak up? Fear is part of it. But most silence comes from futility - people have spoken up before and nothing changed. That distinction is the subject of my keynote, “The Silence Tax: Why People Stay Quiet, and What Leaders Can Do About It.” Fear and futility look identical from the outside. Someone sees a problem and says nothing. But they’re different problems with different fixes, and most organizations only address the first one. The cost shows up as problems leaders never hear about, improvement ideas that never arrive, and mistakes nobody learns from. In this keynote, we look at what makes speaking up feel safer and what makes it feel worth the effort: how leaders respond in the moment, whether problems actually get worked on, and whether anyone hears what happened next. Telling people to speak up doesn’t do it. Audiences include healthcare leaders, manufacturers, municipal and government teams, and continuous improvement professionals. The keynote works as an opening session, a closing session, or paired with a half-day workshop. Interested in bringing this to your organization or event? Get in touch: [SPEAKING PAGE URL] I’m Mark Graban - speaker, consultant, and author of The Mistakes That Make Us, Measures of Success, Lean Hospitals, and Healthcare Kaizen. I host the Lean Blog Interviews and My Favorite Mistake podcasts and write at LeanBlog.org. My next book, The Silence Tax, comes out in early 2027. More: https://www.leanblog.org #PsychologicalSafety #KeynoteSpeaker #Leadership #SpeakingUp #WorkplaceCulture #LeanLeadership #ContinuousImprovement #EmployeeEngagement #LeadershipDevelopment #TheSilenceTax
Why Employees Don’t Speak Up | Psychological Safety Keynote
CPA Tyler McBroom had a call booked to discuss partnering with Tony Robbins. It was set for 10:30 PM, so he asked to reschedule. Then came three years of silence. Tyler, CEO of TRM CPA and author of Cash Flow and Grow, explains what that request taught him about how opportunity works and why he kept following up anyway. He also talks about whether his four-person firm was ready for what it wanted. Later in the conversation, he shares how changing when the firm got paid nearly eliminated its accounts receivable. He also describes how a remote team built a culture that ranked number one among small employers on America’s Best Workplaces. What you’ll learn: 🔵 Why adapting to a rare opportunity’s terms can matter more than protecting your schedule 🔵 How monthly follow-ups that showed real progress kept Tyler on the partner’s radar 🔵 Why a delayed opportunity can arrive when you’re finally able to absorb it 🔵 How charging up front, without raising prices, cut accounts receivable to a week or two of sales 🔵 Why a big price increase loses fewer clients than most owners fear 🔵 The “grin test” for deductions, and the line between tax avoidance and tax evasion 🔵 How a daily huddle keeps a remote team from feeling like a set of islands Chapters: 00:00 Meet Tyler McBroom, CPA and author 01:10 The meeting he rescheduled with Tony Robbins' team 05:14 Three years of follow-up 06:20 The callback and the partnership offer 08:12 Why the wait built the capacity to grow 09:26 Tax avoidance vs. tax evasion 13:00 Changing when you get paid, not what you charge 20:09 Nine months of social media with zero clients 26:29 Bad tax advice and the grin test 35:16 Building a best place to work About Tyler McBroom: Tyler McBroom, CPA, MBA, is the CEO of TRM CPA, which helps business owners legally keep more of their profits, and the author of Cash Flow and Grow. Episode page: https://www.markgraban.com/mistake371
The Tony Robbins Meeting He Rescheduled | Tyler McBroom
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