t;dr: A visit to Toyota’s North American headquarters offered more than a virtual plant tour. It revealed how Toyota blends the Toyota Production System, Lean leadership, and learning from crisis to build trust, improve communication, and continuously improve–inside and outside…
When I blogged a summary of my recent Brazil trip, I said I’d write more about my visit to a hospital… so here’s that post. Thanks again to my hosts, Gemba Group, the consulting and training firm that has been…
This past Saturday was, of course, the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. It still puzzles me why mankind hasn’t been back on the moon in my lifetime — see an article about that. The first trip to the…
Here is an article that caught my eye recently, from HBR: “How One Health System Overcame Resistance to a Surgical Checklist“ Seeing the word “resistance” always makes me wonder if the health system in the article was blaming surgeons (or…
Healthcare – Creating Value for Patients Compelling people with evidence or demanding compliance does very little to drive adoption of new practices – handing out articles, making posters and Powerpoint presentations to ‘educate’, and conducting audits will continue to disappoint. …
My typing is a bit hampered after my finger surgery still. At least my surgery was safe and my outcomes seem to be good. Not everybody is so lucky. This week is the annual Patient Safety Awareness Week. In this…
tl;dr: Human error is inevitable–even for experienced professionals. Forgetting socks on a work trip is harmless, but similar mistakes in healthcare or organizations can cause real harm. The lesson isn’t to “be more careful,” but to design better systems that…
I was recently asked to do a recorded video presentation for a medical conference in Turkey. I spoke about the dual pillars of "The Toyota Way":
Respect for People
Continuous Improvement
The video is about 20 minutes, split about half and half on each of those interrelated topics. I'm coming to you from a hotel room, somewhat tired after a day of consulting.
(Slides PDF and transcript also included)
TL;DR: Captain “Sully” Sullenberger’s leadership lessons from Flight 1549 highlight that safety depends on humility, trust, teamwork, and learning from mistakes–not heroics or checklists alone. High-risk industries like aviation improve safety by focusing on systems, psychological safety, and fact-based decisions.…
The chain Whole Foods is reportedly having inventory shortages and morale problems. It sounds like a real mess, but thankfully nobody is calling it Lean. Their "Order to Shelf" system reminds me of "Pull to Order" work that I was involved in at Dell about 20 years ago...
The official report is out in Hawaii after the traumatic accidental missile warning that was sent last month. An employee was fired. The leader accepted responsibility and resigned. Why are others being punished?
Today is a day known as "Giving Tuesday," to follow up the commercially-driven "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday" days.
It's a great day to give to any cause or organization that's meaningful to you.
One organization that I choose to give to throughout the year is the Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation. The Batz Foundation produces practical and helpful guidebooks and apps to help protect patients during their hospital stay or other healthcare encounters.
