Last Wednesday, I gave a presentation on Lean, Kaizen, and continuous improvement for healthcare at the Dutch Lean Event conference. The organizers said they want their event to be a “festival” with a fun atmosphere. They had a DJ (you…
During a recent visit to Franciscan St. Francis Health, several nurses proudly introduced themselves as “Kaizen Queens”–and one, with a smile, as the “Kaizen Princess.” Across the hospital, the broader term “Kaizeneer” is used to describe anyone who takes part…
Since moving to San Antonio two years ago, I’ve become a big fan of the San Antonio Spurs. For one, it’s essentially a civic responsibility to cheer for them, with the Spurs being the only major pro team in town.…
I’ve really enjoyed reading the book The Essential Deming: Leadership Principles from the Father of Quality, which was published last year. I think this link will work… You can view my public Kindle notes and profile online. If you haven’t read Dr. Deming’s…
There’s a great piece, currently available for free on the HBR website, about continuous improvement: The Culture to Cultivate The author, George Halvorson, is the recently retired CEO of Kaiser Permanente and it’s really helpful that he is writing about…
I’ve written a new post that I’ve published as part of the LinkedIn Influencer series: The Carrot and The Stick “On Steroids” Please check it out. I hope it makes you chuckle and think. Feel free to comment there if…
Listen: My guest for episode #171 is Chad Walters, a friend and a Lean consultant. He is owner of Lean Blitz Consulting in Augusta, Georgia, a firm focused on continuous improvement for small businesses and sports organizations. I’m a big…
Don’t threaten people with this quote… One of the more popular email-signature quotes I still see–especially among Lean practitioners–is this supposed gem from Dr. W. Edwards Deming: “It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.” It pops up…
No, this is not a program of Kaizen, or continuous improvement, for babies. Babies naturally grow, try new things, and gain new capabilities. But, we tend to lose that as adults. As Dr. Deming would say the “forces of destruction”…
Thanks to 24×7 Mag for publishing my piece, targeted a bit toward hospital biomed departments, but I think there’s general applicability: Article link: “To Fix Health Care, We Need More “Kaizen” Health care professionals have plenty of ideas for improvement…
The team at KaiNexus (where I am the “chief improvement officer”) is always improving. I want to share a few of these improvements, as our CEO/co-founder Greg Jacobson, MD and I are presenting today at the annual conference of the…
When I kicked off the “Lean Memes” contest last month, I had no idea what I was starting… I figured I’d get a handful of entries. Well, I got well over 100 from a number of people, including 5 or…