Deming on Education
If there was any value to the Industry Week commentary that tried to link Deming and Obama, it was that it prompted me to re-read some of Deming’s work, namely the “management of people” chapter from The New Economics. There’s…
Search Results for intrinsic motivation
We Must Follow Standardized Work, Right?
The Informed Patient – WSJ.com Here’s an article ($$) about hospitals working to prevent bedsores or “pressure ulcers” as they are called. I didn’t get around to blogging about this more fully, but it was in the news recently that…
Stop Demotivating Me, Lean Style
CIO Magazine Article Hat tip to Curious Cat for finding this and blogging about it first. I couldn’t resist chiming in. The author brings up the old Deming philosophy approach that you can’t really motivate people, you can only demotivate…
Boo Mattel, Hooray Mattel
Mattel is the latest victim in the “poison products from China” series (the “poison train,” as The Consumerist blog calls it). Victim is absolutely the wrong word to use, considering Mattel chose to source from China and admitted their own…
Jeff Liker on "Happy Cows"
FT.com / Business Life – In pursuit of happiness: Interesting quote from Jeff Liker in the Financial Times about TPS and an example of a hospital in the UK: “”There is no evidence that happy cows make better milk, and…
Eric Christiansen on Being CEO of a Deming Company – LeanBlog Podcast #18
Here is Episode #18 of the LeanBlog Podcast. My guest today is Eric Christiansen, the President of a translation services company, OmniLingua (more can be found here on their philosophy as a company, being a self-described “Deming Company.”) I was…
My First Year in Lean Healthcare: Personal Reflections and Lessons Learned
I’ve been working with “lean healthcare” in my day job for about a year now. I’m giving a presentation on Friday about lean healthcare for a manufacturing audience, and it provided an opportunity to reflect on what I’ve seen and…
Insights from ‘Leading Excellence’: Brad Jevons and Stephen Dargan on Adaptive Leadership
Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more My guests for Episode #512 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast are two of three co-authors of the upcoming book “Leading Excellence: 5 Hats of the Adaptive Leader” – Brad Jeavons…
From Webinar Numbers to Real Insight: Using Process Behavior Charts to Measure Success
TL;DR:Single webinar numbers and year-over-year averages often distort reality. By using run charts and Process Behavior Charts, you can separate signal from noise, avoid overreaction, and make better decisions about growth, capacity, and investment. I manage KaiNexus’s webinar program, which…
Interview with Edward Niedermeyer on Tesla, Toyota, and the Cultural Lessons Behind “Ludicrous”
My guest for Episode #345 is Edward Niedermeyer, author of Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors. The book offers a deeply reported look at Tesla’s history, strategy, and culture–and why manufacturing and leadership still matter. Ed is Senior Editor…
All Organizations Need a “Make Me”
Today's post is written by Steve Hoeft, the SVP, Chief of Operations Excellence at Baylor Scott & White Health (BSWH) here in Texas. This is his first written contribution to Lean Blog, but you might remember him as a guest in episode #226 of my podcast, where he and co-author Dr. Bob Pryor talked about their book The Power of Ideas to Transform Healthcare: Engaging Staff by Building Daily Lean Management Systems.
His article begins: "In my years serving as continuous improvement leader and consultant for some great organizations, I've discovered something consistent: Improvement will not happen on its own."
Dean Gruner on ThedaCare’s Lean Journey: Lessons, Missteps, and Leadership Reflections
My guest for Episode #286 is Dean Gruner, MD, the recently retired CEO of ThedaCare, a health system in Wisconsin that has long been considered a worldwide leader in the practice of Lean in healthcare. See this article about his retirement, where he says "I've gotten more than I've given."
Dean was previously my guest in Episodes 119 and 144 and I'm thrilled that he took time out of his retirement to talk with me about his lessons learned as he looks back on how ThedaCare's Lean journey has evolved, including some things he would consider to be missteps and challenges that they used as a springboard to get even better.
I will also be releasing a separate episode where Dean talks about their experiences with Accountable Care Organizations (our topic from #144) and other "big picture" healthcare issues of the day.
I'm including a full transcript along with a three-page PDF summary, as I've been doing recently.