How Kaizen Is the Key to Northwestern’s Stellar Defense
Many of you don’t care about football, but you might find it interesting, as I did, to learn that Northwestern’s defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz is apparently a fan of Kaizen...
Tag Audio
“Learning to be Lean” – An Inside Look at a Rapid Improvement Event
There's a really good article that was published by Modern Healthcare as a special report, written by Sabriya Rice. Sabriya spent a week observing a rapid improvement event (RIE) at the Sts. Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center in Illinois. It's an in depth article that, I think, very accurately reflects the reality that Lean is helpful, but the process isn't easy for a number of reasons.
Throwback Thursday: This Hospital CEO Was Never Going to Get Lean
It's tempting to visit a place like ThedaCare and then mandate "everybody must have huddle boards." Then, a bunch of huddle boards get purchased and installed... and maybe not used. It's another thing for executives to realize that they have to change the way they manage. There's a great quote that ThedaCare folks readily share, including Kim Barnas in her book Beyond Heroes:
Better Change Leadership as a Countermeasure to “Resistance to Lean”
Having a model like this helps prevent errors, such as jumping to implement Lean tools before the organization understands WHY change is necessary. You have to engage and enroll people in change, not just force things on them.
I am convinced that the ExperienceChange simulations, either Lakeview or GlobalTech, are a great way to learn and practice.
5S: The Good, the Bad, and the Extreme in Japanese Hospitals
My two previous trips to Japan have been incredible experiences, both personally and professionally. I'm planning to go back in December with a tour group I'm helping organize with Kaizen Institute. When people go to Japan, I think they are expecting to see perfect Lean practices. But, no...
In Tribute to and in Memory of Dr. Michel Tétreault
I was very saddened earlier to receive an email from an employee of a great leader, Dr. Michel Tétreault, informing me that he had passed away. Michel was, since 2005, the CEO of St. Boniface General Hospital in Winnipeg.
Are Millennials the Only Ones Who Need to Understand Why?
And the idea of knowing why... again that's an old desire. It's not just a recent discovery of Simon Sinek and the outstanding book Start with Why (my friends at Gemba Academy have a podcast interview with him coming soon). Why are we doing something? Why are we starting this company? That's an old tale... are you breaking rocks or building a cathedral?
Stuff I’m Reading September 2015: Urgency, Problems, and Lemmings
As is often the case, I have too many open browser tabs full of articles that I was going to potentially blog about. This slows down my Mac (thanks, Chrome!) and it’s mental overhead… So, it’s time for me to…
Football, Holistic Systems, and Challenging the Way It’s Always Been Done
Many of you might not care, but it’s football season. Major college football starts tomorrow night and the NFL kicks off their season next Thursday. On that note, if you’d like to “kick off” a Kaizen approach to continuous improvement…
Throwback Thursday: Inc. Writes About Dr. Deming in 1987
I stumbled across an article from the Inc. magazine archives from 1987, so it’s today’s “Throwback Thursday.” In 1987, I was starting high school and that was probably right about the time when my dad, an engineer for General Motors,…
Practicing Lean: A Comprehensive eBook on Lean Implementation Lessons
Launch anouncement: It’s been 20 years now since I graduated from college and started working with the Lean methodology. The first ten years of my career were focused on manufacturing. Then I had the happy detour into healthcare ten years…
Why “Just-in-Time” Retail Scheduling Is Not Lean
TL;DR (2026 update): So-called “just-in-time” retail scheduling that relies on on-call shifts, last-minute cutbacks, or sending people home early is not Lean–it’s cost cutting disguised as efficiency. Real Lean, as practiced by Toyota, is built on Respect for People: stable…
