Tag: Blame

Blame, Accountability, and Leadership in Lean

Blame is often mistaken for accountability—but in practice, it creates fear, silence, and surface-level compliance. These posts examine blame through a Lean and systems-thinking lens, showing how punishment-based responses undermine learning, psychological safety, and continuous improvement.

Across healthcare, manufacturing, aviation, and leadership culture, this archive focuses less on who to fault—and more on how leaders design systems that either encourage learning or drive mistakes underground.

What These Nurses Had to Say About “Lean Hospitals”; Free Gift...

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I recently learned that a company called Anderson Continuing Education offers continuing education (CE) credits for nurses related to my book Lean Hospitals. See their page...

Still Settling In After Moving; Not Blaming People for Their Best...

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The past two weeks have been very busy, to say the least. Thanks to the guest bloggers who contributed posts to help reduce my...

What We Can Learn About Teamwork and Culture from the San...

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After living in San Antonio for almost four years, my wife and I will finally be settled into the DFW area by the end...

Simple Mixups & How Blaming Workers Doesn’t Explain or Prevent Them

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When we see a simple error, even in something as silly as sports memorabilia, we would ask "why?" or "how?" instead of "who?" Blaming individuals doesn't help...

Rethinking the Five Whys: Introducing the ‘Many Whys’ Approach in Lean...

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There’s no magic about the number five. I’ve seen some people write that five is somehow a “magic number.” No, that’s not really the case. Ask why more than once, probably more than twice…

Throwback Thursday: This Hospital CEO Was Never Going to Get Lean

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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:

A Lean Guy Reads the Boston Papers: Facts, Respect, and Baseball...

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My wife and I were in Boston over the weekend, as it was her fifth reunion from her MIT master's program. I'm also an...

10 Key Lean Mindsets for Factories, Hospitals, Startups, and More

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TL;DR: Lean works across factories, hospitals, startups, and services because it's built on shared mindsets, not tools. These include customer focus, respect for people,...

Throwback Thursday: A Lean Healthcare Conference From 2007

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Back in 2007, I had my first opportunity to travel to England, a country I really love visiting. I had the chance to attend...

Please Help with Research Topics – Understanding Variation & Reducing Blame

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OK, so it's not the kind of scientific research that involves lab coats and microscopes, but I'm doing some research that I'd like your...

Redefining Accountability in Lean: Moving from Blame to System Improvement

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tl;dr: In many organizations, "accountability" is code for blame and punishment. Lean leadership redefines accountability as improving systems, clarifying expectations, and helping people succeed...

#Throwback Thursday: Punishing and Jailing People for Patient Harm

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Today is another "Throwback Thursday" post where I revisit posts from the past. Friday and Saturday, I'm going to be attending the "Patient Safety,...
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