Healthcare improvement isn’t about working harder—it’s about better systems, better leadership, and a culture that supports learning and speaking up. This archive brings together blog posts, podcasts, and reflections on Lean healthcare, patient safety, quality improvement, leadership, and continuous improvement. Many of these posts draw on real hospital experiences and lessons from Deming, Toyota, and frontline healthcare teams, with a consistent emphasis on respect for people and learning from mistakes.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been quoted as saying he will "school Toyota on Lean manufacturing."
OK, let's take inspiration and lessons from the apparent Tesla Way management system. What would happen if hospitals and other organizations tried emulating Tesla instead of Toyota? What are the methods and mindsets? The behaviors and principles? What's the management approach and culture?
Healthcare is full of terms that obfuscate things. Ironically, use of the word "obfuscate" can be an example of obfuscation.
Instead of saying, "Healthcare leaders often obfuscate a situation," we can say, "The language used in healthcare often makes things sound better or more complicated than they really are."
Joining me for Episode #307 of the podcast is my friend Andre DeMerchant, the President of DeMerchant Healthcare Solutions Inc., based in Kitchener, Ontario. We first crossed paths when we had the chance to work together with an American healthcare client via our then-affiliation with Pascal Dennis and Lean Pathways.
In today's episode, we talk about Andre's history working for Toyota in Canada and what he learned there -- and why it's important that he learned about "how flow works" at Toyota. We chat about the terms "Lean" and "The Toyota Production System" and what those words mean to him. How does TPS "transcend culture and language," as well as industries?
We then shift to talking about healthcare and some of the common challenges, including "financial hardships," that are faced in many countries. Why are hospitals "poorly prepared for change" in many cases? Another main theme is "cost cutting" and why you can't cut your way to success.
Tonight is the start of the NFL Draft, which almost gets as much coverage nowadays as a Presidential election.
Can you imagine if CNBC and other TV channels spent as much time focusing on which Lean Healthcare prospects would be "drafted" from our leading universities and medical schools?
Here is our exclusive and official Lean Blog mock draft, featuring picks from our Lean Healthcare draft expert, Mel Kaizen, Jr.
My guest for Episode #306 is Mark D. Valenti, the manager of training, education, and workflow integration for the Enhanced Community Care Management (ECCM) at Highmark Health.
In this episode, Mark and I talk about the use of "Motivational Interviewing" methods and mindsets in the ECCM program and how "everyday closer to better" is part of their mantra.
When surgeons have no better options than complaining about process problems on LinkedIn, are their leaders and organizations really properly supporting them? In this post, we'll explore questions of blame, accountability, and engaging people in process improvement... being of better service to them.
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.…
Last week, a nurse manager downloaded the free first chapter of my book Lean Hospitals and wrote this message in the contact form:
"Interested to see how the disconnect between management and the staff supervised can be helped. Too many managers refuse to help those they supervise. A growing number have never done the work that they are in charge of getting done. Patients and residents feel it, not healthy. Poor PR. It does get back to the consumer. Difficult to fix at that point."
In my experience working with many hospitals, her comments resonate with me. Identifying problems like these doesn't mean Lean provides easy solutions for organizational transformation.
I'm really happy to be playing the role of host for this free webinar that's being presented next Friday, March 30th:
Engaging Leaders and the Baldrige Framework to Advance Excellence
A Look into the Extraordinary Work at Mary Greeley Medical Center
The webinar is being presented by Karen Kiel-Rosser and Ron Smith from Mary Greeley Medical Center.
If you can't attend the live session, we'll send you the recording if you register.
The throwback component of this post is a look back at a podcast that I did with Karen three years ago this month:
Over the years, many people have asked me some variation of the question:
"Why are my employees not embracing Lean?"
More often than not, the tone of the question is of blame... blaming the employees for not embracing Lean.
In this post, I share something I originally wrote on LinkedIn and I'll elaborate a bit and share some of the LinkedIn comments...
Today, I'd like to share the latest in my series of articles about "Champions of Change," which is based on a discussion I had with Joe Swartz about continuous improvement in materials and supply chain settings.
