Kaizen is often misunderstood as small ideas or isolated improvement events. In practice, Kaizen is a daily, people-centered approach to learning and improving work—supported by leadership, good systems, and psychological safety. This archive brings together blog posts, podcasts, and real-world examples of Kaizen in action, across healthcare and other industries, with a consistent focus on leadership behaviors, respect for people, and learning from problems rather than hiding them.
Recent lessons from NICU innovation, primary care access, fan safety in baseball, and ongoing VA wait-time gaming This post is a collection of recent updates and follow-ups to topics I’ve written about before–spanning healthcare improvement, patient access, safety in sports,…
Lean leadership isn’t just about asking people how to fix problems–it’s about asking them what problems matter most. When leaders shift from telling to asking, they unlock intrinsic motivation, deeper engagement, and more sustainable improvement. This lesson came through clearly…
TL;DR: Franciscan Health built a lasting culture of continuous improvement by patiently practicing Kaizen every day–not as a program, but as a way of thinking. Over time, consistent leadership behaviors, frontline engagement, and psychological safety led to more than 27,000…
This week, Joe Swartz (pictured at left) and I are running a “Kaizen Live” workshop at his main hospital, Franciscan St. Francis Health. Today and tomorrow, we’re running a 1.5-day workshop where attendees will get to visit departments and hear…
Dr. Gary Kaplan is the CEO of Seattle’s Virginia Mason Medical Center, considered one of the world leaders in the adoption of Lean healthcare principles. He wrote the foreword for my book The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen. He co-authored a recent…
I like to do some fun and lighthearted posts on the weekends… a blog segment I call “Weekend Fun” (not so creative, I realize). An old friend from college posted a funny story on Facebook this morning, which I’m sharing…
There's a triangle diagram on the TSSC webpage that describes an "integrated system" that consists of: technical methods, managerial methods, philosophy.
All of this is "focused on people development," Jamie told me for the book.
The model starts with people and human development in the middle, as "people are the most valuable resource," says Bonini.
In the videos, you’ll see staff and leaders talk bout “Kaizen” or continuous improvement. It’s powerful to see the impact that a “culture of continuous improvement” has on people and their lives.
In my time working with hospitals, I’ve always been very sympathetic to front-line nurses (and other staff). They are far too often overburdened and undersupported. Work is often more difficult than it needs to be — too much hassle and…
Presented by Mark Graban and Dr. Greg Jacobson on February 16, 2016 In this webinar, you will learn: Reasons why people don’t “buy in” to change How leaders can better understand the causes of that apparent resistance to change Strategies…
In addition to my blogging here, I write occasionally for our blog over at KaiNexus.com, where we have multiple contributors. I also do monthly webinars and the next one is on February 16, where Dr. Greg Jacobson and will talk about gaining…
I wrote a new piece for LinkedIn that I hope would be of interest to you even if you’re in healthcare. Why? It’s a story about what an organization does when you don’t have enough (or any) direct work for your front-line staff to do. Toyota would continue paying employees and would put them to...
