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.
I’ve been overdue in writing more posts about our Japan tour that took place two months ago now. See previous posts in this series. I’m going to try to do one post a week on this topic. It’s always fascinating…
A friend sent me a link to this article, “7 cultural concepts we don’t have in the U.S.,” and he told me to check out item #5 in the list – Kaizen in Japan. By the way, if you ever…
I had planned on chilling out over the holidays by reading some books that aren’t related to Lean, Kaizen, etc. Novels are not normally my thing and I started reading How Doctors Think, which had been on my Kindle to-read list…
Today’s post is just something pointing I wrote another article for the LinkedIn “Influencer” series (see my past posts here). The new article is titled: “The Little Difference That Turned “No Ideas” Into “Lots of Ideas.” You can also read…
Here’s the latest video in the series that Joe Swartz and I shot at Franciscan St. Francis Health back in October. Pharmacy manager (now director) Ronda Freije shares her experiences in engaging staff and piloting and evaluating changes in a PDSA…
Happy New Year! Let’s talk about Lean. Let’s talk about Kaizen and continuous improvement and how to get better in 2015. You’re possibly thinking, “Hey, Mark, chill… watch some football… relax… it’s a holiday.” But, you’re reading this, so you…
Today’s post is something I wrote for the KaiNexus blog that was posted yesterday: Anthony Bourdain on Continuous Improvement: Be “Less Awful Every Day” I loved this short clip of Bourdain being interviewed on the Charlie Rose program, talking about…
Here’s the latest in our series of videos about Kaizen and a culture of continuous improvement at Franciscan St. Francis Health in Indianapolis. Scroll down in this post for a survey that Joe Swartz and I are doing about a workshop…
It’s a bit of a modern management cliché to say, “Don’t bring problems! Bring me solutions!” I think what it’s meant to mean is, “Don’t just complain! Think about improving things!” Why “Don’t Bring Me Problems, Bring Me Solutions” Backfires…
Call me old fashioned, but I figure any employee who works a full day deserves proper breaks, including a lunch break. This is true for nurses who work ten hour shifts. And, it’s especially true for the 65% of nurses…
This Bloomberg Businessweek article caught my eye: “How to Get More Respect From Your Boss With Less Work.” It’s a misleading headline, almost as if it was associated with the wrong article, somehow. But, it’s an interesting read anyway. Researchers…
I’m happy to be partnering up again with my friend and fellow contrarian rabble-rouser Jim Benson to do a full-day workshop on Lean for knowledge work settings. It’s going to be held in San Francisco on Thursday, January 29. Learn more…
