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’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…
A few weeks back, I posted the first new video from my Healthcare Kaizen co-author‘s health system: “Endoscopy Nurses are “Kaizen Crazy” at Franciscan St. Francis Health!” Today’s post includes the second video and, as I add new ones, you can…
I’ll be blogging a lot more about my recent trip to Japan with Kaizen Institute, including the site visits and our lessons learned. I had a few days of tourist / vacation time in Tokyo before and after the trip,…
TL;DR: Quality Circles are still thriving in Japanese hospitals and companies–rooted in the philosophy of developing people through structured problem solving. What some in the West now call “A3 Thinking” or “PDSA” is alive and well in Japan as a…
TL;DR: A Toyota tour guide at the Tsutsumi plant once added a small hook to a catwalk railing because she didn’t like setting her bag down. Her manager approved it. A colleague installed it. No ROI analysis was required. That…
Thanks to my friend (and future co-author) Mike Stoecklein for sharing this video (and a blog post) about his Healthcare Value Network visit to Scottsdale Lincoln Health Network (now called HonorHealth). The video shows many employees from many different departments at what…
Today, I’m traveling to Tokyo, but I’m still thinking of the amazing nurses and leaders at Franciscan St. Francis Health in Indiana. Through my co-author Joe Swartz, the director of business transformation, their work is featured heavily in our book Healthcare Kaizen.…
Last Wednesday, I gave a presentation on Lean, Kaizen, and continuous improvement for healthcare at the Dutch Lean Event conference. The organizers said they want their event to be a “festival” with a fun atmosphere. They had a DJ (you…
Mark’s note: Today’s post is a guest post by my friend and colleague Isaac Mitchell. We’ve crossed paths at conferences, including the annual Society for Health Systems conference, where he shared some of their great work on Kaizen that’s being…
Back in September, I wrote about our most recent “Lean Coffee” gathering in San Antonio, where people from different healthcare organizations talked about their improvement efforts. As part of my visit to The Netherlands this week, Marc Rouppe van der…
Tomorrow, at 1 pm Eastern, Dr. Greg Jacobson and I are giving a KaiNexus-sponsored webinar: Daily Management with KaiNexus: From Huddle Boards to Web-Based Technology I’ll be talking about daily Lean management practices, such as: Strategy deployment Process audits /…
I’m guessing that many of you know Bruce Hamilton’s wonderful “Toast Kaizen” video from GBMP. When I use clips of the video for teaching Lean and Kaizen principles, part of the discussion is about how to go from the current…