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.
Joining me for episode #187 is Joe Swartz, my friend and esteemed co-author of our books Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Continuous Improvements and The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen: Leadership for a Continuously Learning and Improving Organization.…
While I’d be the first to admit that my writing is not perfect and I certainly need a copy editor for my books, I have a bit of a reputation as a “grammar cop” amongst co-workers in previous jobs. I…
Mark’s Note: Today’s post is by a colleague from The Netherlands, Erwin Haas. Erwin is a leader in a Dutch consulting firm, NextChange, a formal partner of KaiNexus. I am the chief improvement officer at KaiNexus. By Erwin Haas A…
Eiji Toyoda, a key figure in the growth and expansion of Toyota and the Toyota Production System practices has passed away this week, just past his 100th birthday. His death has received fairly prominent coverage in the business press, including:…
My guest for episode #186 is my friend Jon Miller, CEO of Kaizen Institute and a long-time blogger at Gemba Panta Rei. Today, we’re talking about his upcoming book, Creating a Kaizen Culture: Align the Organization, Achieve Breakthrough Results, and…
Hi, this is Dr. Les Muda, the world’s first (and only) Lean healthcare comedian, taking over Mark’s blog today for a guest post about a new product I am very excited about – the Apple iPhone 5S. First off, I…
When I teach and coach people on the “Kaizen” style of continuous improvement, I emphasize that what I’m teaching them isn’t perfect and it’s not to be carved in stone. People can continuous improve their continuous improvement process in so…
Mark’s Note: Today’s guest post is by Joe Swartz, my co-author for the book Healthcare Kaizen and the newly-released book The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen. I’m hoping Joe will be a regular contributor in the future and I’ll be…
Following up on my previous posts (here and here) on a recent visit to the Northern California Wine Country, I’m going to share a few more ideas and thoughts based on what I saw during the trip (when I wasn’t…
One feature of the website for our Healthcare Kaizen books has been the ability for people to share an example of a Kaizen improvement or a photo of their Kaizen management methods. People have shared pictures of idea boards and…
It’s been just over five years since the first edition of my book Lean Hospitals was released and just over a year since Healthcare Kaizen was released. Joe Swartz and I are happy to say that The Executive Guide to…
I’ve recently been reading an enjoyable book by Peter Sims, Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries. The practice of Kaizen, of course, brings lots of small improvements. But, it’s often surprising how breakthrough ideas with a really…