Tag: Kaizen

Kaizen: Daily Improvement, Learning, and Leadership in Practice

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.

Who Is Making Sure Things Work?

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Hamilton Beach HDC100B Pourover Pod Brewer Sorry for the blog downtime the past few days. I had a great weekend back in my old hometown,...

Kaizen Events Aren’t Enough

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Are Rapid Improvement Events enough? | Lean HealthcareI don't have anything against Kaizen Events (often called "RIE" or "Rapid Improvement Events" in healthcare). They...

A Peek, Of Sorts, Into Starbucks’ Operations

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Starbucks Gossip Blog - Open ThreadStarbucks Replaces CEO with ChairmanI've posted about Starbucks before - I believe they have people at headquarters learning about...

A New Turn of An Old Phrase

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"Use our minds first, not our money" | DailyKaizenI like the phrase, above, that Lee Fried used at the DailyKaizen blog. I think I...

You Can’t Force Suggestions

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There was a question on the NWLean email list about suggestions, in the context of The Idea Generator: Quick and Easy Kaizen, reading in...

"Not Conducive to Suggestions"

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My ears always perk up when I hear the word "suggestions." Again, it was in a football context. But unlike the ASU Sun...

The Many Errors in Thinking About Mistakes

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Article - New York TimesHere's a really interesting article that talks about our attitudes about mistakes. In the Toyota mindset, mistakes are something to...

The Sun Devil Suggestion System

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My wife is an Arizona State alumna, so we're watching the annual Arizona St / Arizona rivalry football game (well, I'm watching it, she...

Why Traditional Suggestion Boxes Don’t Work

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I saw this in a workplace, posted by a union. But, you know, as a Lean practitioner, I couldn't agree with this cartoon...

Norm Bodek on the new Shingo Book

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The following is a message from Norman Bodek, printed with his permission. ----------------------------- Dear Lean Blog readers, Dr. Shingo was the co-discover of TPS/LEAN. A NEW SHIGEO SHINGO...

Reader Question: Managing Suggestions

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Here is a question from a Lean Blog reader, posted with permission. Here's something to chew on with your Monday morning coffee. ...

Updated: My Personal Kaizen for the Day

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Watching the news about the tragic bridge collapse in Minnesota, it's easy to feel helpless, what can we do if something like that happens...
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