What’s Your Role in Hospital Quality?
I snapped this pic while visiting a hospital earlier this year. This was out in the cafeteria as part of a series of signs that featured real people talking about their real role in quality.
Tag Leadership
Leadership That Builds Better Systems, Better Results, and Better Work
Leadership isn’t about titles, charisma, or quick decisions—it’s about creating systems where people can do their best work and continuously improve. This archive brings together blog posts, podcasts, and reflections on leadership through a Lean lens, drawing on ideas from Deming, Toyota, healthcare, and real-world management practice. The common theme: leaders shape culture, influence behavior, and own the systems that produce results—for better or worse.
Command-and-Control Killed this Cosmonaut? Lessons for Our Organizations…
Lean is not a “command and control” leadership and management model. The old command-and-control dynamic leads to so much poor quality and misery in all sorts of industries and organizations – including factories and hospitals. In a command and control…
My Four Hypotheses for Friday’s DFW Healthcare/Industry Lean Gathering
Coming off of an outstanding 2011 Lean Transformation Summit (blog posts to come), John Toussaint, MD, is doing a huge favor for the Dallas-Fort Worth area (my home). John has stayed over to participate in a meeting we are holding…
The Workplace, “Bosses,” Health, and “Authentic Conversations”
As many people do, I had to fill out an online health assessment for the purposes of my family’s health insurance. The survey asked the usual physical history questions, do you wear seat belts, do you smoke, etc.? It caught…
Podcast #114 – John Kim, Lean and Healthcare Senior Leaders
Episode #114 is a conversation with John Kim, of the firm John Kim & Associates. John is a recognized leader in the Design, Development, Implementation and Deployment of Enterprise Wide Lean Transformations. As an executive at The HON Company…
“Project Search,” Lean, Cincinnati Children’s, and Respect for People
I had the most amazing morning a few weeks ago when I was in Cincinnati for the TechSolve lean healthcare event. Thanks to a friend of my sister’s, I was able to spend a few hours at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital…
Best “Back of a Business Card” Ever, Seen at #HIMSS
I was at the annual HIMSS Conference yesterday, as a guest of the software company FormFast, giving short 10-minute talks about Lean Healthcare to audiences at their booth. It’s fair to say that it’s 10x harder to give a succinct…
Fun Video: “The Committee Song”
I’m really thankful for an attendee in a training workshop for sharing this video as an example of traditional “non-Lean” attitudes and practices that she saw in her hospital. It’s a clip from the movie “Babar – King Of The…
Coach Vince Lombardi on Striving for Perfection
I apologize to those of you who aren’t fans of American football… but in keeping with the Super Bowl theme, I found this Vince Lombardi quote on my hotel key when I checked into a hotel (in Seattle, not Green…
(Complaining About) Resistance is Futile
It’s such a common complaint when any program struggles or fails in an organization. Leaders often bemoan the supposedly undeniable fact that “our people are resistant to change.” It’s such a simple statement – and one that doesn’t get challenged…
Do Good Coaches Brush Off Feedback from the Team as Whining?
I got a question via Twitter yesterday from somebody who asked how to help production operators make the case to supervisors that their kaizen ideas should be implemented. My response was that the supervisors are the ones you need to…
Sorry I Can’t Help You, Mr. Customer – It’s Against the Rules!
It’s sort of cliche’ to complain about long lines at the U.S. Post Office , along with generally surly or disinterested employees. My buddy John sent me an email about a recent experience where the postal employee WANTED to help,…
