Clearing the Lean Blog Backlog: Lemmings, Change, Lean, & Leadership
Cleaning out the backlog of stuff I wanted to blog about...
Not Being Lean Lemmings; Why Best Practices Don't Yokoten; Nissan Leaders Lead the Way, After the Problems
Tag Quality
Quality: Leadership, Systems Thinking, and Continuous Improvement
Quality doesn’t come from inspection, pressure, or choosing between speed and accuracy. It comes from well-designed systems, capable processes, and leaders who focus on learning instead of blame. This archive brings together blog posts, podcasts, and reflections on quality through a Lean and Deming lens—covering psychological safety, metrics, variation, leadership behavior, healthcare quality, and why sustainable improvement depends on fixing systems rather than managing people harder.
All (6529)3 Strategies (5)30 Rock (5)3P (10)5 Whys (18)5 Whys Survey (10)5S (134)A Lean Guy Reads (13)A.I. (1)A3 (47)A3 management process (1)A3 Open Mic (1)A3 thinking (2)Access (1)Accountability (4)Accounting (14)Ackoff (2)Adam_Zak (8)Admin (1)Adult Education (1)Adult Learning (1)Aerospace (1)Africa (2)Agile (15)AI (39)AI Lean Coach (14)Alaska (3)Alcoa (7)Alfie Kohn (2)Alternate History (1)Amazon (30)AME (6)American Airlines (7)Andon (44)Ankit_Patel (3)Apple (30)April Fool (12)Artificial Intelligence (3)ASQ (8)Auction (2)Audio (196)Audiobook (2)Australia (3)Authentic Conversations (1)Auto Industry (1)Autoliv (1)Automation (6)Automotive (16)Aviation (121)Backlog (10)Bad Systems in the News (8)Bahri (4)Baker (1)Baldrige (7)Balle (9)Banking (3)Bar (2)Bar Rescue (2)Baran (7)Barnas (3)Barnes Jewish (5)Baseball (26)Basketball (3)Batching (2)Batz Foundation (5)Beer Game (1)Being_The_Change (1)Benchmarking (4)Berwick (24)BIDMC (3)Billion Dollar Company (1)biofuels (1)Birth of Lean (2)Blame (160)Bliss (8)Blog Admin (88)Blog_Admin (2)blur (1)BMW (3)Board (1)Bob Emiliani (4)Bodek (76)Boeing (51)Bonini (9)Books (281)Boston (7)Brain (1)Brazil (5)Brophy (1)Buck (2)Burnout (7)business (1)Business Leadership (1)Bussell (1)Byrne (2)C-Suite Leadership (1)Cable (1)Calendar (1)Call Centers (2)Canada (101)Cancer (1)Capacity (1)Cardinal Health (13)Careers (36)Carnival (16)Carrie Schurman (9)Cartoon (7)Castle (5)Catalysis (22)Catchball (2)Cath Lab (1)Cats (1)CEO (184)Certification (1)CFO (1)Challenge (1)Change (57)Change Management (72)Changeover (1)ChangeThis (3)Charity (1)Charts (3)Charts and Graphs (3)ChatGPT (10)Checklist (14)Checklists (61)chemicals (1)Chick-fil-A (3)China (75)China Trip 2016 (6)Chrysler (33)Cincinnati (1)Cleveland Clinic (21)Clinic (1)CMS (1)CNN (1)Coaches (1)Coaching (102)Coffee (7)Collaboration (1)Comedy (5)Command and Control (12)Comments of the Week (1)Communication (2)Communications (8)Community (1)compassion (1)Compliance (1)Condo (4)Conference (1)Conner (1)Construction (6)Consulting (6)Contest (23)Continuous Deployment (1)Continuous Improvement (59)Convis (17)Cooking (3)Corrections (4)Cost (34)cost reduction (1)Costco (1)Countermeasures (1)Covey (7)Covid-19 (54)Covid-19 Pandemic (2)Creative Safety Supply (1)Creative Thinkers (1)Creativity (2)Crisis (1)Critical Strategic Decisions (1)Cross Training (2)Culbert (1)Culture (440)Culture Clash (1)Culture Of Improvement (1)Cunningham (6)Customer (1)Customer Experience (5)Customer Focus (59)Customer Satisfaction (8)Customer Service (12)Cycle Time (1)Dager (2)Daily Management System (5)Dallas (4)Dan Pink (12)Dan_Jones (8)Dan_Pink (13)Danaher (14)Data (1)DC Lean Tour (5)Defect (4)Defects (11)DEI (4)Dell (43)Delphi (13)Demand (1)Deming (490)Denmark (1)Dentist (1)Denver (6)Denver Health (3)Design (11)Design Thinking (5)Detroit (3)Detroit 3 (1)Detroit Three (27)developing solutions (1)DFW (1)Digital (1)DirecTV (3)DMAIC (3)Doctor (180)Don Wheeler (49)Doofus (5)dr (1)Dr. Muda (6)Drucker (2)Dynamic Environment (1)Earthquake (1)Ebola (5)Economics (1)Edmondson (21)Education (34)Efficiency (4)Electric Car (1)Elon Musk (4)Email (2)Emergency (29)Emergency Dept (61)Emil (1)Emiliani (23)Emoji (1)empathy (1)Employee Engagement (17)Employee Voice (1)Empowerment (2)EMR (9)Enabling Bureaucracy (1)Energy (3)Engagement (2)Engand (1)England (47)Entrepreneurship (5)Ephlin (12)Equity (1)Ergonomics (3)Eric Ries (40)Errors (7)Events (6)Everyday Lean (108)Evidence-Based Medicine (1)Excuses (1)Exercise (3)ExperienceChange (7)Experiment (3)Experimentation (3)Eytan (1)Facebook (2)Factory Physics (2)Facts (1)Fail (3)Failure (18)Family (1)Family Guy (1)FastCap (8)Fear (30)Fearless Organization (1)Finland (1)Fire Fighting (5)Fitness (1)Flashback (5)Flexing (2)Flinchbaugh (187)Flow (27)FMEA (4)Fol (1)Food (6)Football (10)Forces Of Destruction (1)Ford (102)Fort Worth (1)FORTUNE (3)Fox News (2)Franciscan (46)Franciscan Videos (8)Fujio Cho (3)Fun (2)Funny (75)Futility (4)Galsworth (10)Gaming the Numbers (43)Garrison Brothers (3)Gas Station (1)Gawande (31)Geisinger (1)Gem (1)Gemba (167)Gemba Academy (8)Genchi Genbutsu (4)General Electric (76)General Motors (10)Germany (3)Gert (2)Gets it Wrong (4)Gilbreth (6)Glover (3)GM (180)Go To Market (1)Goals (1)good jobs (1)Good Jobs Strategy (1)Google (10)Government (139)Green (37)Grey's Anatomy (3)Grocery (2)Group Health (8)Growth Mindset (1)Grunden (16)Gruner (9)Guest (106)Guest Post (29)Guthridge (7)Habit (4)Hajek (1)Hamel (1)Hamilton (3)Hand Hygiene (7)Hanover (7)Hansei (8)Harada (2)Hawaii (1)HBR (2)Health (3)Healthcare (2019)Healthcare Kaien (1)Healthcare Kaizen (99)Healthcare Reform (1)Healthcare Value Network (1)Hebert (1)Heijunka (17)Henry Ford (5)Heparin (3)Hershfield (1)HIMSS (2)hiring (1)Hoeft (1)Honda (6)Honesty (1)Honeywell (2)Honsha Trip (5)Hopkins (1)Hoshin (15)Hoshin Kanri (4)Hospitalist (2)Hotel (5)HP (1)Huddle (13)Huddles (2)Human Error (7)Human Resources (1)Humane (1)Humility (23)Hunmtz (1)Huntzinger (4)Hyundai (1)IBM (2)ICU (1)If Japan Can (3)IHI (6)IIE Blog (1)IKEA (1)Imai (34)Improvement (5)Incentives (7)India (3)Industrial Engineering (1)Industry Week (7)Infections (12)Innovation (46)Inspection (7)Intel (1)Interview Process (1)Interviews (5)Inventory (45)investing in employees (1)Iowa (17)iPad (1)Ireland (2)Irony (1)Israel (1)IT (7)Italy (1)Jaben (4)Jackson (1)Jacobson (5)James (2)Japan (118)Japan Tour (62)Japanese (1)Jidoka (8)Jimmerson (1)Jobs Bank (11)Joiner (2)Joint Commission (3)Jon Miller (5)Jones (2)JPS (4)Just Culture (11)Just in Time (2)Just-In-Time (68)Kach (11)Kaikaku (1)KaiNexus (242)Kaizen (722)Kaizen Event (20)Kaizen Kickoff (1)Kaizen Live (12)Kanban (52)Kaplan (6)Karen Martin (11)Karyn Ross (7)Kata (28)Katie Anderson (26)kind leadership (2)Kindle (2)Kindness (6)Kitchen Nightmares (4)Knowledge Management (1)Kodak (1)Krafcik (2)L.A.M.E. (6)Lab (10)Laboratory (55)Laedership (1)LAME (109)Larry Culp (29)LaSorda (6)Law (4)Layoffs (92)Layout (12)Leader Standard Work (4)Leadershihp (2)Leadership (916)leadership lessons (1)leading with humility (1)Leadreship (1)Leadrship (2)Lean (22)Lean Accounting (1)Lean and Mean (9)Lean Coffee Talk (10)lean community (1)Lean Daily Management (14)Lean Dentist (34)Lean Design (37)Lean Edge (1)Lean Enterprise Institute (1)Lean Hospitals (82)lean leadership (2)Lean Management (14)Lean Management System (5)Lean Memes (6)Lean Mindset (8)Lean Nation (1)Lean Office (3)Lean Pathways (2)Lean Principles (1)lean production (1)Lean Sigma (18)Lean Six Sigma (11)Lean Solutions (15)Lean Startup (89)lean startup principles (1)Lean Startup Week (10)Lean thinking (2)Lean Thoughts (2)Lean toolbox (1)Lean transformation (2)Lean UX (1)Lean Whiskey (61)LeanBuzz Poll (1)LeanPub (10)LeanStartupWeek (1)Leantoon (1)Leape (7)Learning (2)LEI (103)Length of Stay (1)Lessons Learned (1)Levy (1)Library (1)Lifehacker (1)Like Lean (29)Liker (51)Linked (1)LinkedIn (29)Lippold (1)Listening (1)Livonia (9)Locher (1)Logistics (1)Lopez (18)Lucid (1)Management (9)Management by Emoji (1)Management System (1)Manufacturing (216)Manufacturing Business (1)Marketing (2)Markovitz (41)Mary Greeley (6)Materials (2)Matt_May (17)Maurer (3)MBA (1)McDuffee (13)McMahon (1)Measures of Success (75)Medical Mistakes (5)Medicare (1)Medium (11)Meier (26)Meijer (1)Memoriam (8)Menlo Innovations (1)Mental Healthcare (1)Mentoring (1)MEP (7)Merck (2)Metrics (57)Mexico (7)Meyer (2)Michigan (16)Micklewright (10)Microsoft (1)Military (46)Mindset (1)Mistake (4)Mistake-Proofing (185)Mistakes (148)MIT (13)MIxtape (185)Model Cell (1)Model Line (1)Moneyball (1)Montreal (1)Moral Injury (1)Morale (3)Motion (4)Motivation (1)Motivational Interviewing (28)Motorola (1)Move (25)Movies (1)Moving (2)MRI (1)MRP (1)Muda (3)Multitasking (1)Mura (1)Muri (3)Music (6)MVP (1)My Favorite Mistake (35)NASA (1)negative bias (1)Nervous System (1)Netflix (1)Netherlands (13)New Zealand (12)NGO (1)NHS (7)NICU (3)Nissan (8)Noble (2)Non-Profit (2)Nonprofit (1)Norval (2)NPR (13)NUMMI (75)NUMMI Tour (6)Nursing (99)NYT (2)NYTimes (85)O.R. (1)Office (8)Ohba (1)Ohio (1)Oil (1)OKRs (2)ONeill (57)Ontario (2)Operating Room (32)operations management (1)Operations Science (1)Organization Building (1)Organizational Behavior (2)organizational development (1)Oscars (6)Outpatient (1)Overburden (3)Overprocessing (14)Overproduction (20)Packaging (2)Par (1)Park Nicollet (14)Parodies (2)Parody (14)Parry (1)Pascal Dennis (16)Patient (5)patient care (1)Patient Experience (4)Patient Flow (79)Patient Focus (4)Patient Safety (393)Patient Satisfaction (10)Patients First Culture (1)Patrick_Anderson (5)Paul Akers (6)PBC Case Studies (38)PBC-Compare (4)PDCA (22)PDSA (71)People Development (1)Perfection (1)performance driver (1)Performance Measures (5)Performance Review (1)Performance Reviews (6)Pharmacy (41)Phlebotomy (1)Phoenix (1)Physician (17)Physicians (1)pink (1)Pittsburgh (2)Pivot (1)Pizza (4)Pod (1)Podcast (539)Podcast - Bodek (15)Podcast - CEO (45)Podcast - Deming (17)Podcast - Docs (45)Podcast - Healthcare (149)Podcast - Kaizen (12)Podcast - Lean Startup (14)Podcast - LEI (15)Podcast - Toyota (23)Podcast - Womack (6)Podcast 20 Years (5)Poka Yoke (5)Politics (2)Poll (2)Porsche (3)Power Of Kata (1)Practice (2)Practicing (1)Practicing Lean (25)Preventative (1)Primary (1)Primary Care (3)Prius (5)Private Equity (1)Problem (1)Problem Solving (175)Problem-Solving (1)Problem-Solving Approach (1)Problems (4)Process (4)Process Behavior Charts (117)Process Design (2)Process Improvement (5)Product Development (7)Product Market Fit (1)Productivity (10)Profit = Price - Cost (40)profitability (1)Pronovost (10)Psychological Safety (118)Psychology (2)Publishing (10)Pull (5)Punishment (3)Quaid (11)Quailty (1)Quality (339)Quality Circle (5)Quality Digest (20)Quebec (1)Quick Hits (1)Quotes (1)Radio (8)Radiology (10)Rapid Improvement Event (4)Reader Questions (55)Reading (23)Recruiting (3)Red Bead (16)Red-Green (6)Reflection (2)Remote Work (1)Research (1)Resilience (1)Resistance (7)resp (1)Respect (6)Respect for Business (1)Respect for People (280)Restaurant (55)Results (1)Retail (34)Retaurant (1)Review (3)Rewards (1)Rhode Island (1)Richardson (1)Rivian (1)ROI (3)Root Cause (4)Root Cause Analysis (3)RootCauseRacism (16)Rother (11)Russia (4)Safe Environment (1)Safety (177)Sales (4)San Antonio (1)Saskatchewan (9)Sayer (2)Scholtes (3)Scientific Thinking (1)Scotland (2)Scott & White (2)Searching (4)Seasonality (1)Seattle (25)Seddon (4)Senge (1)Sensei (3)Servant Leadership (2)Service (4)Services (3)Seth Godin (2)Shannon (7)Shewhart (2)Shingo (58)Shingujitsu (5)Shipping (1)Shook (62)SHS (18)Signs (14)Silence Tax (41)Simmer (1)Simpsons (3)Sin (1)Siren Song (14)Six Sigma (102)Small Tests of Change (1)SMED (10)Software (78)South Africa (1)Southwest (3)Soviet (2)Space (4)SpaceX (1)Spaghetti Diagrams (1)Spain (1)Spanish (1)SPC (29)Speaking (10)Spear (36)Spearman (1)Sports (179)SQDC (4)Standardization (2)Standardized Work (221)Starbucks (57)Startup (2)Startups (30)Statistics (2)Strategy (19)Strategy Deployment (32)Strong America (2)Struggles (4)Studer (20)Stuff (1)Stupid (2)Suggestion (2)Suggestion Box (29)Suggestions (7)Supervision (1)Supply Chain (55)Surgeon (3)Surgery (6)Sushi (1)sustainability (1)Sustainable Workplace (1)Sutton (1)Swartz (13)Sweden (8)System Dynamics (2)Systems Thinking (1)Tacky Advertising (1)Taiichi Ohno (70)Takt (5)Targets (1)Taylor (6)Taylorism (33)Teaching (1)Team (1)Team Building (1)Teamwork (4)Tech Support (3)Technology (10)TechSolve (2)Telecom (1)Tesla (15)Tetreault (1)Texas (5)The Jerk (1)The Mistakes That Make Us (58)The Office (4)The Resident (1)ThedaCare (205)ThedaCare Center (9)Thelen (5)Throwback (59)Tiered Daily Huddles (2)Time (3)TKMG Academy (1)TMMTX (3)Toast (6)Tom Peters (12)Toronto (1)Toussaint (127)Toyota (648)Toyota 1992 Booklet (6)Toyota culture (4)Toyota Kata (19)Toyota leadership (1)Toyota management (3)Toyota mentality (2)Toyota Production System (6)Toyota system (1)Toyota Way (2)Toyotas (1)TQM (10)Training (11)Training Within Industry (67)Transformation (3)Transparency (2)Transportation (2)Trash (1)Travel (62)True North (1)Trump (3)Trust (5)TSSC (8)Turgeon (13)Twitter (19)UAW (1)Uber (3)Understanding Variation (4)Unicorn (1)Union (3)Unions (3)United Technologies (1)UPS (8)USA Today (15)User Experience (1)User Interface (1)VA (15)Vaccination (12)Value (29)Value Capture (31)Value Steam (1)Value Stream (9)Value Stream Mapping (39)ValuMetrix (2)Van Dongen (5)Variation (10)Veterinary (7)VetMed (7)VIBCO (21)Video (262)Virginia Mason (114)Virtual (2)Vision (1)Visual Displays (3)Visual Management (52)Voice of the Customer (3)Volkswagen (2)Wachter (5)Wagner (21)Waiting (7)Walgreens (3)Walmart (12)Walters (5)Warning (6)Washington (2)Waste (149)waste elimination (1)Water (2)Webinar (96)Website (1)Weekend (3)Weekend Fun (21)Weight (1)Welch (7)Wellman (4)Wells Fargo (2)Wetzel (1)Wheeler (1)Whiskey (28)Whisky (3)Whole Foods (3)Wine (12)Wiremold (5)Wisconsin (23)Womack (107)women leaders (1)work culture (2)Work Design (1)Workaround (8)Workarounds (1)WorkOut (1)Workplace Culture (2)Workshop (6)Workshops (1)Wrye (3)WSJ (203)Yahoo (1)Yokoten (1)Zappos (1)Zarbo (1)Zero Defects (1)Zero Harm (6)Zoom (2)
Why “Quality Posters” Don’t Improve Quality (and Never Did)
TL;DR: Quality posters and slogans don’t improve performance–they signal that management expects people to “try harder” instead of fixing broken systems. As Deming taught, most quality problems come from management-controlled systems, not worker effort. Remove the posters. Substitute leadership. Back…
Texas Hospital Saves Money Occasionally With Lean Six Sigma… But Can Do More, More Often?
I saw this headline the other day about University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas: “UMC finds savings through waste“ The headline really should say “through waste reduction.” Reducing waste is, of course, a good thing. Reducing waste usually saves money…
Podcast #284 – Dr. Margaret Balfour on Improving Crisis Psychiatric Care with Lean
My guest today for episode #284 of the podcast is Dr. Margaret (Margie) Balfour, the lead author of an article, published in the The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, titled “Using Lean to Rapidly and Sustainably Transform a…
7 Barriers to Patient Safety According to Dr. Donald J. Berwick
Last month, I saw this article from the publication Hospitals & Health Networks (H&HN), where they summarized a speech given by the legendary Dr. Don Berwick at the National Patient Safety Foundation annual conference: Don Berwick’s 7 Roadblocks to Improving…
Flashback Friday: Demolition Errors, Mistake Proofing, and Healthcare
In recent years, I've written two blog posts about the sad scenarios where the wrong building was demolished by a crew. In these scenarios, it's easy to blame "bad crew" instead of looking at systemic causes of such an error. Having a better process is always more effective than admonishing people to "be more careful." What did I see recently that caught my attention in terms of trying to prevent demolition errors?
A Lesson From Toyota: Thanking Employees for Pointing Out Problems
Thanks to Lean Frontiers for sharing a story from Mike Hoseus on LinkedIn. Mike is, of course, co-author of the excellent book Toyota Culture: The Heart and Soul of the Toyota Way (written with Jeff Liker, who I just learned is retiring from the University of Michigan... more on that soon).
Thoughts on “Good” vs. “Better” from My College Marching Band Director, Dr. Stephen G. Peterson
What are the parallels between the mindsets and approach of a world-class university band director and our mindsets in Lean, Kaizen, and continuous improvement, in healthcare or beyond?
My LinkedIn Article: Supply Chain Matters – at the Oscars® and in Hospitals
The mistakes at The Oscars were trivial and unimportant in the grand scheme of things. What are some lessons learned that apply to improving healthcare supply chains?
James Hereford – A #Lean COO from Stanford Becomes a Lean CEO at Fairview Health
In today's post, I write about James Hereford, a Lean thinker and leader who is now CEO of Fairview Health Services in Minnesota. I share some links to and highlights from a past podcast with him and other blog posts with his thoughts.
If a Surgeon or Hospital Puts Quantity over Quality, Why Call it a “Factory?”
I get worked up about labeling a troubled surgical department as "a factory," but there are far more important issues of patient safety and hospital culture to be discussed related to a Seattle Times investigative piece.
#TBT: What CFO Magazine Wrote About #Lean in 2009
I first blogged about this article back in 2009 and it’s still online: “Keen to Be Lean“ The sub headline talks about hospitals being “desperate to cut costs.” Has that changed? I wish the motivation was more often about hospitals…
