“Respect for people” isn’t about being nice—it’s about how leaders design systems, make decisions, and respond to problems. In Lean organizations, respect shows up through listening, job security, psychological safety, clear communication, and a commitment to learning rather than blame. This archive brings together blog posts, podcasts, and examples that explore respect for people as a core Lean principle—one that enables trust, engagement, continuous improvement, and better outcomes for customers and employees alike.
I’m in Las Vegas, speaking today to close the Lean Healthcare PowerDay event. There are many great speakers, including Dr. Richard Shannon, Dr. David Munch, and my good friend and fellow author, Naida Grunden. Click on their names to listen…
TL;DR: Salem Health leaders and frontline staff visited Japan to study Lean and Kaizen–and returned with a deeper understanding that transformation comes from respect for people, teamwork across titles, and leaders going to the front lines to learn. The trip…
We are going through the editing and typesetting process for our upcoming book Healthcare Kaizen this week. After not really looking at the manuscript for a few months, a particular line stood out and made me think, as it’s the…
I grew up in Livonia, Michigan, where I was fortunate to have an outstanding public school education (without the district, to my knowledge, needing teacher “pay for performance” or such silliness during the 1980s). In the past year, I’ve heard…
As I was cleaning out a pile of stuff in my office, I found an unread issue of Inc. magazine from June 2011. One of their “Best Small Company Workplaces” was Hopkins Printing in Columbus, Ohio: “Survival of the Smartest:…
Readers outside the U.S. might not know the UPS advertising slogan of “What Can Brown Do For You?” This often refers to the iconic brown trucks that deliver packages (and the brown uniforms of the employees). One of the challenges…
Thanks to the readers who sent this article my way and thanks to the authors for mentioning and citing my book, Lean Hospitals. The article “Finding a Balance between “Value Added” and Feeling Valued: Revising Models of Care, The human…
I’ve recently had an email exchange with a retiree who is volunteering in a non-profit hospice care facility. I’m sharing this thoughts with his permission. It sounds like there’s often nothing for the volunteers to do and the leaders aren’t…
After last week’s piece on “putting the continuous back into continuous improvement,” I had another article published this past week. This new article was published in the publication “Hospitals & Health Networks,” co-authored with Rob Harding, and it’s called “Cut…
Did anybody see the new movie, the comedy “Horrible Bosses” this weekend? If so, leave a comment and let us know what you thought – should I see it next weekend or wait for home video? The trailer looks pretty…
Mark’s note: Today’s guest post is from Dr. Mark Jaben. I first met Mark in person at Cindy Jimmerson’s Lean Healthcare West conference in Montana last year. I’m happy to publish this new guest post to follow up his previous…
TL;DR: Time and motion studies haven’t been discredited–the Taylorist mindset behind them has. When used as an expert-driven tool to control workers or set quotas, they cause harm. When used the Lean way–by teaching people to study and improve their…
