As a guy who started his career in manufacturing before moving to healthcare in 2005, I don’t get many opportunities to visit the “Gemba” at a factory very often anymore. I get to occasionally visit a Toyota plant (in the…
Burris has a new article on the Harvard Business Review website: “Employee Suggestion Schemes Don’t Have to Be Exercises in Futility” In my own work and travels, it’s hard to find anybody who has good things to say about suggestion boxes...
This article caught my attention the other day: “Philly VA employees ask for golf shirts in suggestion box for improving veteran care.“ I hesitate to throw stones, but there are some very predictable dynamics involved here… and I will provide…
This Bloomberg Businessweek article caught my eye: “How to Get More Respect From Your Boss With Less Work.” It’s a misleading headline, almost as if it was associated with the wrong article, somehow. But, it’s an interesting read anyway. Researchers…
The Denver jail and its suggestion box program made the local news, thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request: “9 quotes from Denver Jail suggestion box” What do we see in the one image from the video, at left?…
In our Healthcare Kaizen books, Joe Swartz and I have tried to make the case that the Kaizen style of continuous improvement isn’t just a nice way to treat employees… it’s smart business and it’s good for patients. It’s a practical…
Last Thursday, Joe Swartz and I presented about “Kaizen Coaching” at the annual Shingo Institute Conference. In the start of our breakout session, I made a point I usually make, something I learned from Norman Bodek: “A suggestion is something…
One of the big arguments given for “Lean Government” efforts are the cost savings that are generated by various Lean projects at local, state, or federal levels. I’ve heard stories and rumors from people who have done Lean Government work……
I’m a critic of traditional suggestion boxes since they are usually garbage cans for ideas. Boxes collect anonymous complaints (not good), and managers often ignore what’s in the box (not good either). I thought I had heard it all about…
Suggestion boxes collect ideas–but Kaizen builds capability. In this short video, I explain why continuous improvement depends on leadership behaviors, not passive systems. The Lean Enterprise Institute recorded this short video while we were at the recent Northeast Shingo Prize…
This announcement caught my eye recently: “New site lets you tell your boss anything, anonymously.“ A startup’s website allows you to send anonymous ideas or feedback, “the modern age’s equivalent of the old suggestion box.” 2022 Update: This company seems…
Last week, I found and read an article, “Whatever happened to the company suggestion box?,” that makes some really great points about the problems with the ole’ box as a way to facilitate continuous improvement. This is a favorite topic…
