ThedaCare has long been regarded as one of the most influential examples of Lean thinking in healthcare. These posts explore what ThedaCare’s journey actually teaches leaders—about management systems, executive commitment, strategy deployment, culture change, and the fragility of improvement when leadership changes.
Rather than treating Lean as a set of tools or success stories frozen in time, this archive examines real lessons, missteps, evolution, and leadership reflections from ThedaCare and others who have studied or worked with the organization.
TL;DR: PICK charts can help prioritize Kaizen ideas, but they shouldn’t shut down creativity. Instead of letting “Kibosh” ideas die, leaders should coach, simplify, and adapt them–shifting difficult ideas toward easier, high-impact solutions and keeping continuous improvement moving. The so-called…
It’s easy for people to think that Lean is about cost-cutting. That would be wrong, but many people associate Lean with cost cutting. Cost cutting is the old mindset. The old hack-and-slash approach, which focuses on layoffs or “everybody cut…
I saw this piece by Bob Herman at Becker’s Hospital Review and ended up writing a blog post here instead of writing a long comment there. The piece is: 10 Ideas That Hospital and Health System CEOs Need to Ditch…
Today is the second and final day of the 5th annual Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit. Follow along on Twitter with hashtag#HCSummit14 to see my tweets and thoughts from others. I will be adding updates to this post during the day, as well. These are…
Today is the first day of the 5th annual Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit. Follow along on Twitter with hashtag #HCSummit14 to see my tweets and thoughts from others. I will be adding updates to this post during the day, as well. These are not…
I recently saw an article about Avera Medical Group and Sanford Clinic in Sioux Falls, South Dakota: “Health systems learn to be lean.” Avera McKennan Hospital, in Sioux Falls, was featured in the 2nd edition of my book Lean Hospitals. A physician…
I am an unabashed fan of the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value, as you’re probably aware. For full disclosure, I was previously an employee of the Lean Enterprise Institute, a key partner of the Center. They have a lot of…
It’s often said that Lean is about “doing more with less.” Historically, and practically speaking, it’s true. But, it’s a phrase that we should be careful about for a number of reasons. Looking back at the origins of the term…
In 2009, I wrote about a nurses’ union in New Brunswick that supported Lean because they realized this methodology could help reduce waiting times and improve working conditions. It’s win Yet, as part of the recent politicized Lean healthcare brew-ha-ha in…
Since the healthcare improvement work I do is apolitical and non-partisan, I’m generally not one to butt into the political affairs of Canada or other countries. But, when I hear complaints about Lean or when it’s being called a “scam”…
I hope you’ll consider coming to the 5th annual Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit, being held in Los Angeles, June 4th and 5th, 2014. The Summit is sponsored by the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value and the Lean Enterprise Institute. It’s…
I’m a bit of a counter-culturalist when it comes to the hype about Super Bowl commercials being entertainment and being something we “have to watch” or “have to discuss at the water cooler.” Bah, I don’t pay attention to most…