As organizations like UMass Memorial Health surpass hundreds of thousands–and even millions of kaizens, it’s worth pausing to reflect on what those numbers really mean for culture, leadership, and improvement. Toyota famously documented millions of employee suggestions over decades. More…
I like to do some fun and lighthearted posts on the weekends… a blog segment I call “Weekend Fun” (not so creative, I realize). An old friend from college posted a funny story on Facebook this morning, which I’m sharing…
Hat tip to Paul Levy for sharing this video originally in his blog post. Here is the video (you just have to watch the first minute to see the intro and the clip where the doctor talks about “Lean processing.):…
Here’s a funny ESPN commercial featuring PGA golfer Rickie Fowler. Fowler is pouring coffee, yet he makes some bad assumptions about which coffee is decaf and about the “milk” being bad (compounded by the joke that he’s supposedly color blind).…
It’s been a crazy week, so I was in the mood for a good chuckle… and the fake news site “The Onion” delivered in this story: “Boss Has Deft Touch For Making Employees Feel Like Sh**.” (warning, bad words). The…
Here’s a great clip from Thursday’s episode of The Office. One of the new employees shows how he enters customer complaints into the computer and THEN has to fill out green comment cards. He asks why he has to fill…
Mark’s note: Today’s guest post is by Brian Buck, a fellow lean healthcare practitioner who regularly blogs at “Improve With Me.” Following my tendency to share the silly and the funny on Saturdays, Brian delivers some laughs and insights below.…
I’ve probably seen the “Current Condition” portion of the fantastic “Toast Kaizen” DVD (from GBMP) more than a hundred times over the past seven years. At the end, when Bruce learns that his wife wants raisin toast (when he makes…
Since many organizations might block The Onion website, I decided to post this in the “weekend fun” category: Quick-Lube Shop Masters Electronic Record Keeping Six Years Before Medical Industry The headline pretty much says it all, but there’s a short…
There’s a funny cartoon over at ONEFTE.com about suggestions and employee ideas. The post is titled “Where good ideas go to die.” One time in a hospital, a heard a team member say that about their suggestion box. The cartoon…
I was driving the other day, listening to the 1980s music channel on XM Radio. The DJ announced a song by Duran Duran and it really sounded like “Juran Juran,” reminding me of the quality legend Joseph M. Juran. It…
Fans of Bob Dylan and Mike Rother’s book Toyota Kata will appreciate this song especially:
