New to Lean? We'll Try to Help Define Lean
… for healthcare, manufacturing, and other settings.
If you've landed here searching for “Lean,” you're probably trying to understand what Lean really is — and what it isn't. This page is designed to give you a clear, practical introduction to Lean thinking without oversimplifying it or turning it into jargon.
Lean isn't something you fully understand in one night or from one article. There's a reason dozens (if not hundreds) of books have been written about it. Lean is a rich management system that takes time to learn — and a lifetime to practice, let alone master. That said, it can be explained in a way that's accessible and grounded in real work.
I've been studying and practicing Lean since 1994, across healthcare, manufacturing, and other settings — and I'm still learning every day. One of the most important lessons I've learned is that Lean works best when it's approached with humility, curiosity, and respect for the people doing the work.
That mindset is why I titled one of my books Practicing Lean. Lean isn't about having all the answers. It's about learning, improving, and getting a little better every day.
If that sounds useful, let's start with the basics.
tl;dr: Lean is a management system focused on improving safety, quality, delivery, and morale by designing better systems and engaging people in continuous improvement. It's a culture and a philosophy–and a set of methods and practices born from them
What Is Lean Thinking?
At its core, Lean is about improving Safety, Quality, Delivery, and Cost (SQDC) together — with safety always first and improvement driven by better systems, not by pushing people harder.
The Typical Goals of Lean Organizations
The goals of organizations that practice Lean are pretty consistent across industries. Their goals are to simultaneously improve:
- Safety
- Quality
- Delivery (reducing delays & waiting through a process)
- Cost
- Morale
The ultimate goal is to achieve long-term success for the organization, and everyone involved–customers, employees, owners, suppliers, and other stakeholders. Read more about SQDC in this overview and in these comments by Larry Culp, CEO of GE Aerospace.
Lean organizations pursue these goals with a deliberate emphasis on long-term thinking, not short-term targets or quarterly results–an idea that sits at the heart of Lean and the Toyota Way.
In manufacturing, “delivery” might mean on-time delivery, or shipping the right product in the right quantity at the right time. In healthcare, it means providing the right care at the right place at the right time, reducing appointment wait times and delays in healthcare facilities.
What Lean Is — and What It Is Not
Lean is not about being skinny. It's not about “cutting to the bone.” Lean is about having the right resources in place to do the right work for the customer, with the right quality, at the right time. Just-in-Time doesn't mean low inventory for the sake of low inventory, nor is JIT achieved via long global supply chains.
Lean is not “mean” (although the words rhyme, unfortunately). Lean is respectful toward everyone who participates in a system, including customers, employees, suppliers, and the community.
Lean does not mean cutting heads in the name of cutting costs (see “Lean is not mean”). Lean is probably the best alternative strategy to the old approach of layoffs and “cost-cutting.“
Lean is not an acronym (“LEAN”).
Common Misconceptions About Lean
Lean is NOT…
- NOT just a few tools to use
- NOT a group of best practices to copy
- NOT just a bunch of projects to conduct
- NOT experts telling you what to do
- NOT about making bad stuff faster
- NOT a way to drive layoffs
- NOT just a process improvement methodology
- NOT just for frontline staff
- NOT “part of Six Sigma”
- NOT just about speed & efficiency
- NOT pressuring people to hit certain metrics
- NOT a silver bullet or an easy transformation
Lean is…
“Lean” is the set of management practices based on the Toyota Production System (TPS). The phrase “Lean Production” was coined by a group of MIT researchers, including Jim Womack and Dan Jones, who wrote the book The Machine That Changed the World.
Lean Production is basically the same thing as:
- Lean Manufacturing
- Lean Enterprise
- Lean Thinking
- Lean Healthcare
- Lean Government
- Lean IT
- Lean Startups
- etc.
It's the same principles and mindsets, applied for different purposes, given the industry.
Lean has been applied in manufacturing (factories, product design, and administrative functions) as well as service industries (including healthcare, banking, and government). The U.S. Army has an active “lean six sigma” program underway as of 2011.
See my article on LinkedIn:
“Lean” is Not Just for Manufacturing – It Applies to Knowledge Work of All Types, Too
Lean and the Toyota Production System
The Toyota Production System, a.k.a. Lean, is defined as having two primary pillars:
- Just-in-Time (improving flow)
- Quality at the source
Jamie Bonini, the President of TSSC, defines TPS as:
“We define TPS as an organizational culture of highly engaged people solving problems or innovating to drive performance.”
Jamie also describes TPS as mainly a philosophy, as described in this post:
The Toyota Europe website has a page that describes the philosophy as they see it, and it outlines the Toyota Way 2020.
Another way of defining Lean (“The Toyota Way” management system) has two parts:
- Eliminate waste and non-value-added activity (NVA) through continuous improvement
- Practice respect for people
The opposite of waste is value-added activity, which has a special Lean definition. An activity is “value added” if, and only if, these three conditions are met:
- The customer must be willing to pay for the activity
- The activity must change the “form, fit, or function” of the product, making it closer to the end product that the customer wants and will pay for (in healthcare, this can mean moving the care process forward, such as comfort, diagnosis, treatment, education, prevention)
- The activity must be done right the first time.
We aren't just reducing waste, we're also trying to provide the most value to customers through Lean methods.
In healthcare, I generally think of “value” in a patient care process to be the work that involves activities like:
- Comforting the patient
- Examining them
- Diagnosing them
- Treating them
- Educating them
- Preventing future illness
Respect for People and Lean Leadership
“Respect for people” is much more complex to define than it might seem. Lean isn't about “being nice” and smiling all of the time. Respect means you challenge people to do their best because you believe in them, and it also means that you collaborate and work together with them in improvement (the practice of “kaizen“).
See this article about “respect for people in healthcare,” as well.
Lean leadership is about enabling and empowering people. Lean leadership is about helping people grow professionally and personally, allowing them to take pride in their work. Lean leadership recognizes how a system operates. Lean leadership doesn't set targets for people, go back to their office, and then yell at people when they don't hit those targets. Lean leaders spend time coaching people. They spend very little time in their office. They lead people and see what is actually happening rather than managing metrics and reading reports.
Much of the “people side” of lean was adapted from the teachings of the American professor and consultant W. Edwards Deming, who taught Toyota and other Japanese companies after World War II. Lean was also adapted from Toyota's study of the early practices of Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company. Note the emphasis on “early.” Lean is not strictly a Japanese invention, nor is its use limited to Japan or Japanese companies.
Where to Learn More About Lean
If you're new to Lean, welcome. I hope you'll enjoy learning more about it.
Also, check out the Lean Enterprise Institute and their “What is Lean?” pages.
Toyota's corporate website has a nice set of TPS pages. As does Toyota Europe.
I also invite you to check out my series of Lean Blog Interviews Podcast episodes, which include interviews with leading Lean thinkers, writers, and leaders.
Some of my posts on core Lean concepts and my “best posts” on this topic.
- Lean isn't about “Quality” and “Productivity”
- My Thoughts on Standardized Work
- Common Sense on Offshoring and Lean
- Putting the “Continuous” Back into Continuous Improvement
This page will grow and evolve over time. It is hard to write a succinct definition of Lean that captures all of its principles and philosophies (but here's a post where we all tried).
Frequently Asked Questions About Lean Thinking
What is Lean, really?
Lean is a management system for improving safety, quality, delivery, cost, and morale by designing better systems and engaging people in continuous improvement. It is both a philosophy and a set of practices, focused on long-term learning rather than short-term fixes or isolated projects.
Is Lean just about efficiency and speed?
No. While Lean often reduces delays and wasted effort, its primary purpose is improving outcomes and reducing frustration. Lean focuses on doing the right work, in the right way, at the right time–not simply making people work faster or harder.
Is Lean the same as using Lean tools?
No. Lean tools can be helpful, but they don't define Lean. Without the right leadership behaviors, mindset, and culture, tools become check-the-box activities. Lean is fundamentally about how leaders think, how systems are designed, and how people are engaged in improvement.
Does Lean mean cutting jobs or resources?
No. Lean is not about layoffs or “cutting to the bone.” Organizations that practice Lean effectively focus on using people's time and skills more wisely, eliminating wasteful work, and redeploying people to higher-value activities rather than eliminating positions.
Is Lean only for manufacturing?
No. Although Lean originated in manufacturing, the principles apply anywhere work happens. Lean is widely used in healthcare, government, software, and knowledge work, where the focus is on improving flow, reducing errors, and supporting people who do complex, human-centered work.
What does “respect for people” mean in Lean?
Respect for people means designing systems that help people succeed, involving them in improving their own work, and responding to problems without blame. It's not about being nice–it's about taking people's ideas, experience, and challenges seriously.
Why do so many Lean efforts fail?
Most Lean efforts fail because leaders focus on tools, projects, or metrics instead of culture, systems thinking, and psychological safety. Without trust and learning, people stop speaking up, problems stay hidden, and improvement becomes superficial or unsustainable.
How long does it take to “do Lean”?
Lean is not something you finish or complete. It's a long-term practice of learning, experimenting, and improving over time. Organizations that succeed with Lean treat it as an ongoing journey, not a program with an end date.
