Healthcare Kaizen — Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Continuous Improvements

Leading healthcare organizations are discovering the benefits of engaging all staff members and clinicians in ongoing quality and process improvement efforts. Some organizations are saving millions each year based on the small ideas implemented by staff and managers. But, it sounds easier than it really is. In this talk, Mark Graban describes key principles, the mechanics of a working Kaizen approach, and the important role and behaviors required of leaders at all levels.

Versions of this talk include short overviews, half-day interactive workshops, and longer working sessions that help you start creating a culture of continuous improvement – today.

“How Lean Thinking Helps Hospitals” (tailored for healthcare or non-healthcare audiences)

How does Lean help hospitals? Lean helps your leaders and staff work together to improve patient safety and quality, reduce waiting times, reduce cost, and more! In this talk, Mark Graban provides an engaging overview of the Lean methodology and its powerful applications in various healthcare settings. Moving beyond mere tools, Graban’s talk illustrates the foundations of Lean as a management system and an organizational culture, using examples and lessons learned from his own work and leading hospitals around the world.

This talk can be anything from a one-hour overview, a longer in-depth session, or a facilitated discussion with senior leaders that helps clarify your organization's plan and progress.

It’s All About the Patient: Using Lean to Improve Safety, Flow, and Satisfaction

"Lean” is a holistic approach to quality and process improvement. Lean combines tools with a management system, all built on a consistent philosophy. In a Lean environment, we’re driven to focus on the customer and the things that matter most. In hospitals, that includes patient safety, patient flow, and patient satisfaction. How can we reduce risk and harms, reduce delays, and reduce annoyances that lead to low marks from patients? We can do so, in part, by engaging everybody in the improvement process.

In an era of value-based purchasing, readmission rate penalties, and HCAHPS scores factoring into reimbursement, focusing on the patient leads to better financial performance. Through Lean, lower costs are an end result of doing everything else well… putting the patient first. In this talk, Mark Graban will explain these principles, share examples, and facilitate discussions that will make this all very practical for you.

Key Lean Mindsets for Healthcare

As organizations progress with Lean, they naturally shift from just implementing a few tools and completing a few projects. The best Lean organizations have embraced “Lean thinking, ” including the key mindsets that shape our culture and drive the behaviors that create change and sustain excellence.

In this talk, Mark Graban shares key Lean mindsets, pairing the important conceptual background of Lean with real-world stories that bring these principles to life, vividly contrasting traditional healthcare thinking with Lean thinking. Using the mindsets explained in this talk will increase your chances for success, speeding up your Lean journey.

This talk can be tailored to your particular hospital or medical specialty, with examples that will be relevant and engaging.

Be Lean, Not L.A.M.E.

You want to be “Lean,” not “lame,” right? In this engaging talk, Mark shares stories and examples that illustrate the difference between true Lean management practices and methods that engage employees instead of those that are, instead, “L.A.M.E.” The acronym that Mark coined, “Lean As Misguidedly Executed,” describes practices that might sound “Lean” but anger and alienate employees, customers, or shareholders. This keynote will help you prevent repeating some of the painful and expensive mistakes others make.

Today's Effective Leader: Shifting from Cop to Coach and Counselor

How often do we hear phrases like “If only people would just do what they’re told” and “They’re being resistant to change?” Organizations with better quality and higher levels of performance make the shift from a culture of compliance to a culture of continuous improvement.

Learn how to start or sustain this culture change through the proven methods shared in Mark Graban's talk. Using real-life examples, Mark shares practical approaches for changing how you lead to engage everybody in ongoing and sustainable continuous improvement. The talk also introduces some innovative mindsets and tactics from a surprising place: clinical counseling and addiction therapy. This “Motivational Interviewing” approach has helped Toyota and other companies realize that “resistance to change” is a natural part of the change process. What might appear to be “resistance” should be the start of a conversation about change, not the end.

Engaging Employees in Improvement: Everybody, Everywhere, Every Day

The suggestion box is dead — but long live improvement! Today's leading businesses are engaging employees in a different style of improvement called Kaizen. In this talk, you will learn proven improvement methods and the leadership styles and behaviors that support them. In a Kaizen culture, you don't have to force people to improve – they willingly participate. Employees, customers, and the business all win. Let Mark Graban show you how.