Background How do you transition from a culture of fear to a culture of psychological safety; from control to shared decision making; from disengagement to everybody, everyday engaged in continuous improvement? This is the challenge a 25 bed critical access hospital is addressing through the use of visual management boards. We call them SMART Huddle Boards, because they provide form and function for our daily huddles and bring improvement activities…
“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” – Theodore Roosevelt Life and work seem like a constant struggle sometimes and every so often we all wonder whether staying the course is worth it. But there are moments when everything comes into focus, a higher purpose illuminates the path, and the struggle becomes worthwhile. A breakthrough improvement team…
The future is coming at us like a locomotive. Those who wait to react will flounder and fail, while those who invest and adapt now will be in position to thrive, no matter what comes down the pike. In this excellent video, change and innovation expert, Jim Carroll, presents compelling reasons for taking steps now to make your operation leaner and more nimble. Investments in Lean Six Sigma will enable…
The true test of any improvement methodology or change effort is the extent to which the roll out is embraced by staff and transforms the feeling and work of your facility. If our experience is any guide, employees want to feel like they are part of the solution and the principles of LSS have proven highly effective at harnessing staff commitment, while rapidly driving the kind of change that most…
Many studies show that all organizations operate with from 25-50% of their activity dedicated to fixing mistakes created by other parts of the organization. This is what is called the “Fix-it Factory” in Lean literature and it represents a total waste of time and money. Health care is no different and many non-safety critical processes run at the high end of this range. It is discouraging to see so many…