Lean Blog Interviews

 http://www.leanblog.org/349My guest for episode #349 is John Dyer, president of his consulting firm, John Dyer & Associates, Inc., and author of the new book, The Façade of Excellence: Defining a New Normal of Leadership, which will be released on October 1, 2019. John has been a guest previously in episodes #229 and #280, talking about Dr. W. Edwards Deming, "The Red Bead Experiment," and more. Today, we talk about the book, how to find out of there is a "facade" of excellence, and why "fear makes good people do stupid things," as John says. What's a façade? "A false appearance that makes someone or something seem more pleasant or better than they really are." 

http://www.leanblog.org/348 Our guest today for Episode 348 is Cinnamon Dixon, Director Of Continuous Improvement at Cleveland Clinic. I interviewed her for the KaiNexus Continuous Improvement Podcast series and I'm cross posting that interview here to give it more exposure. Our KaiNexus team members who were at the Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit in June were really impressed with Cinnamon's presentation on their "tiered huddle" process that's part of their Lean methodology. So, we asked her to do the podcast. You can a full transcript via the KaiNexus blog. I recently had a chance to visit Cleveland Clinic and I spent the morning observing their tiered huddles, so I'll be writing a blog post about that soon. Thanks to Cinnamon and Cleveland Clinic for being so willing to share! 

http://www.leanblog.org/347Our guest today for Episode 347 is Brad Parsons, the CEO of NEA Baptist, in Jonesboro, Arkansas. NEA Baptist is a 228-bed hospital and 140-provider medical group serving northeast Arkansas -- part of Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation. Brad is also the co-author of the new book Creating an Effective Management System: Integrating Policy Deployment, TWI, and Kata. His co-authors have been guests on the podcast before -- Patrick Graupp and Skip Steward. In this episode, we'll talk about core themes from the book, including his role as the leader of their transformational efforts to implement and continue improving an effective management system -- something that's important for so many reasons. We'll also talk about "Process Behavior Charts" and his experience with Don Wheeler.

 http://www.leanblog.org/346  Joining me for Episode 346 of the podcast is Mark Ryan, a Transformation Coach and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt at Franciscan Health. Mark will be one of the hosts and facilitators at our upcoming "Kaizen Live!" site visit event at Franciscan St. Francis Health in Indianapolis. Only two spots remain, so register today if you'd like to join us. As we talk about in the episode, Franciscan does much more than daily Kaizen. They've built upon that foundation of staff engagement to add other Lean practices -- under the banner of what they call "Managing for Daily Improvement," or MDI. They use "strategy deployment" and other methods to align the organization in their goals and improvement efforts. I hope you enjoy the discussion, whether you are joining us in Indianapolis or not. 

 http://www.leanblog.org/345 

http://www.leanblog.org/344Joining me for Episode #344 is David Reid, a mechanical engineer whose career has taken him from improvement work at Michelin Tire, to being a pastor, to now helping the Chick-fil-A restaurant chain improve through Lean and Kaizen practices and mindsets.I was really excited to see the cover story that was in the May 2019 issue of ISE Magazine (Industrial & Systems Engineering). The headline inside reads, “From lean modules to a lean mindset — Chick-fil-A's success shows how leveraging your greatest asset speeds up cultural change.”In this episode, I get to ask David about some of the drivers for Lean at Chick-fil-A, which is already a high-growth company with many happy customers and employees.How do they influence the owner/operators of stores to embrace Lean and to engage every employee in continuous improvement? Why did they learn that a top-down engineering-driven model couldn't possibly drive enough improvement? How does a Facebook page enter the equation for employees (and

My guest for Episode #343 of the podcast is Amanda Mewborn, an executive director of project management for Piedmont Health.I've known Amanda through the Society for Health Systems and she's one of the very small number of people I know with both engineering and nursing degrees. She has a B.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering and an M.S. in Health Systems from Georgia Tech and a B.S. in nursing from Georgia State University.So, in today's episode, we talk about that interesting combination of skill sets and why she got a nursing degree. We also chat about her career in healthcare, along with some of the facility design and construction work she has been involved with. We also hear her thoughts on why it's important to have the engagement and involvement of front-line staff (and patients) in the design process.

For links and more, go to http://www.leanblog.org/342My guest for Episode #342 of the podcast is Adam Ward, the author of Lean Design in Healthcare: A Journey to Improve Quality and Process of Care.Adam is an innovation process expert and independent advisor. He spent the first 12 years of his career designing cars for Honda and the next 12 years working with Fortune 500 companies to turn around their product development process. A resident Buckeye, he coaches students at Ohio State's MBOE program.In this episode, we discuss his early days at Honda and how he made a career transition into healthcare. We'll talk about the story behind his book and some of his experiences and practices that are transferrable — going from “simultaneous engineering” to “Lean design.” What are some of the most common failures? How can we coach leaders so they aren't giving just lip service to these methodologies? We discuss all of that and more…

http://www.leanblog.org/341My guest for Episode #341 of the podcast is Dr. Rob Hackett, an anaesthesiologist in Sydney, Australia. Rob has become known around the world for his role in what's now called the “Theatre Cap Challenge” — a method for improving communication and, thereby, improving patient safety and outcomes.As we talk about today, Rob had the idea of writing his name and role on his surgical cap with a sharpie. Eventually, he (and others) have gotten printed caps made as shown below in my LinkedIn post about our discussion (it has received 200,000 views and counting).As I wrote on LinkedIn, Rob has, unfortunately, been trolled, threatened, and bullied for this seemingly benign and obvious improvement idea — both in the workplace and online. It seems that outsiders to healthcare and those who are new to medicine find an idea like this to be obviously helpful, but those who have been in healthcare the longest struggle to accept it.I appreciate Rob's perspective that those who oppose this innovation

Here is a special sample preview of a new podcast... the “Lean Whiskey” PodcastIf you like it, please subscribe by searching your podcast directory for "Lean Whiskey" or go to www.LeanWhiskey.com.About the PodcastMark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh are two guys with a lot in common: Lean, writing books, speaking, consulting... and a love of good whiskey. Like the Car Talk guys, they both went to MIT... but Lean isn't rocket science. Let's hope they can hold their liquor, because they're not holding back on sharing their opinions... it's time for Lean Whiskey... Lean talk with a fun spirit!

Joining me for Episode #340 of the podcast is Dr. Joy Furnival CEng MIET, an experienced senior NHS manager, improvement leader, and chartered engineer. I first crossed paths with Joy at a Lean healthcare event in England back in 2007. At the time, she was working for David Fillingham and the Bolton NHS Trust, which was an early adopter of Lean in the NHS.In this episode, we talk about how we are, in some ways, “Lean twins,” as we both started our careers as engineers in manufacturing. Our career paths then diverged when she joined the NHS whilst I've worked as an outside consultant.I very much appreciate her perspectives as we talk about her roles in a few different hospitals and as a “national improvement advisor” for the NHS. I hope you'll enjoy the conversation as much as I did.

Joining me for Episode #339 of the podcast is Charles Protzman, author of a great number of Lean healthcare books. Today, we are talking about a book that he wrote for a broader audience, The BASICS Lean Implementation Model: Lean Tools to Drive Daily Innovation and Increased Profitability.I first met Charlie over a decade ago when I worked for Johnson & Johnson's VauMetrix Services consulting group — and he was a big influence on our team and our methodology. I'm glad to finally have him here on the podcast to discuss how he navigates the differences between manufacturing and healthcare settings and why he “looks forward” to questions about patients not being cars. We'll also talk about his BASICS model of Baseline, Assess/Analyze, Suggest Solutions, Implementation, Check, and Sustain.We also discuss the power of direct workplace observation, something that I wrote about in Lean Hospitals and I discussed with a healthcare CEO, Vance Jackson, in Episode #337.

My guest for Episode #338 is Mr. Grey Dube, the Chief Executive Officer at Leratong Hospital. He has over 40 years' experience in the Public Service, including time as CEO since 2005. Leratong Hospital is an 855 bedded regional hospital with over 1700 staff members, located in Mogale City, Krugersdorp, South Africa (just east of Johannesburg). Grey is the third consecutive hospital CEO guest, including Gladys Bogoshi (also from South Africa) and Vance Jackson (from the U.S.). I think it's interesting to hear similar philosophies and mindsets from these leaders. Like Gladys, Grey is going to be a keynote speaker at this year's Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit, to be held in Washington, DC on June 13 & 14. I'll be there and I hope you can join us. I'll also be teaching a pre-Summit workshop on Measures of Success that I hope you can attend. In this episode, we talk about how he got introduced to Lean and how he leads the Lean transformation efforts, including assessing and modeling behaviors including

It's my second straight podcast with a healthcare CEO. This time, joining me for Episode #337 is Vance Jackson, FACHE, FACMPE, the President & CEO of Davis Health System, based in Elkins, West Virginia. Vance and I talk about how he was admittedly skeptical about Lean at a previous healthcare organization. But, over time, he realized the importance of Lean and the need for him to lead differently — getting input from everybody instead of the old autocratic way that we see in so many healthcare organizations. How does Vance lead by example as a CEO? Why is it so important for him to go to the “gemba” and observe the actual work and the workplace environment? We talk about all of that and more in this episode.

My guest for Episode #336 is Gladys Bogoshi, the Chief Executive Officer at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, one of the ten central hospitals in South Africa and the main teaching platform of the University of the Witwatersrand. The Hospital is situated in Johannesburg and has a bed capacity of 1189. Gladys is going to be a keynote speaker at this year's Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit, to be held in Washington, DC on June 13 & 14. I'll be there and I hope you can join us. I'll also be teaching a pre-Summit workshop on Measures of Success that I hope you can attend. In this episode, we talk about how she got introduced to Lean, some of the improvements that her hospital has driven in surgery, pharmacy, and other areas. What is her role as CEO in a Lean journey? What are some of the fundamental behaviors that are important and how you can coach people on those? We talk about all of that and more.

It's two Barrys in a row on the podcast, as my guest for Episode #335 is Barry O'Reilly and we're talking, in depth, about his latest book, Unlearn: Let Go of Past Success to Achieve Extraordinary Results. Barry is a business advisor, entrepreneur, and author who has pioneered the intersection of business model innovation, product development, organizational design, and culture transformation. See his full bio. Last week, I shared a shorter discussion with Barry that served as a preview of the webinar that he's presenting on Wednesday. You can find a link to register for the live webinar (or to view the recording) at leanblog.org/335. Barry and I chat about topics including 1) experimental approaches to entrepreneurship, 2) how leaders need to make it safe for people to try new things, and 3) why you have to unlearn before you can learn something new – that's the pathway that allows you to then achieve breakthrough results. These are good ideas in business and they also talk about the interesting case of tenn

Joining me for Episode #334, all the way from Australia, is Barry McCarthy. Barry spent more than 15 years in leadership roles with Toyota in Australia and now works as an Associate with consulting firm Honsha.We were able to spend a lot of time talking when I participated in Honsha’s Executive Development Mission trip to Japan late last year.One thing we talked about quite a bit was Barry’s experience with Toyota being “a development company,” as I blogged about here.In our discussion, Barry talks about why he was “skeptical” about Lean before he joined Toyota. But, he evolved as Toyota continues to evolve. Why is Barry afraid that Lean (outside of Toyota) might get stuck in the past? We’ll talk about all of that and more.

Episode 333 - Jean-Marc Legentil and Marc-Olivier Legentil, The Toyota Kata Memory Jogger My guests for Episode #333 are Jean-Marc Legentil and Marc-Olivier Legentil, father-and-son Lean consultants from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They work together in the firm Bell-Nordic Consulting. I've had the pleasure of meeting both of them on numerous trips to Montreal and was happy to hear they were part of the team that created the latest book in the excellent “Memory Jogger” series: The Toyota Kata Memory Jogger I hope you enjoy our conversation about Toyota Kata, improvement, leadership, and more.

Joining me today for Episode #332 is Jason Burt, owner of EHIP Consulting. Jason is a Lean consultant and business coach with an extensive and diverse background, including a manufacturing career where he has led and coached organizations to increased levels of efficiency and performance. Using the Toyota Production System (TPS) approach has allowed him to positively change cultures to achieve sustainable improvements. During his time at Herman Miller, Jason spent 18 months learning TPS directly from Toyota as a Toyota Lean Consultant. Toyota and Herman Miller were in a partnership during his time with the company, which allowed him to receive direct coaching from Toyota Senseis for the entire 16 years. I was interested in talking with Jason about what it was like learning from Toyota's TSSC organization (a group that has done great work with a UCLA eye clinic and a food bank, to name two that I've featured on the blog). We talk about a wide range of topics, including common misunderstandings about TPS and Le

My guest today for Episode #331 is Eric W. Dickson, MD, MHCM, FACEP, a Professor of Emergency Medicine at UMass Medical School and Chief Executive Officer of the UMass Memorial Health Care system. You might have heard Dr. Dickson speak in Episode #231 of the podcast, which was audio from the CEO panel at the 2015 Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit. By the way, I hope you can join me at this year's Summit. In that audio, Dr. Dickson talked about the beginning of what has been quite an impressive turnaround at UMass Memorial Health Care. I invited him to formally be a guest on the podcast to talk about their progress, and what it means for him to be creating a culture of “Everyday Innovators: Everywhere, Every Day,” which has led to over 65,000 ideas being implemented in five years. This is also a topic he blogs about quite a bit. In our conversation, we discuss how he found Lean originally “almost out of desperation.” How can we shift from “knowing the answer” to “continuous experiments?” Why is it importan