Many healthcare organizations hit a patient safety roadblock on their Lean transformation journey. Leaders and staff who are learning to see waste discover the connection between good process design and patient safety. Suddenly, every problem seems to cry out for a full-blown root cause analysis (RCA) because it could have caused serious harm! It is easy to make the mistake of thinking you need to double down on patient safety rounds and start doing RCAs on every defect discovered on gemba visits. But you don’t need a new patient safety initiative. Your daily management system is your patient safety program. Done well, a daily management system improves reliability, decreases the number of RCAs you do, and increases the quality of your RCAs. Continue reading →
Continuous improvement is the second dimension in the Shingo Model. It includes five of the ten principles of organizational excellence: assure quality at the source, improve flow and pull, seek perfection, embrace scientific thinking, and focus on process. Each of these principles are equally important to fostering a continuous improvement culture within an organization.
Here are some dos and don’ts to help keep the focus on these principles. Continue reading →
Over the past year, all of our teams have been working through this pandemic demonstrating extraordinary commitment of both physical and emotional energy. Considering these experiences led me to wonder about the resilience of our people/workforce. I am wondering - how are we as people going to come through this crisis? I have talked with many leaders in both Europe and the US and this seems to be a shared concern. How are we going to keep our great teams whole after a prolonged state of emergency and its eroding impact both personally and professionally? Many leaders are sharing their concerns around finding a new way to manage employee turnover. This problem is becoming even more critical than what we have seen in the past.
The idea of following five simple steps to solve a problem is very attractive. It’s something that sells in American culture - look at any bestseller list and you will probably find a few books promising that in some specified number of steps you will resolve whatever is plaguing you. When we have a problem, especially one that keeps recurring, we want to fix it and the idea of following a simple formula draws us in. The same can be seen in how people naturally gravitate toward lean tools when they are starting their improvement journey. Lean tools are useful and impactful, but they can also be misused.
Why is it so easy to focus on tools and what happens when improvement work is approached this way? Continue reading →
An A3 is a structured problem-solving approach that relies on the scientific method. This process allows users to deepen their thinking around an issue and collaborate with others to understand the problem and create a plan to resolve it. While the term A3 actually refers to the size of the paper that is typically used, it is important to remember that an A3 is a process and a tool, not merely a form to complete.
One foundation of an organizational excellence transformation is making improvements: frequently, rapidly and with the team that performs the work every day. This is where the use of our lean toolkit comes in. In this context, we can ask ourselves: why use these tools? Which ones are most applicable to the problem we are trying to solve? When do we use them? When don’t we use them?
To answer these questions, we have to start with the most fundamental step in solving a problem that could use a lean tool: what is the problem we are trying to solve? As Albert Einstein once stated, “If I were given one hour to save the world, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute solving it.” Continue reading →
The goal of a management system is to develop people to solve problems and improve performance. A successful and sustainable management system must be rooted in the principles of organizational excellence and leaders must model the way with their behaviors. It is important to remember that a management system is made up of multiple components that are designed to work together to achieve this goal. For this reason, people often struggle with where they should start when implementing a management system. It will not happen overnight, and it will take plenty of discipline, but a management system will transform the way you work.
When organizations or units begin to implement the management system they most commonly start with the daily huddle because it seems easy to implement and gets the whole team involved. I am an advocate for starting by implementing a stat sheet.
Here are some reasons to start by implementing a stat sheet. Continue reading →
One of the best ways to learn is by learning from others. That is part of the power of the Catalysis Healthcare Value Network. Below Jean Lakin, Administrative Director, Performance Improvement at University of Michigan Health System, shares how her team engages with others to learn.
It is the start of a new year, which for many people means setting resolutions or goals to work towards in the coming months. We often hear from healthcare leaders that they want to work on improving the culture within their team or their organization. According to the Shingo Model, the foundation of an improvement culture starts with two principles: “Respect Every Individual” and “Lead with Humility.”
These two principles are considered cultural enablers and the first place to start when changing culture. Here are some dos and don’ts to get you started: Continue reading →
As 2020 comes to a close, it is a good time to pause and reflect on the year. Reflection is integral to the learning and personal development process. This important part of the PDSA cycle helps us take stock of what went well and what we can improve on in the future.
At Catalysis, our staff have taken time to share their reflections from working with customers and one another as we pursue our mission to transform healthcare. Continue reading →
