Written by: Amy Mervak and Mike Radtke “Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.”  – Wayne W. Dyer Change can be hard. This isn’t necessarily a revelation, but instead a painful reality for many of us. We make New Year’s resolutions that we don’t keep, we have health goals that we can’t meet, and we have personal development goals that feel impossible to reach despite our sincere commitment and effort.  In frustration, it’s easy to become resigned and think that “maybe this is as good as I get.” Organizationally, we often run into this same painful realit ..read more

Whether we aim to be a “Lean” hospital or have a culture of safety (or, ideally, both), this level of excellence is built upon a culture of continuous improvement. As Greg Jacobson, MD, an emergency medicine physician, and CEO of KaiNexus says: “We cannot have a culture of continuous improvement without a culture of learning from mistakes.” Being able to learn from mistakes requires not just problem-solving skills, but also a culture of psychological safety. We cannot solve problems unless the team and leaders are aware of them. What happens when medical professionals are afraid to speak up a ..read more

This is the final blog in a four-part series focused on sustaining lean transformation in healthcare organizations. To read the previous blog posts in the series, please follow the links below: Blog #1 Establishing and Sustaining a Lean Management System Blog #2 Maintaining Forward Movement Blog #3 Four Core Elements to Implement a Sustainable Lean Management System  The rate of change in the business of healthcare has been extraordinarily fast in the past two decades. The shift to electronic medical records, mergers that create giant health systems, nationwide plans to insure more (or l ..read more

This is the third blog in a four-part series focused on sustaining lean transformation in healthcare organizations. To read the previous blog posts in the series, please follow the links below: Blog #1 Establishing and Sustaining a Lean Management System Blog #2 Maintaining Forward Movement The critical step for any leader interested in Lean is to look beyond the tools and, instead, consider the following four core elements designed to help an organization and its leadership team to effectively implement a sustainable Lean management system. (more…) The post Four Core Elements to Implement ..read more

Guest blog post from Jeremiah Hargrave – Director, Quality and Organizational Improvement at Torrance Memorial Medical Center Weapon: a thing designed or used to inflict harm or damage, a means of gaining an advantage or defending oneself in a conflict or contest. Would you categorize your PI tools as weapons? I definitely would. We use these tools in our quest to fight against waste and create value for our customers. They are weapons that help us make inefficiencies visible, think about a problem differently and identify bottlenecks. When used in the spirit of continuous improvement, tools ..read more

Catalysis’ internship program gives college students the opportunity to attend our annual Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit, learn about lean in healthcare, and make valuable connections to healthcare leaders and practitioners. We see this program as one way to invest in the future of healthcare by educating and connecting the next generation of healthcare leaders. This blog is from one of our interns, Will Bickel (pictured left).  Going into the Catalysis Summit I was not sure what to expect, however, I had two personal goals of what I wanted to get out of the experience. I wanted t ..read more

This is the second blog in a four-part series focused on sustaining lean transformation in healthcare organizations. To read the previous blog post in the series, please follow the link below: Blog #1 Establishing and Sustaining a Lean Management System American educator and author, Reed B. Markham, once said, “If you are standing still, you are also going backwards. It takes great effort to maintain forward movement.” We all understand that leading any organization, large or small, takes great effort. But leading people through complex organizational change, creating new management systems a ..read more

Words matter. The terms systemically and systematically are sometimes used interchangeably, but they shouldn’t be. While they sound similar and have the same root, “system,” these words have different meanings. As we are planning the 2022 Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit around the theme “Think Systemically, Act with Purpose,” I began to put more thought around the meaning of each word and how they relate to building a culture of continuous improvement. “Think systemically” is one of the Shingo principles of organizational excellence. Shingo defines this as having a thorough understandin ..read more

A friend of mine recently took a new job at an organization that emphasized its practice and company culture of lean during the interview process. My friend was very excited about this opportunity because I have shared with them about the work I do and how different it is working for an organization that strives for organizational excellence. A few weeks after starting their new role, my friend began confiding in me about their disappointment with the organization and their experiences at work. I couldn’t help thinking; first that I am grateful to work where I do, and second, how could an org ..read more

Being a humble leader is essential to cultivating a culture of continuous improvement. Leading with humility is one of the Shingo Principles of Organizational Excellence and requires deliberate practice. Here are some things to keep in mind about leading with humility. H – Hear Other Perspectives – Humble leaders hear and consider the perspectives of others because they understand that they do not have all the answers. Seeking input, especially from those closest to the work, is a common behavior demonstrated by humble leaders. U – Understand – Humble leaders seek to understand. They don’t pl ..read more