Lean Blog Interviews: Real-World Lean Leadership Conversations in Healthcare and Beyond

By Mark GrabanBusiness Management

Lean Blog Interviews: Real-World Lean Leadership Conversations in Healthcare and Beyond episodes

September 07, 2023Keith Ingels on Developing Your People and Making Lean / TPS Your Own
Episode page with transcript and more
My guest for Episode #484 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Keith Ingels, who previously joined us in Episode 390. He's the RLM Manager of Solutions & Support Centers — RLM being the Raymond Lean Management system.
He was also a guest with me for Episode 62 of “My Favorite Mistake.” His story and insights were also featured in Chapter 8 of my book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation.
In today's episode, we discuss how the Raymond Corporation makes Lean / TPS their own management system, even while being under the Toyota corporate umbrella. RLM focuses on developing people and that starts with leaders. Why does a culture of continuous improvement start with small steps and not requiring ROI calculations for every improvement? We discuss how kaizen participation rates are a leading indicator of employee morale and how absenteeism and turnover are lagging indicators. We talk about that and more…
“Critique the process, not the people.”
Questions, Notes, and Highlights:
Tell us about Raymond Corporation and its place within Toyota Industries
The fit of products with Toyota branded forklifts?
Back in 2020 your title was TPS Manager — has some of the language evolved?
Minor differences? More English words, advising customers to do that and to own their own system
TPS House – foundations
Flow AND quality
Helping people unlearn??
“It's about developing your people” —
If you can see a problem, you can solve a problem
“Critique the process, not the people”
Assumptions vs. real knowledge
“What are you hoping to achieve?” vs. “what problem are you trying to solve?”
Coat hooks – not requiring ROI? – starting with small steps
“You can't put a meter on morale”
Utilizing fresh eyes and new employees for Kaizen
“problem seeing eyes”
Making it safe — problem speaking mouths?
How to help people feel safe to speak up?
Tell us about your “Microburst teaching” approach…
“You have to reinvent that safe environment every day” (psych safety)
How do leaders cultivate the conditions for people to learn from mistakes? Same habits for building trust and kaizen? Anything different?
The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in its 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.
This podcast was also brought to you by Arena, a PTC Business. Arena is the proven market leader in Cloud Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) with over 1,400 customers worldwide. Visit the link arenasolutions.com/lean to learn more about how Arena can help speed product releases with one connected system.
This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network.
1 hr
August 23, 2023Amanda Zimmerman & Dominic Stokes Discuss ”Squishy Lean”
Episode page with transcript and more
For episode 483, we are joined today by Amanda Zimmerman + Dominic Stokes, two Lean Six Sigma professionals who co-host a new podcast called “Squishy Lean.”
Amanda Zimmerman is a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt with a global background. Amanda has worked in Oil and Gas, Software, and in a variety of industries all over the world mentoring professionals in Continuous Improvement. She holds an MBA from Imperial College of London. In 2020 she launched Beautiful Opportunities, aiming to empower people in continuous improvement worldwide and make it easy for people to start applying the tools.
Dominic is an industrial engineer with a background in manufacturing engineering and management consulting. Ever since he first learned about lean manufacturing principles, Dom has looked for more opportunities in and outside of work to learn and practice. His overall goal is to find ways to convert commercial lean tools to residential uses. When he isn't learning about lean, he is spending time with his wife and dog or cutting his hair.
In today's episode, we discuss their Lean origin stories (or Six Sigma then Lean or Lean Six Sigma). We also talk about the origins of their podcast, using Lean methods at home, the power of experimenting, and helping people not feel bad about making mistakes when they're doing something new.
Questions, Notes, and Highlights:
Harder to define what's a “Six Sigma culture” compared to a “Lean culture”?
The psychological safety required to point out problems and try things
Laundry — smaller batches… eliminating the time spent sorting / pulling apart
Why someone is in the middle or anti-Lean?
Experiments that led to the podcast?
How did you two meet? – Lean Portland
How did the podcast come to be?
What's squishy lean?
How to not let things get “too squishy”?
“More important to experiment… than to do it perfectly”
How to make it easier for people get started with C.I.?
My blog post about lessons from personal trainer
How to help them feel they aren't making a mistake when new? A focus on learning not punishment?
You mentioned using Lean at home… after learning it at work…
Dominic – wants to convert “commercial grade lean” for use at home… to have people learning lean at home… as kids… and then bring to workplace?
The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in its 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.
This podcast was also brought to you by Arena, a PTC Business. Arena is the proven market leader in Cloud Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) with over 1,400 customers worldwide. Visit the link arenasolutions.com/lean to learn more about how Arena can help speed product releases with one connected system.
This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network.
1 hr 1 min
August 16, 2023Audiobook Sample: ”The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation”
Hey audiobook fans! The audiobook version of my book is available now!
It's just over five hours long, professionally produced, and read by me.
It's available through:
Amazon
Audible – free with a trial membership
Apple Books
If you're one of the first 3 people to email me ([email protected]) and you live in the US or UK, I'll email you a code to get a free copy of the audiobook via Audible.
7 min
August 09, 2023”Kata Girl Geek” Gemma Jones on Lean, Improvement, and Mental Health
Episode page with video, transcript, and more
CONTENT WARNING: Today's episode includes discussions about a death by suicide and mental health issues. Help is available. In the U.S., call 988. In the U.K., call 116 123. These calls are free from any phone.
My guest for Episode #482 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Gemma Jones.
Gemma is an Improvement Coach, Trainer, and Visual Facilitator, based in the UK and working globally. Gemma started her career in Engineering and quickly found a passion for Improvement. She spent 20 years in Manufacturing across numerous industries, then in 2018 she left employment to build her own business. Gemma's mission is to help organisations and individuals be the BEST they can be, by helping people SEE, helping people THINK, and helping people CHANGE.
In today's episode, Gemma brings up important topics related to Lean and mental health, and we discuss parallels between "mental health first aid" and physical first aid. How can we learn how to help others when they might be struggling? What signs should we look for?

We also discuss her origin story in Lean and Continuous Improvement, the POWER of coaching and asking questions, how the Kata Girl Geeks global group started and grown over the past 3 years, and how her mission now is to encourage and enable the global community of CI Practitioners and Leaders to actively tune in to HELP people.
Questions, Notes, and Highlights:
What's your Lean / C.I. origin story??
Tell us about that Kata Girl Geeks
Tracy Defoe – Episode 467
Coaching and asking questions?
The benefits of having groups for women?
You're very interested in the overlap in mental health and continuous improvement… you did a keynote talk recently on this… tell us about that.
We don't know really that much about the totality of people's lives, stress, and other factors
Got trained in “mental health first aid“
What signs might you look for? Who needs mental health first aid if somebody's not asking for it?
Good ways of bringing up this up with people?
“I noticed you're not seeming yourself…”
Value Stream / Process Mapping and asking people to add emojis
How are you helping people on this topic and incorporated into C.I.?
Why avoid the question why? Defensiveness
Incorporating this into workplace safety discussions and focus? A broader view of safety?
Parallels to physical first aid
Website – resources page for C.I. — “how to help”
Free training recommended by Gemma
The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in its 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.
This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network.
1 hr 4 min
July 26, 2023George Saiz on ”We Started With Respect” and His Career Focused on Improvement
Episode page with video, transcript, and more
My guest for Episode #481 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is George Saiz.
As a coach, writer, and speaker, George Saiz actively promotes enterprise excellence through a people-centric culture to the next generation of leaders.
In his new business novel, We Started with Respect, he shares from his executive experience in the medical device industry and the many best-practices sites he visited as president and CEO of the Association for Manufacturing Excellence. He is retired and currently resides with his wife in Carlsbad, California.
Questions, Notes, and Highlights:
What's your Lean origin story?
The Goal — a business novel
The leader going first with the learning??
Compliance vs Commitment
Using Lean as business problem solving vs. tools for operations?
Exposure then to Lean / TPS?
The need to focus on process AND people (culture)
What aspects of Lean don't work without a high enough level of mutual trust?
Gallup surveys show that two out of three employees are disengaged to some degree –causes or root causes?
Examples of companies that invest well in supervisor and manager training?
The need to DESIGN culture?
Tim Clark's podcast, “Culture by Design“
Tearing down the walls — starts with executive leadership team
Looking back — key Influences and mentors?
The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in its 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.
This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network.
52 min
July 21, 2023 Trailer - Lean Blog Interviews
Visit our website at www.leancast.org.
Lean Blog Interviews is hosted and produced by Mark Graban.
2 min
July 12, 2023Paul Critchley Interviews Mark Graban About “The Mistakes That Make Us”
Episode page with transcript, video, and more
For Episode #480 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast turns the tables, as regular host Mark Graban is interviewed today by a guest host, his friend Paul Critchley.
Paul was previously the host of the New England Lean Podcast and he's been a guest of Mark's in Episode #5 of the Lean Whiskey podcast series.
Today, Paul asks Mark questions about his new book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation, the general topic of learning from mistakes, and more.
Questions, Notes, and Highlights:
What was the origin of the My Favorite Mistake podcast?
What have you learned from your guests about PDCA / PDSA and learning from mistakes?
What's your favorite mistake?
Iterating on improvements and engaging people in that process
What advice would you give to leaders and managers so they can incorporate a culture that encourages risk takin… that mistakes are okay with psychological safety?
Saying “I'm sorry” shows strength not weakness
What'd you wanna be when you were little?
What inspires you?
What's one thing nobody knows about you?
What superpower do you wish you had?
The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in its 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.
This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network.
54 min
July 05, 2023Arnout Orelio on Lean Thinking in Healthcare: The Netherlands and Beyond
Episode page with video, transcript, and more
Joining us for Episode #479 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Arnout Orelio, a returning guest (from Episode 403 in 2021). He has been working with Lean management since 1995, the last 15 years as a trainer, coach, and consultant in healthcare.
He is the owner of The Lean Mentor, where he helps people who want to (learn to) improve healthcare. Arnout focuses on teaching lean leadership, as an author, speaker, and mentor, bringing top performance and high levels of productivity within everyone's reach. His mission is to make “more time for better health care.”
His first book was Lean Thinking for Emerging Healthcare Leaders and, today, we're discussing his brand new book, Lean Thinking in Healthcare.
Questions, Notes, and Highlights:
How do you summarize your 25 years of learning how to improve?
Creating more time for better healthcare?
Problem and productivity as dirty words?
Similarities between Dutch and US health systems / payers?
What's the general state of healthcare in the Netherlands right now?
It's hard to manage the work when you don't understand the work
From the cover — 4 things… do they represent “True North” to you? At your hospital?
Right care, right place, right time for the right patient
Zero Waste – resource efficiency vs flow efficiency?
How to engage everybody in improvement, every day? Fixing or redesigning the system vs. improving the system?
Learn to change small systems first
Cycle of continuous misery?
Not just what are we moving from, but also what are we moving to?
What does it mean to “learn from the best” in your experience? The best hospitals? The best organizations?
Two problems with learning from others?
The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in its 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.
This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network.
57 min
June 19, 2023Shaunté Kinch on Solving Big Problems in Manufacturing, Healthcare, and Beyond
Episode page with video, transcript, and more

Joining us for Episode #478 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Shaunté Kinch.
In 2022, Shaunté founded Empact Global, a consultancy that works with organizations to help them solve really BIG problems. Her more than 20 years spent implementing Six Sigma, LEAN, and design thinking concepts have inspired her to take on “wicked problems” in a “VUCA” (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous) world.
Originally trained by Shingijustu (pioneers of the Toyota Production System) she has educated over 2800 people in continuous improvement and innovation, led hundreds of workshops, and coached more than 60 leaders.
Shaunte holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, and a Masters of Engineering, Design, and Manufacturing, both from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA.
In today's episode, we discuss what Shaunté learned about Lean in her first aerospace jobs, including time spent working with the famed Shingujitsu consulting group. What did Shaunté learn and discover when she was recruited into her first healthcare organization? We discuss problem-solving in the context of shopfloor improvement, management practices, and big societal problems like inequities and a lack of diversity in some Lean settings.
Questions, Notes, and Highlights:
How does Lean help us navigate a VUCA world?
What we know vs. what we THINK we know?
Facts vs. data?
How do assumptions get leaders in trouble?
Leaders observing leaders? Doing so in a non-blaming way?
Helping people go from “we don't have time” to making time?
What's your Lean origin story?
“Everything was an experiment” – seeds planted by her father, a math & science teacher
Northrup Grumman – “Lean Engineering”
Boeing – “real training” from Shingujitsu
From Aerospace to healthcare? What's different?
“I don't think challenge is supported enough in HC”
Ideas on how Lean practices need to evolve?
Shifting to working independently / your own firm?
Fighting the way we've always done it, including in hiring and selecting speakers for events
Diversity and representation on conference stages, Lean in general
How does it feel to go to a conference and not see a Black woman on the stage?
Celebrating Juneteenth
The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in its 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.
This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network.
1 hr 13 min
June 07, 2023Zeynep Ton on The Case for Good Jobs and Building Better Work Systems
Episode page with video, transcript, and more
Joining us for Episode #477 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Zeynep Ton. She is a professor of the practice at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Previously, she was on the faculty of the Harvard Business School. Ton received numerous awards for teaching excellence at both schools.
She was previously a guest in Episode 228 in 2015, discussing her first book The Good Jobs Strategy. Her new book, released in June, is The Case for Good Jobs: How Great Companies Bring Dignity, Pay, and Meaning to Everyone's Work.
In today's episode, we discuss what's meant by “good jobs” — and how it's not just about compensation. What are good jobs and what's the case for them, in both human and financial terms? Among other topics, we discuss how it's a system, the “good jobs system,” and there is risk in trying to just copy a piece or two that sounds good (which reminds us both of issues around adoption of the Toyota Production System).
Questions, Notes, and Highlights:
What are “good jobs”?
Has this definition evolved at all?
“Operate with slack”
Nursing shortages — the effect of not operating with slack
Improving call center jobs — reducing the need for calls to begin with
HBR piece — mental models of customer-centric vs. financial-centric
The new book — “the case” for good jobs?
Benefits of lower turnover
Simple thinking vs. systems thinking — 2% margin business “can't afford” higher wages… or can't afford NOT to?
5 Corporate Disabilities when you have high turnover
Tight labor markets — a greater need for companies to adopt “the good jobs strategy” or at least some practices?
Sam's Club — competitive pressure to catch up or emulate Costco?
The good jobs SYSTEM — risk of copying just one piece, such as higher pay?
Cost of Poor Quality vs. Cost of Bad Jobs — not on the financial statements
Operational Indifference… vs operational excellence
“There's a grave disconnect between what's happening on the front lines and what executives think is happening.”
Finding balance? “standardizing processes when that makes sense and empowering employees to help customers”
Obstacles to creating good jobs? The logical evidence-based case to be made vs. habits and beliefs of executives (mental models)?
“Many leaders don't even consider frontline work critical to company performance.”
Cost-benefit analysis — easy to calculate the cost of higher pay… predicting the benefits is seen as a leap of faith?
The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in its 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more.
This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network.
54 min

About Lean Blog Interviews: Real-World Lean Leadership Conversations in Healthcare and Beyond

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Lean Blog Interviews: Real-World Lean Leadership Conversations features thoughtful, in-depth discussions with leaders, authors, executives, and practitioners who are applying Lean thinking in the real world.