Recap: Mark Graban on Building a Culture of Continuous Improvement

When it comes to the quest for creating a lean health care model, there is no better advocate than Mark Graban. In his session on Monday, Graban introduced attendees to the Japanese concept of "kaizen," defined as "the relentless pursuit of perfection through innovation drives continuous improvement."

 

"In a lean culture, one of continuous improvement, we want people to keep their brain with them and to use their brain throughout the day," Graban explained, commenting that this mentality is the opposite of what he often saw in industries like manufacturing as well as too often in health care. Like Saturday’s keynote speaker Ann Rhoades, Graban emphasized that it is the inherent culture of an organization that inspires continuous improvement — not rules or a motto on the wall.

 

In the kaizen model described by Graban, everybody is improving every day, everywhere and every employee has two jobs: to do your job and to improve your job. Another key aspect of the model is the concept of empowering all employees equally to affect quick and easy changes.

 

Instead of the traditional — and largely ineffective — suggestion box, Graban suggests implementing an open, transparent process he refers to as PDSA: Plan, Do, Study, Adjust. Since implementing their continuous improvement initiative in 2007, Franciscan St. Francis Health has seen more than 40 percent of its employees participate in implementing more than 27,000 small improvements throughout the system. That’s a lot of change! 

 

HR leaders have an essential role in driving this culture change, particularly in the following areas: 

1. Help assess the culture.

2. Help select and promote the right leaders.

3. Help hire kaizen-minded employees.

4. Create recognition systems for kaizen.

5. Coach leaders in kaizen.

6. Practice kaizen!