Mark Graban

Author, educator, speaker, and vice president of improvement and innovation

Mark Graban is an author, educator, podcaster, and speaker in lean and continuous improvement strategies through his company Constancy Inc. He is a senior advisor to the technology company KaiNexus, the founder of LeanBlog.org, and the author of Lean Hospitals, Healthcare Kaizen (Routledge, 2016) with Joseph E. Swartz, both recipients of the Shingo Publication Award. Mark’s most recent books are Measures of Success (Constancy, 2018) and The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation (Constancy, 2023).

Tue, 09/01/2009 - 15:00
When Command-and-Control Leadership Sabotages SuccessLean failure explained
Thu, 10/31/2024 - 12:03
It’s a story I’ve heard too many times: An organization spends years, even decades, entrenched in a top-down, command-and-control culture. In this environment, employees are micromanaged, decision-making is reserved for those at the top, and when…
Lessons in Respectful and Effective Workplace SignageFrom commands to collaboration
Wed, 08/14/2024 - 12:01
In the world of continuous improvement and lean management, clear and respectful communication is crucial. Let’s take a moment to examine two different approaches to communicating a simple instruction regarding the operation of a centrifuge, as…
Analyzing Major League Baseball’s ‘Tommy John’ SurgeriesData insights and trends from 2000–2024
Wed, 05/15/2024 - 12:03
I’ve seen a rash of articles about major league baseball pitchers who are now out for the season because they’ve hurt their elbow and need “Tommy John” surgery. This includes some big names, such as 2020 Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber of the…
Cultivating a Culture of CandorTransforming workplace communication for better outcomes
Wed, 03/20/2024 - 12:03
I’ve learned so much from Timothy R. Clark of the firm LeaderFactor, and author of the excellent book, The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety (Berrett-Koehler, 2020). I can’t recommend his work enough—including his free podcasts, webinars, and more. I…
Stop Spending Money on Problem-Solving TrainingFocus on psychological safety instead
Tue, 09/12/2023 - 12:03
I can’t count how many times during the past 20 years I’ve heard executives complain that their people aren’t enthusiastically participating in their lean program. Leaders lament that while the company has spent a small fortune to put everybody…
Lean Is About Quality, Not Just Speed or Efficiency… in Factories or in HospitalsThere’s a lot of misinformation about lean and Six Sigma
Wed, 07/20/2016 - 15:18
Given all of the problems that exist in our American healthcare system, it’s encouraging that most healthcare organizations are endorsing or practicing some form of process improvement or operational excellence strategy. Under the banner of…
Can’t Always Believe Somebody Saying, ‘Toyota Would Tell You To...’Quality should come before maintaining takt time
Wed, 06/19/2013 - 11:38
From my experience, you have to be cautious when somebody says either, “Lean says you should...” or “Toyota would tell you to...” because those statements, even if stated authoritatively, can be wrong. At a recent speaking engagement (I won’t…
Will Health Care Professionals Accept the Lean Concept of ‘Standardized Work?’ Staff must have a say in defining standardized work
Mon, 07/09/2012 - 11:06
When I was a guest on Quality Digest Live, co-host Dirk Dusharme asked me about hesitations that some health care professionals might have about the lean concept of “standardized work.” As you can see in the show’s archived recording, I talked about…
To Better Protect Patients, Health Care Needs More ‘Lean Thinking’ Processes that create the problems shouldn’t be used to fix them
Wed, 04/25/2012 - 12:14
As the Supreme Court debates the fate of “Obama Care,” we should recall the formal name of the law: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Most of the public debate has been about the cost of health care, losing sight of the urgent…
Improving Health Care Quality Through Signs or Systems? Signs flag symptoms of system problems
Mon, 12/12/2011 - 11:50
To improve quality, the most effective hospitals and leaders focus on processes and systems, instead of just lecturing and cajoling their employees and physicians to do better. W. Edwards Deming famously stated that the problem with posters and…