Engaging the Front-Line with Kaizen

Joe Swartz and Mark Graban co-authors of Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Continuous Improvements were my guests on the Business901podcast, Engaging Front-Line Staff with Kaizen. Below is a transcription of the podcast.

From the Book Description: Healthcare Kaizen focuses on the principles and methods of daily continuous improvement, or Kaizen, for healthcare professionals and organizations. Kaizen is a Japanese word that means "change for the better," as popularized by Masaaki Imai in his 1986 book Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success and through the books of Norman Bodek, both of whom contributed introductory material for this book.

Joseph E. Swartz has been leading continuous improvement efforts for 18 years, including 7 years in healthcare, and has led more than 200 Lean and Six Sigma improvement projects. He is currently the Director of Business Transformation for Franciscan St. Francis Health in Indianapolis, IN.

Mark Graban is the author of Lean Hospitals and has worked as a consultant and coach to healthcare organizations throughout the world. He serves as a faculty member at the Lean Enterprise Institute and is also the Chief Improvement Officer for KaiNexus, a startup software company that helps healthcare organizations manage continuous improvement efforts. Mark writes the immensely popular Lean Blog, which has not only a focus on Healthcare but touches upon all things Lean.