Kimberly Watson-Hemphill, founder, and CEO of Firefly Consulting, is a globally known expert in the field of Innovation and Operational Excellence and is a coauthor of Fast Innovation. She has led global Lean Six Sigma deployments in multiple industries, including one that saved over one billion dollars. Her new book, Innovating Lean Six Sigma: A Strategic Guide to Deploying the World’s Most Effective Business Improvement Process, was the topic of discussion in our upcoming podcast and I asked her in the podcast, why she devoted an entire chapter to healthcare. 
Joe: I noticed that you ended the book with talking about healthcare. Is that a large area of your work right now and does ‘Innovating Lean Six Sigma’ directly apply to healthcare?
Kimberly: It applies very well to healthcare. We were in a bit of a dilemma with the book, having a chapter on healthcare, when we didn’t have a chapter on any of the other areas that we worked. We didn’t do other industry segments. We didn’t talk about financial services. We didn’t talk about oil and gas. We didn’t talk about manufacturing specifically in a chapter. We did a whole chapter on healthcare because it is really an emerging area for continuous improvement. Because of the larger economic pressures on the healthcare environment right now in the United States and just how important of a field it is impacting patient care and people’s lives every day, that industry is getting more and more interested in continuous improvement methodologies.
We’re seeing lots of interest there in the last several years where 10 years ago, when they started in manufacturing and was breaking into service, you didn’t see a lot of healthcare; now, we do, and our team just thinks it’s absolutely wonderful because we’re all patients of the healthcare system, and it’s so important, and we love to see it be done even better.
Joe: You didn’t mention this but is government playing a role now in innovating and with Lean Six Sigma? Is that another area?
Kimberly. Yes. Yes, government. There are a number of successful case studies in the government which is wonderful. We are all taxpayers. We would all like the government to use our money more efficiently, better for our citizenry, and further many functions. So I think it’s wonderful that the government has taken some steps into continuous improvement.
Joe: Well, is there something that maybe I didn’t ask that you would like to talk about the book or Firefly Consulting?
Kimberly: I appreciate your question on the healthcare. I would like to help get that message out there that this does apply to healthcare. It’s interesting; I was in a conversation with some business leaders this fall that still weren’t sure that this applied in service. I started on this in service in the early 2000’s in the hospitality industry and financial services, and GE Capital had already been doing it for quite awhile in that space. So, it’s been in service for a long time, but that word hasn’t necessarily gotten out. Now it’s getting more mature in the healthcare space, but I’m not sure that that word has gotten out broadly to the healthcare industry yet. These methodologies can really help healthcare.