This story was recently related to me about a hospital in which the Lean process improvement philosophy was adopted, with strong support and encouragement by the CEO. Over several years, it resulted in a significant cultural change in the organization, with resultant improvements in clinical care, employee satisfaction and morale, and finances.
After the CEO left, the board's search consultant interviewed senior clinical leaders and administrators to learn of their hopes with regard to candidates who might serve as the hospital's new leader. The consistent theme from the senior team was to recruit someone who had a strong commitment to Lean, so the philosophy would continue and be enhanced for the future.
It soon became evident that the search firm had no idea what was being discussed, could not pass along the proper message to the board of trustees search committee, and over time watered down the job description to include typical general language about managing improvement.
As the search continued, the hopes of the senior team were left in abeyance, and a new CEO was brought in with minimal commitment to the Lean philosophy. While the philosophy stayed in place for a while, without top leadership encouragement and engagement it gradually fell into disuse. Undoing years of progress, Lean remained mainly in the memories of those who had enjoyed the benefits it had brought for the community.
After the CEO left, the board's search consultant interviewed senior clinical leaders and administrators to learn of their hopes with regard to candidates who might serve as the hospital's new leader. The consistent theme from the senior team was to recruit someone who had a strong commitment to Lean, so the philosophy would continue and be enhanced for the future.
It soon became evident that the search firm had no idea what was being discussed, could not pass along the proper message to the board of trustees search committee, and over time watered down the job description to include typical general language about managing improvement.
As the search continued, the hopes of the senior team were left in abeyance, and a new CEO was brought in with minimal commitment to the Lean philosophy. While the philosophy stayed in place for a while, without top leadership encouragement and engagement it gradually fell into disuse. Undoing years of progress, Lean remained mainly in the memories of those who had enjoyed the benefits it had brought for the community.
7 comments:
Working in a large Canadian hospital system (90,000 employees) that DOESN'T USE LEAN, it's heart-breaking to imagine that somewhere there's a Healthcare System that had LEAN... and lost it.
Like everything else in life.
From your garden to your family to Democracy, if you don't tend it and protect it, it will wither and die.
Maybe it depends on what "had Lean" really meant... if Lean was really generating results for an organization, instead of being a pet project, why would any sane leader kill the initiative?
If Lean had really changed the culture, wouldn't the organization build immunity to a bad leader or non-Lean CEO?
Was the organization in question really Lean to begin with?
Organizations don't build immunity. Individuals in an organization respond to institutional priorities and the signals sent by their bosses. At heart, they soon learn what "safe" behavior is and isn't. Calling out front-line problems when the senior management doesn't want to hear about them becomes mighty unpopular very quickly.
I still don't understand how Lean (again, if the organization was really Lean) dies...
Maybe it's more accurate to say the progress being made toward Lean was killed?
Lean is a process improvement philosophy that relies on a certain approach by management. If the management doesn't want to follow that philosophy, it dies. It cannot persist without management support, even if the staff likes it and wants to continue.
I disagree... changing the CEO doesn't necessarily change the culture through the entire hospital. I've seen plenty of hospitals that have very good "lean cultures" in isolated departments. (it's not just about process improvement by the way, it's a business philosophy and culture). The CEO couldn't spell Lean but department directors were great leaders and they had a very Lean culture. They didn't have Lean specialists. How could the CEO make them stop doing Lean?
It lovely to have pockets of such excellence. It is something to be cherished and appreciated. But that is different from an entire organization that adheres to the Lean philosophy, where interdepartmental and interdivisional work flow improvements are also achieved and sustained.
Post a Comment