DailyKaizen

From what I have learned about LEAN, I understand that “expediting” is one of the things to be avoided. I use it as an example when I talk to people about batch and queue, by asking them what percent of their time they spend working to find out where a project is, and moving it to the front of the queue.

I used to do a lot of expediting, with variable success. Now I do a little. Before, I assumed that this was a function of my role and a way that I helped things happen for our members. Now, whenever I do it, I ask myself, “how did this come to be?” and “how do I help our members better by supporting an environment where expediting is unnecessary?”

I received a request to expedite recently and the above questions came to mind. It felt much more comfortable to ask these questions than to accept that expediting is a function of my role. This benefits those who ask for help (who do so out of frustration) and those who benefit from the help (who don’t expect a staff member to spend time on this activity as opposed to directly supporting the value they receive as customers). In this specific case, there was a difference of understanding of the impact of a certain piece of work closer to the patient, which provided an opportunity ask exactly what the patient needs and provide it.

I am glad LEAN has allowed me to ask these questions and look for answers.

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