DailyKaizen

I just got off the phone with Lee and we decided that I’d write a post about our check-in conversation (with Lee adding his thoughts, of course) about Lee and LEAN. The news is good - Lee is working hard and enjoying it, and LEAN is being led at the Executive Leadership level, most notably by CEO Scott Armstrong. I asked what Group Health might be like in 3-4 months or so. He said not to expect that the “how” of everything might be different, but that there would be alignment around the “what.” Lee sounds excited, he is seeing engagement from senior leaders, and they are developing standard processes to do their work. When Lee sounds excited, I am excited. One of the most important measures I consider is Lee’s happiness factor.

As for me, I am still out there in the rest of health care, and I’m learning that there’s no less of a commitment to patients in other environments, and further, that people want to learn and do better. I’m continuing to blog everything I do, as a bit of a stimulus to increase the transparency of every improvement effort in every care system (why not?). A new addition to the concept of this blog on the PCHIT blog is that I am inviting the organizations I visit to come blog with me, so that they join the discussion as authors. All have been open to coaching and learning about a new openness in what they do for patients. Maybe we should have that happen here, too. Where are the other DailyKaizen blogs, and shouldn’t a blog be a documentation requirement for a LEAN transformation?
Lee’s going to the LEAN Transformation Summit in Orlando. He’s going to present with Group Health colleagues, a huge honor. I’m going to the Health 2.0 conferencewhich is happening at the same time. All of us need to create a light onto the rest of health care in what we do, and create community around it at the same time. I think Lee and I will do our best to cover those bases. I know everyone here is, too.

In the meantime, we both wished the best for our Executive Leadership Team, and all that they do to serve our members and communities, as they write a new chapter for the organization.

And as I finished writing this post, I received this E-mail, which Karl gave me permission to include. These are the messages that arrive in your inbox sent when transformation is happening.

From: “Hoover, Karl M.”
Date: December 18, 2007
To: “Ted Eytan”
Subject: Studio 3A

Yes that’s right; we now have 4 focus areas with pacesetters (ELT’ers) assigned, sensei’s assigned to them and getting ready for the real mother A3 development work in January.

- Karl
____________________________
Karl M. Hoover | Executive Director
Group Health | Quality & Informatics Division

Way to go, team.

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