Mark by Mark Graban

Mark Graban: Lean Leadership & More Oct 7, 2026

How Tiered Huddles Encourage Speaking Up | Emily Swaney

When OhioHealth rolled out tiered safety huddles, reports of safety concerns roughly doubled. That was the goal. All…

Mark Graban: Lean Leadership & More Oct 7, 2026

Protected Gemba Time That Closes the Loop on Huddles | Emily Swaney

At OhioHealth, managers block 10:30 to 11:30 every day as protected gemba time. When tiered safety huddles rolled out,…

Mark Graban: Lean Leadership & More Oct 5, 2026

Her Advisors Quit. She Bought It Anyway | Dr. Jen Moran

Her attorney and accountant told her not to buy the dental practice, and they quit when she did. The appraisal valued it…

Mark Graban: Lean Leadership & More Sep 30, 2026

How 11 People Support a Lean Management System for 35,000 | Emily Swaney, OhioHealth

Emily Swaney, VP of Operational Excellence at OhioHealth, explains how a Lean Promotion Office of 11 people supports a…

Mark Graban: Lean Leadership & More Sep 29, 2026

Why Toyota Is Replacing the Andon Cord with Buttons

Toyota has been replacing its famous andon cord with buttons. I visited Toyota's plant in Durban, South Africa, to see…

Mark Graban: Lean Leadership & More Sep 28, 2026

Catch Ball or Dodgeball? How Goals Really Flow in Lean Management

Strategy deployment -- hoshin kanri -- is supposed to work like a game of catch. Goals flow down from leadership,…

Mark Graban: Lean Leadership & More Sep 28, 2026

The Accountability Meeting He Stopped Having | Eric Dingler

Eric Dingler paused a weekly numbers meeting with his wife for six weeks. It became a year, and a cash-flow gap grew…

Mark Graban: Lean Leadership & More Sep 21, 2026

They Asked a Nurse to Run the Hospital Lab | Stephanie Mitchell

An ICU nurse was asked to run a hospital laboratory she knew nothing about, right as consultants arrived to cut costs.…