Lean Processes in Healthcare

The difference between 'lean processes' as practiced in a manufacturing plant and that practiced in a service organisation such as a hospital, is that the manufacturer seeks to align order/stock inputs with streamlined production processes so as to eliminate wastage and reduce stock and labour costs. A service organisation, on the other hand does not have a 'production process' and therefore needs to shift its focus away from cost reduction to meeting the needs of multiple stakeholder groups.

I believe a core tenent of lean processes in a hospital should be 'do no harm'. This means the process should not result in any forced reduction of staff numbers and patient care must not be compromised. In fact the opposite should apply. Lean processes should seek to reduce workplace stressors upon staff while providing patients with the highest quality care at the least amount of pain and inconvenience. I also believe lean processes will become increasingly critical as labour shortages force hospitals, especially rural providers, to achieve more with less staff.

Case studies from a variety of hospitals that have adopted lean process show reductions in wastage, less time involved in non-core activities, reduced processing times and reduced waiting times. Imagine if Government were to focus on education designed to keep people out of hospital while hospital staff developed lean processes - it is possible this combination may lead to lower operating costs, improved utilisation of facilities and reduced waiting times.

It is time for hospitals to have another look at Total Quality Management, Continuous Improvement and lean processes. Each of these can be aligned as a service delivery process and can also be aligned with existing accreditation and risk management processes.

Let The Journey Continue
John Coxon
Taking You From Frontline Manager to CEO
Skype john_coxon
Twitter john_coxon
Facebook johncoxon1

Risk Management in Management

Recently have been involved in the delivery of a frontline management program to 20 supervisors in a regional hospital and during a workshop they were discussing risk management. Naturally being clincially oriented many were considering risk management from that perspective. In turn, I began to formulate some ideas on risk management in management. In other words what are some of the actual management risks? The following are my thoughts:

Failure to communicate effectively. By this I refer to a failure to develop a 'culture of listening' where people are encouraged to speak up, to ask questions, to propose ideas safe in the knowledge they will be listened to, respectfully and due dilgence given to their ideas.

Failure to set clear expectations.How can people acheive their outcomes when they don't understand, and agree with what is expected of them?

Failure to monitor, evaluate, provide feedback and hold people accountable Enough said!

Some, reading this might ask, hey what about failure to set strategy, or implement strategy, or hire the right people or design work roles? Everyone of those, and many more offer some management risk. What I am suggesting here is that the greatest risk of management is the inability to develop a 'people culture'. The greatest management risk is a focus on 'top-down' management rather than collective, collaborative leadership.

Let The Journey Continue
John Coxon
Taking You From Frontline Manager to CEO
Twitter john_coxon
Facebook johncoxon1
Skype john_coxon

Work place gossip

A recent email from a coaching client asked, How do I stop people gossiping in the workplace?

The reality is that you cannot stop people from gossip, we all do it from time to time. Each of us has a personal responsibility to ensure our gossip causes no harm, to either an individual or stakeholder groups.

What can you do as a manager? There are a number of things you can do and some things you should avoid doing. Firstly issuing an edict or ordering someone to stop gossiping is unlikely to be successful - all that will achieve is force the gossip underground, where it can be even more destructive.

As a manager gossip can be informative, it can alert you to potential issues. This is not to suggest you should encourage gossip rather that you should listen to what is being said around the traps.

Gossip is often negative. It is only someone's personal perspective, an opinion, often not based upon facts or the truth. This means there is an alternative, a positive alternative, often based upon the facts. As a manager you have a responsibility to provide a balanced, factual perspective. Even if someone negative is taking place inside the organisations, for example an unwelcome change to roles, if you think about it there will be positive outcomes.

Often people don't realise the impact their gossip can have upon others. Taking them aside an explaining to them the possible impact; even asking them how they might feel if others gossiped about them in this manner may help raise their awareness.

As a manager you often have a broader perspective of matters and are able to broaden the perspective off others. The most important thing you can do as a manager is be a role model. Avoid becoming involved in workplace gossip. Avoid unsubstantiated gossip of your own. Be concious of what you are saying, about who and to who. Be aware of the impact off your own language and stories.

Let The Journey Continue

John Coxon
Taking You From Frontline Manager to CEO