The most important concept healthcare leaders should master to be successful in a lean transformation is that change starts from looking in the mirror. Lean leaders lead with humility and truly listen to the needs of their customers (especially patients and families) and their employees and physicians.—Mark Graban

Among the most important foundational elements of a lean management system are that executives be willing to go through training with their teams and serve as coaches and teachers, and that all leaders involved in the transition are improvement minded and committed to spending the time in this new work (setting aside the time while learning).—Kim Barnas

When IT staff understands the core principles and concepts of Lean and how to apply them to IT operations as well as in support of Lean initiatives throughout the organization, they become a key enabler of Lean transformation. As the IT department begins to see the organization in terms of Value Streams, they come to appreciate how the flow of information accelerates ongoing process improvement. This equips them to more effectively partner and connect with other operational departments.—Mike Orzen

Healthcare has a great advantage over manufacturing when implementing lean principles, in the high level of intrinsic motivation that’s found in healthcare professionals. It’s more than just a job to most people and there’s a great opportunity to get everybody aligned around the important values and mission of a heath care organization.—Mark Graban

One of the nine core principles of lean IT is “Quality at the Source.” This means that when work is done, it is done 100% right the first time. In IT, creating quality at the source can be particularly challenging due to the iterative nature of the work, missing information and pressure to move work forward. If not addressed, though, more and more resources are consumed, making matters worse.—Mike Orzen