Eric Buehrens, LEI CEO, describes how his personal transformation into a lean leader advanced a crucial organizational transformation of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he and Alice Lee, LEI executive director, worked together for five years.

In a candid 2017 Lean Talks session, Eric describes being hired as COO of the 100-year-old academic medical center right after it had survived a dire financial crisis.

“One of the things I decided when I got there was that if I tried to act like I had all the answers I’d probably embarrass myself,” Eric recalls. As an executive on the medical school side of the medical center, he knew he had a lot to learn about the hospital operations side. The challenge was how to go about learning.

You’ll hear: why Alice decided to have Eric learn, not in a classroom, but by visiting hospital departments; the “uncomfortable” first visits; a skeptical doctor’s reaction to shop-floor learning; reaching a crossroad for kaizen in a central sterilization unit; and much more.

Timeline

• :59 - “I’m getting fired.”
• 1:33 - “Bleeding money from every pore.”
• 3:24 - A lot to learn.
• 3:54 - High anxiety gemba walks.
• 4:48 - “The shop floor is a reflection of management.”
• 5:39 – Senior leader training begins; “waste of time.”
• 8:15 - Why shop floors make executives uncomfortable.
• 10:34 - Finally getting traction with kaizen.
• 13:10 - Big boss said “sorry.”

Are you interested in learning from other lean practitioners?

The pilot Lean Talks session at the 2017 Lean Transformation Summit was a hit, so we’re bringing them back for the 2018 Summit.

Save your seat now for Lean Talks, Monday evening, March 26, and register for the 2018 Lean Transformation Summit.