How to Avoid Kaizen

Posted on June 13, 2007 by John Hunter

‘Disillusioned’ surgeon quits UK:

In the theatre anaesthetists at the James Paget Hospital prepared the next patient while he was operating on another. He said: “I found I was wasting time between operations so I came up with this solution. Now I don’t waste any time and I have no waiting lists.
…
“After I won my award, I met Tony Blair. He said he would send someone from the Department of Health and that happened only after six months. They came but nothing happened.

Giving awards can serve to highlight the behavior leadership want to encourage (especially when trying to encourage new behavior the leader often has to make it visible what they value). Taking 6 months for someone to show up and then nothing happening really sends a message on what is valued. Shows of support only are valuable if backed up with actual support. When someone would ask Dr. Deming, I tried to get my organization to do what they should but I did x and y and z… but I can’t make any progress what should I do. He often said: quit. Go work for an organization that will do the right thing. This Doctor adopted that strategy. By the way if you actually go the the article you will see the Doctor says:

“The reason for that is very simple – there are no incentives for surgeons to become more efficient. If we don’t have performance-related pay, why should we change?”

Hmm, well I don’t agree with that at all. Oh well, that is the challenge of looking at management ideas in practice, I often see good points mixed in with things I don’t agree with. Via: Doctor who cut waiting times to zero quits – NHS shocker

Related: Change Health Care – UK National Health System Management – Fixing the Health Care System from the Inside – Problems with Bonuses

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