2. www.akronchildrens.org/giving
Mark A. Watson Center for Operations Excellence
Process Improvement Through People Development
Why Blue Belt?
Breakthrough
Initiatives 20%
0%0%
Continuous Daily
Improvement
80%
A3 Program Projects
Green and Black Belt Projects
Kaizen Events
Blue Belt Program
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Mark A. Watson Center for Operations Excellence
Process Improvement Through People Development
From Own the Gap by Mike Martyn and
Bryan Crowell
Strategy
Deployment
Create clear
and aligned
expectations of
what winning
means at all
levels.
Creates the gap
ANSWERS THE
QUESTION: What
does it mean to
Win or Lose? What
does winning look
like?
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Mark A. Watson Center for Operations Excellence
Process Improvement Through People Development
Visual
Management
Create a system of
visual management
that allows
everyone, every day to
know whether they
are winning or losing.
Shows the gap
ANSWERS THE
QUESTION:
Are we
winning or
losing?
From Own the Gap by Mike Martyn and
Bryan Crowell
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Mark A. Watson Center for Operations Excellence
Process Improvement Through People Development
Daily process
improvement
Develop an enterprise-
wide habit of daily
team-based problem
solving – aligned with
the organization’s
goals.
From Own the Gap by Mike Martyn and
Bryan Crowell
Closes the gap
ANSWERS THE
QUESTION: If
we are not
winning – what
are we doing
about it?
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Mark A. Watson Center for Operations Excellence
Process Improvement Through People Development
Standard
Follow-up
Standard set of
reaction protocols
and follow-up
activities that allow
leaders to coach for
improvement.
From Own the Gap by Mike Martyn and
Bryan Crowell
Sustains and builds
on the gains.
ANSWERS THE
QUESTION:
How can I help
you win more?
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Mark A. Watson Center for Operations Excellence
Process Improvement Through People Development
Strategy
Deployment
Create clear and aligned expectations of what
winning means at all levels.
Creates the gap
ANSWERS THE QUESTION: What
does it mean to Win or Lose? What
does winning look like?
Visual
Management
Create a system of visual management that allows
everyone, every day to know whether they are
winning or losing.
Shows the gap
ANSWERS THE QUESTION: Are we
winning or losing?
Standard
Follow-up
Standard set of reaction protocols and follow-up
activities that allow leaders to coach for improvement.
Sustains and builds on
the gains.
ANSWERS THE QUESTION: How can
I help you win more?
Daily Kaizen
(Daily process improvement)
Develop an enterprise-wide habit of daily team-
based problem solving – aligned with the
organization’s goals.
Closes the gap
ANSWERS THE QUESTION: If we are not
winning – what are we doing about it?
From Own the Gap by Mike Martyn and Bryan Crowell
8. www.akronchildrens.org/giving
Mark A. Watson Center for Operations Excellence
Process Improvement Through People Development
BLUE BELT----CHANGING THE WAY
THAT DEPARTMENTS FUNCTION
• RESPECT FOR PEOPLE is key tenet
• Transparency – Being able to discuss quality and
other issues openly and honestly with taking the
appropriate actions with staff.
• Accountability – Ensuring that both leaders and
staff are accountable for creating better patient flow,
improving patient satisfaction, and fixing problems.
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Mark A. Watson Center for Operations Excellence
Process Improvement Through People Development
PRINCIPLES
Core Values, Guiding Principles and Organizational Focus
are essential for developing high functioning organizations
• Organization and Department Mission, Vision and
Values “Know Why”
• Key Behaviors
• Organizational expectations for results (for example:
customer satisfaction, patient access)
• Communication
• Leadership Development
• Foundational culture
– Not just our job to do the work, but to improve the
work
.
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Mark A. Watson Center for Operations Excellence
Process Improvement Through People Development
SYSTEMS
Systems which are appropriately aligned to
principles drive behaviors.
• Strategy Deployment
• Visual Management
• Communication System / Daily Tiered Huddles
• Coaching System
• Idea Generation / Problem Solving System
• Reward and Recognition
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Mark A. Watson Center for Operations Excellence
Process Improvement Through People Development
TOOLS
Within your systems, select the right tools to achieve the
results you want.
• X-Matrix
• Metric Boards
• Huddle Board
• Process Mapping
• Fishbone Diagram
• Ease Impact Chart
• Standard Work Instructions
• 5 S (Sort & Scrap, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize,
Sustain)
• Visual management
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Mark A. Watson Center for Operations Excellence
Process Improvement Through People Development
HOW DOES THIS FIT TOGETHER?
• Leaders identify the vision and support
the principles of the organization.
• Managers maintain standards, the
develop systems to improve the work,
and coach associates.
• Associates are expected to recognize
problems and use appropriate tools for
work improvements.
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Mark A. Watson Center for Operations Excellence
Process Improvement Through People Development
Organization Effectiveness and
Transformation
• Teamwork
• Communication
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Mark A. Watson Center for Operations Excellence
Process Improvement Through People Development
HUGE goal of Blue Belt- Establishment and
Refinement of Huddles
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Mark A. Watson Center for Operations Excellence
Process Improvement Through People Development
System of Tiered Levels and Flow of Information-
a STRATEGIC GOAL of the Hospital
Women’s Board Board of Directors
CEO
CFO COO EVP VP HR Foundation
Example
CNO VPP VPS VPO COE Compliance
Strategy
Goals
Purpose
•Mentoring
•Teaching
•Barrier Removal
•Strategy
•True North
Status of the Hospital
•Information
•Continuous Improvement
•Metrics
•Escalation
17
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Mark A. Watson Center for Operations Excellence
Process Improvement Through People Development
Daily/Monthly
Metrics Tracker
•Goal ranges are shown
with colors
•Anything out of range is
tracked at the bottom
(reasons, issues, etc.)
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Mark A. Watson Center for Operations Excellence
Process Improvement Through People Development
Patient Status Board in the Burn Center-
Magnet Key & Marker Color Key
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Mark A. Watson Center for Operations Excellence
Process Improvement Through People Development
Patient Status Board in the Burn Center
Patient Name Here
Each patient has a
‘room’: all pertinent
info is displayed and
info is potentially
clarified in huddle or
nurse report
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Mark A. Watson Center for Operations Excellence
Process Improvement Through People Development
Benefits of the Blue Belt Program
1. For your patients:
a) Improved understanding of the patient/family needs
b) Improved safety/quality of patients through Huddles
c) Improved coordination of care
2. For your department
a) Improved intradepartmental communication
b) Improved use of tools to improve processes
c) Creating a culture of openness and transparency
culture
3. For you:
a) Leadership needs your help to improve the processes
b) Improved quality of work
c) Communication – better info shared
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Mark A. Watson Center for Operations Excellence
Process Improvement Through People Development
Overall Goals of Blue Belt
• Align the department towards common and well
understood goals
• Help with the transparency/culture
• Improve abilities of participants to problem solve
• From the highest level of the organization, the
status of the hospital should be known daily by
noon
– Identify issues as they are happening, if not before
– Quickly resolve the issues
Blue belt comes from the blue color of the bambino. As you can see here, only 20% of improvements should come from breakthrough initiatives such as A3 projects and kaizen events. These are what most companies focus on when they first bring in programs like Lean and Six Sigma. They get quick results. We get the opportunity to teach basic tools. But these strategies will only go so far, and left at that, these programs will eventually fail. To realize enterprise excellence, 80% of improvement work should evolve day to day, with staff continually recognizing process problems and failures and having the skills and empowerment to relentlessly work to get better. The Blue Belt program works with department leaders (formal and informal) to develop a daily management program which focuses on getting better every day.
The following model provides a basic structure on what we want to accomplish in blue belt. Strategy Deployment gets us to thinking about the long term goals of the organization and how that translates down to the department in key initiatives to reach those long-term goals. In Information Services you spend a lot of time understanding and accommodating organizational initiatives. When will the next Epic upgrade be installed, what will the timeline be for installation of Optime, etc. IS departmental initiatives must be aligned with the goals of the institution. That part is easy – right? Winning looks like successfully upgrading Epic on March 15th. This goal helps the organization as a whole. But what about the operations of the department? The processes that occur day to day. Blue Belt will challenge you to think about the long-term vision of the department. Can you envision an ideal future state? What changes do you want to make to the overall functioning of the department? Where are you now? Does everyone know what the specific goals are? Does everyone know the “Why” of these specific goals.
Once everyone knows what the specific goals are – how does everyone know the department is right now in relation to those goals? If we are focusing on patient access in our specialty practices – how do we know if where we are on our way to the goal to seeing patients within 14 days of contact? In IS, you have project teams who have developed project timelines. What is your process for knowing if a specific team is behind and needs help. How do you know if another team has capacity? How do you know if you are meeting day to day needs of your customers? Is this information easy to see, or tucked away in a spreadsheet. If you have strategies for people development, for training initiatives – how do you know where you are with those goals?
If our bookings in our subspecialty departments are out 4 weeks instead of 2, what countermeasures can we put into place? This is not just a management problem. Everyone in the clinic needs to own this issue. Do we have waste in our processes that can be reduced to result in an extra appointment slot each day? Are we working hard to fill canceled slots? Are we developing strategies to get our no-show rate down? Are you getting improvement ideas from your staff?
We call this leader standard work, and it can be very challenging to implement. However this portion is vital. It is leaders “going to the gemba – or where the work is being done. It is modeling behaviors, maintaining standards. It includes coaching for improvement.
This is what the model looks like when we put it together.