Part 4 of 4, Full Interview
Gary S. Kaplan, M.D. has been chairman and CEO of the Virginia Mason Medical Center (VMMC) in Seattle since February 2000.
We’ve learned – I’ve personally learned – to lead in different ways. I’ve also learned to think differently.
We’re populating our board with people who are really committed to the journey that we’re on. That’s really exciting and it’s really helpful. Our current board chair, Carolyn Corvi, is a real expert in lean. She brought the Toyota Production System to Boeing and led that work at Boeing for many years as the v.p. in charge of commercial airplane manufacturing. She’s our board chair and has been on our board since 2003.
What I do is work on taking out waste, improving quality and safety at every opportunity. I’m much more focused on that. I’m making sure we have staff engagement to allow that to happen, and focus on execution and results. While those are all things that conventional leaders do, lean has given us a method by which to focus.
One of the things that has become very clear is that I have to be present and visible, and lead this work and speak to this work at every opportunity. One of the things we’re doing much more as a leadership team is doing it out in the gemba, in the hospital, in the clinics. We’re requiring executives to go on rounds on a regular basis.
We teach others through our Virginia Mason Institute. We teach the importance of shared vision, new ways of leadership in management, as well as building and maintaining a sense of urgency. Those critical components create the kind of environment where the lean tools begin to reap their full benefit.
[...] 4) Leadership [...]