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Quote of the Month
"Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity - not a threat"
unknown author
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"[I]in 1913, the first assembly line was implemented at Ford Motor Company. The process grew like a vine and eventually spread to all phases of the manufacture of Ford cars, and then through the entire world of heavy industry. There can be no doubt that a powerful revolution occurred at Highland Park-but it was not the assembly line itself that provided the power. Rather, it was the creation of an atmosphere in which improvement was the real product: a better, cheaper, Model T followed naturally. Every man on the payroll was invited to contribute ideas, and the good ones were implemented without delay."
- Douglas Brinkley
Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company, and A Century of Progress
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"Innovation is not the product of logical thought, although the result is tied to logical structure."
Albert Einstein
"Just as energy is the basis of life itself, and ideas the source of innovation, so is innovation the vital spark of all human change, improvement and progress"
Ted Levitt
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Good Ideas Are Everywhere (if you only look)
For more than 20 years I've been working with healthcare providers, helping them establish systematic, organization-wide approaches to generating improvement ideas, turning those ideas into viable projects and then measuring the outcomes of those ideas. It is truly amazing to see what front line employees can do when encouraged and supported by management.
Being a "car guy" as well as a consultant, the article below about BMW's openness to ideas developed not only by employees but engaged customers, really caught my attention. Customer participation in organizations they admire is the next frontier in quality improvement.
I've been fortunate to be able to spend several days at BMW's Spartanburg, South Carolina factory and several days at the Honda Engine Plant in Anna, Ohio. In both cases, I was impressed with the high level of employee involvement in thinking through and improving how automobiles are made. Imagine what they can do with customer input!
Hartford Hospital a 900 bed, high-tech, teaching, trauma-center in Hartford, Connecticut has an interesting theme in their newly released annual report, it's: "7,000 People, One Job." Their annual report uses a number of employees and physicians to show the important role that each member of the team plays. All too often, organizations with 7,000 employees use perhaps 10% of the brainpower available at any given time. Today, things are far too complex to not use all the resources and brains available, just ask BMW and Hartford Hospital..
Ken
KenBast@MgtConsultinginHealthcare.com |
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Fresh Ideas Welcome at BMW
It isn't only BMW engineers who come up with great ideas; some BMW drivers can match the experts when it comes to innovations - like a convertible top that, controlled by the rain sensor, automatically closes in wet weather. The difficult part: figuring out to whom at BMW you should send your great idea.
In order to facilitate communication, the BMW Group set up the Virtual Innovation Agency in 2001. This online platform has now been comprehensively revised, extended and improved. Anyone can submit their suggestions to the "virtual idea bank" and discuss concepts with BMW engineers and other members of the innovation platform. This is a pioneering way of promoting a global exchange of ideas among scientists, companies and private individuals. One idea implemented through this system, for example, was a new process for weaving carbon fibers, devised by a BMW driver. Components made of this ultralight yet extremely strong material, such as the High Performance motorcycle seat cover are increasingly being used in automotive manufacturing.
www.bmwusa.com/Cultureofideas.com
BMW Magazine 1/2009 USA
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CEOs Secretly Want Health-Care Reform
Some top executives are so fed up with the status quo that they wouldn't mind government intervention
By Catherine Arnst
Congressional leaders say they'll have a health-care bill in June that will deal with the uninsured. Fine, says business, as long as the existing employer-based insurance system is maintained. That seems counterintuitive, given that health care is the fastest-growing cost for U.S. companies. "I've worked in the employer-based market for 35 years, and it's bizarre that CEOs continue to support this system," says Robert Laszewski, president of consultants Health Policy & Strategy Associates.
But perhaps they really don't. Health reform experts say many CEOs would secretly love the federal government to take on the burden--and some don't bother to hide it. "There are employers that don't want the responsibility, and we are in that category," says Carl T. Camden, CEO of Kelly Services (KELYA). Managing insurance for his vast, geographically dispersed workforce of temporary workers is horrendously expensive, he complains: "My health-care costs total more than my profits."
Insurance premiums charged to employers have soared 119% over the past decade, four times faster than wage increases. Based on a survey of 428 companies, Mercer, the consulting division of Marsh & McLennan (MMC), estimates that 46% of employers plan to shift more health costs to employees in 2010.
Neverthless, CEOs tend to insist they want to keep offering benefits for two reasons. They're a valuable employee perk, as the Business Roundtable and other corporate groups point out. Further, top executives figure they would pay for health care anyway if the government took control, through higher taxes or fees, while losing the ability to hold down costs.
But in private, "CEOs overwhelmingly want out of this business," says Benjamin Sasse, an Assistant Secretary of Health & Human Services under President George W. Bush who's now an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin. "They just do not want to be seen as more willing to dump [benefits] than their competitors are." Sasse says many CEOs he has talked with would even pay a new tax if it got them out of the insurance business.
"STATEROOM ON THE TITANIC"
Companies first started offering health benefits during World War II's tight job market. Wage controls were in effect, so health coverage took the place of raises as a recruitment and retention tool. Sixty years later, that benefit has become entrenched.
Plenty of CEOs continue to support the status quo, of course, despite the drawbacks. "A lot of businesses take the approach that 'this is a lousy system, but we're good at it,' " says Joseph J. Minarik, research director for the Committee for Economic Development, a Washington think tank. "I interpret this as, 'I've got the best stateroom on the Titanic, and I'm not moving.' "
Democratic senators are calling for a new, federally funded insurer that would expand coverage by competing with private health insurers. Although insurance companies hate the idea, opposition from other businesses has been muted, even though this "public option" is characterized by Republican lawmakers as the first step toward a government-run system. "CEOs are focused on the bottom line," says Len Nichols, director of health policy at the New America Foundation, another think tank. "They know high health-care costs put U.S. companies at a competitive disadvantage."
James Hagedorn, CEO of Scotts Miracle-Gro (SMG), describes himself as a conservative. Nevertheless, he sees much to like in the national health systems of Europe. "If someone said to me, 'you can pay the same amount [for health care] and we will redeploy to a national system,' I'm fine," he says. "Why would I argue with that?"
Arnst is a senior writer for BusinessWeek based in New York.
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LAST CHANCE...
World Conference on Quality and Improvement
May 18 - 20, 2009
Minneapolis Convention Center,
Minneapolis, MN
Session Number:
HCW11
Session Title:
Through the Looking Glass - Reviewing & Renewing Your Organization's Commitment to Quality
Session Start/End Time:
Wednesday, May 20, 2009, 8:00 AM -12:00 PM
Session Description:
Ken Bast & Katherine Reller follow a 150-bed community hospital on its journey to improve quality. Discuss the pros and cons of each step the hospital took along the way. What would you have done? Is your hospital at a crossroad? Watch and discuss as a dynamic organization faced difficulties and came out on top by using simple tools.
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