How to Use the “Healthcare Kaizen” Books Together

Two books. Two audiences. One continuous improvement system.

These two Healthcare Kaizen books are designed to work together. One helps senior leaders understand how to lead continuous improvement, while the other provides detailed guidance and real-world examples for those building and managing Kaizen systems. This page explains how organizations typically use both books effectively.

At a Glance:

The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen

  • ~200 pages

  • Written for senior leaders and middle managers

  • Focuses on leadership behaviors and sustaining a culture of continuous improvement

Healthcare Kaizen

  • Over 400 pages

  • Written for improvement leaders and frontline teams

  • Includes 200+ full-color examples and detailed “how-to” guidance

The two books intentionally share some common content to ensure a consistent message across different audiences.

Why We Created “The Executive Guide…”

We heard consistent feedback from internal Lean leaders: Healthcare Kaizen was incredibly valuable—but too long and too heavy to realistically expect senior executives to read.

In response, we worked with our publisher to create a shorter, lighter companion book focused on what busy leaders most need to know: why Kaizen matters, how it creates value beyond cost savings, and what leaders must do to support a culture of continuous improvement.

Who should read which book?

  • Senior leaders & executives:
    The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen

  • Kaizen leaders, managers, facilitators, frontline teams:
    Healthcare Kaizen

  • Organizations serious about culture change:
    Use both—the Executive Guide for leaders, and Healthcare Kaizen as the shared reference for implementation and examples.

Free Resource: Compare the Two Books

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Together, these two books support organizations at every level—from executives shaping culture to frontline teams improving daily work. Used together, they help healthcare organizations move beyond projects toward a sustainable system of continuous improvement.

How the Two Books Are Structured

Hospitals and health systems are facing many challenges, including shrinking reimbursements and the need to improve patient safety and quality. A growing number of healthcare organizations are turning to the Lean management system as an alternative to traditional cost cutting and layoffs. “Kaizen,” which is translated from Japanese as “good change” or “change for the better,” is a core pillar of the Lean strategy for today’s best healthcare organizations. Kaizen is a powerful approach for creating a continuously learning and continuously improving organizations. A Kaizen culture leads to everyday actions that improve patient care and create better workplaces, while improving the organization’s long-term bottom line. The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen is the perfect introduction to executives and leaders who want to create and support this culture of continuous improvement. The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen is an introduction to kaizen principles and an overview of the leadership behaviors and mindsets required to create a kaizen culture or a culture of continuous improvement. The book is specifically written for busy C-level executives, vice presidents, directors, and managers who need to understand the power of this methodology. The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen shares real and practical examples and stories from leading healthcare organizations, including Franciscan St. Francis Health System, located in Indiana. Franciscan St. Francis’ employees and physicians have implemented and documented 4,000 Kaizen improvements each of the last three years, resulting in millions of dollars in hard savings and softer benefits for patients and staff. Chapters cover topics such as the need for Kaizen, different types of Kaizen (including Rapid Improvement Events and daily Kaizen), creating a Kaizen culture, practical methods for facilitating Kaizen improvements, the role of senior leaders and other leaders in Kaizen, and creating an organization-wide Kaizen program. The book contains a new introduction by Gary Kaplan, MD, CEO of Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, which was named “Hospital of the Decade” in 2012. The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen is a companion book to the larger book Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Continuous Improvements (published in 2012). Healthcare Kaizen is a longer, more complete "how to" guide that includes over 200 full color images, including over 100 real kaizen examples from various health systems around the world. Healthcare Kaizen was named a recipient of the prestigious Shingo Professional Publication and Research Award.

Together, Healthcare Kaizen and The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen help organizations align leadership thinking with daily improvement. Used as a pair, the books support a consistent approach to continuous improvement—one that engages leaders, empowers frontline staff, and connects improvement work to better care for patients and a better work environment for those who provide it.

Organizations often use the Executive Guide to introduce leaders to Kaizen and continuous improvement, while using Healthcare Kaizen as a shared reference for building, managing, and sustaining a Kaizen system over time.