Conference Workshops

On Tuesday, October 1 and Friday, October 4, we are offering a selection of workshops to provide the opportunity for more focused small group learning on a range of topics. We are honored to have world class facilitators delivering these workshops. Places are limited so register today to ensure your place. The workshop program includes the following:


Workshop: Introduction To Lean Thinking in Healthcare

Tuesday, October 1 – 10:30am – 5:00pm

Facilitators: Denise Bennett, Lean Coach, Stanford Children’s Health and Lean Global Network, Sheri Nakamura, Director, Capability Development, Performance Improvement, Stanford Children’s Health, Hurley Smith, Senior Consultant, Value Improvement and Clinical Effectiveness Leadership Training (CELT), Stanford Health Care, and Jonaelle Lucas, Manager, Performance Improvement, Stanford Children’s Health.

Workshop Overview

This interactive workshop will provide participants with an overview of Lean Thinking concepts and principles as they apply to healthcare. Through simulation, participants will apply these concepts and with relevant case studies and examples, the application to healthcare will become apparent.

Target Audience

  • For leaders, clinicians, and support staff with little or no knowledge of Lean Thinking and Practice as an improvement and management system.
  • This workshop will equip novices wishing to attend the conference with enough understanding of Lean Thinking in healthcare to gain value and applied learning in preparation for the main conference program.

Workshop: The Role of Relationship Building in Improvement Projects

Friday, October 4 – 1:00pm – 4:30pm

Facilitators: Edgar Schein, Professor Emeritus, MIT; Co-founder, Organizational Culture and Leadership Institute and Peter Schein, Strategy Consultant; Co-founder, Organizational Culture and Leadership Institute

Workshop Overview

This interactive workshop will provide participants with an overview of the key role that building relationships plays in improvement projects. Participants will learn approaches for integrating relationship building into their improvement projects.

Target Audience

  • Anyone leading teams or improvement projects. Topics will be accessible and relevant for novices through experts.

Site Visits

Site visits are an excellent way to learn from each other. In the workplace we can see first-hand the application of the thinking and practice. This year we are offering three site visits, each with different areas of focus. This is an opportunity to interact with leaders and teams who are actually at the front line and can share their practical thinking on how to make improvement real and value add for our patients and teams.


Site Visit: Stanford Children’s Health: Better Problem Solving With DMS 3.0 – Stanford Children’s Health

Friday, October 4 – 7:30am – 11:00am

Facilitation: Stanford Children’s Health Performance Improvement Team

Site Visit Overview

This morning site visit highlights the next frontier of frontline problem solving and its integration into the Stanford Children’s Daily Management System. Participants will meet with frontline leaders in the Acute Care Cardiac and Cancer Units to discuss how teams engage in taking action to resolve different types of problems on a daily basis through a structured problem-solving process. Site visitors leave with a global perspective of problem solving at every level, seeing first hand how issues are escalated from the frontline to the executive team through a tiered huddle system.

Target Audience

For participants interested in improving frontline problem solving or instituting a tiered huddle process in their own organization.


Site Visit: Improving Together at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital – Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital & Trauma Center

Friday, October 4 – 1:00pm – 4:30pm

Facilitation: Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital Team

Site Visit Overview

The team at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital is pleased to welcome conference attendees to see the flow and daily management improvements that have allowed ZSFGH meet the high demand for county health services. Come to San Francisco for the afternoon to see learn about ZSFGH’s improvement journey and hear from executives on the benefits of a strong Lean management system.

Target Audience

This site visit will be especially useful for attendees interested in improving DMS, flow and executive engagement in their healthcare centers. It will be an excellent experience for those staying in San Francisco for the weekend or flying out of SFO on the evening of Friday, October 4th.