Leveraging Lean in Medical Laboratories

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Roles and Responsibilities of

Managers and Supervisors

If you’re any good at all, you just know you can be better…

—Lindsay Buckingham

Fleetwood Mac

SETTING THE STAGE: ROLE OF MANAGERS AND SUPERVISORS

Supervisors and managers (hereinafter referred to as management team) need to be actively engaged

in helping to develop the team charter, dene and clarify the scope of the Lean project, establish

metrics, and provide support and guidance throughout the Lean initiative.

The questions that need to be understood by mid-level management from the executive leaders

as they engage in the Lean initiative are:

• Why was this department chosen?

• How visible is the initiative within the organization?

• Is this the rst Lean initiative? Note: The perception of being “targeted” for a Lean project

may be perceived negatively by a clinical area management team if not framed properly. If

other attempts have been made with Lean, what will be different to make this one succeed?

• What is the problem, what needs to be improved, what are the deliverables, and what

would success look like?

• What is the scope of the project?

• What is the timeline of the project?

• What is the role of the executive in the Lean initiative?

• What is the executive’s perception/expectation of managers’ and supervisors’ roles and

responsibilities for the success of the initiative, especially if they have not been exposed to

previous Lean initiatives?

• Are they receiving Lean consultant support (internal or external) and training? What is the

exit strategy for the dedicated resources?

• What resources will need to be provided to the clinical area managers and supervisors?

• Will the manager and supervisor be able to backll staff or other resources to be engaged

in the Lean initiatives?

• How will the cost of backlling for the resources be accounted for? Many healthcare orga-

nizations are labor constrained and they do not, culturally, proactively accommodate for

Lean initiative resources. (Will it be budgeted negatively at the department level?)

• Will the Lean initiative impact any bonuses?

• What is the communication expectation between the managers, supervisors, and executive

related to the Lean initiative?

• What is in it for them? The fear of the unknown may cause reluctance to participate.

• How will the progress and results of the initiative be communicated throughout the

organization?

• How will it be sustained? What metrics are in place to continuously monitor the results and

ongoing improvement?

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