192 Leveraging Lean in Ancillary Hospital Services
TEAM CHARTERS
Team charters are a necessary tool prior to starting any project. Team charters include entry and exit
strategies, budgets, and detailed scopes. They are contracts with the teams, implementing depart-
ment, and the leadership or steering committee.
At Hospital X, Bill, the Lean specialist, was working with his second clinic. The rst had been
very successful and was even toured by other hospitals. As the second clinic kicked off, Bill met
with the leadership to review the charter his team had prepared. The leadership took the position
that they had already done one clinic and there was no need for a formal charter for the second
team. How wrong they were! About 3 to 4 weeks into ...