Psychological Safety and Learning from Mistakes
Best for: Leadership teams, intact work groups, organizations starting or deepening a culture of psychological safety
Formats: 2 hours to 2 days, on-site or virtual
Connected book: The Mistakes That Make Us
This workshop helps leaders and teams understand what psychological safety is (and isn't), why it's a precondition for effective continuous improvement, and what specific leader behaviors build or erode it.
Mark is certified by LeaderFactor to teach and coach on psychological safety and the four stages of team development. The workshop includes anonymous polling, candid discussion, and practical exercises that help participants assess their own team's current state and identify concrete next steps.
Participants learn:
- What psychological safety means in practice — not just theory
- The four stages of psychological safety and how teams progress through them
- Specific leader behaviors that cultivate (or undermine) a speak-up culture
- How psychological safety connects to continuous improvement, mistake reporting, and innovation
- How to measure psychological safety and track progress over time
“It's not a bunch of feel-good mumbo-jumbo; Psychological Safety drives better business results.”
Better Metrics: Measures of Success
Best for: Leaders, managers, CI practitioners who use performance data to make decisions
Formats: 1-hour keynote, 2-hour intro, half-day, full-day, or expanded 2-day session
Connected book: Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More
Are you chasing every up and down in your data? Asking for explanations when a metric dips below average? Reacting to noise as if it were a signal?
This workshop teaches a better way. Built around Deming's Red Bead Experiment and Donald Wheeler's Process Behavior Chart methodology, it shows leaders how to separate signal from noise, evaluate improvement efforts for real impact, and stop wasting time on explanations for random variation.
The full-day version is hands-on: participants create Process Behavior Charts using their own data and get coached on interpreting them. Shorter formats focus on the Red Bead Experiment and core lessons.
Topics include:
- Deming's Red Bead Experiment (interactive exercise)
- Why data without context has no meaning
- The problem with two-data-point comparisons and linear trend lines
- How to create and interpret Process Behavior Charts
- Connecting charts to improvement activities and Lean Daily Management
- Creating charts with your own data (full-day and 2-day formats)
What participants say:
“I can't look at the typical charts and graphs the same way anymore after that workshop!”
“Made a dry subject (data) engaging. I wasn't ready for the class to be over at the end of the day.”
“Mark made complex ideas simple to understand.”
“Great session and presenter. I've already started using what I learned and have been sharing with my team.”
Mark has delivered this workshop across the U.S. and internationally, including Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Brazil, and Ireland.
Healthcare Kaizen: Daily Continuous Improvement
Best for: Healthcare leaders, managers, frontline staff; organizations starting a Lean journey or adding daily kaizen to existing improvement work
Formats: Half-day, full-day, or multi-day; on-site; limited to 20 participants
Connected book: Healthcare Kaizen
This workshop teaches the principles and mechanics of daily kaizen — small, frontline-driven improvements that happen continuously, not just during scheduled events. Participants learn through a mix of teaching, discussion, and a hands-on exercise that brings the kaizen methodology to life.
The workshop covers:
- What kaizen is and how it differs from suggestion boxes and project-based improvement
- How healthcare organizations use daily kaizen in practice
- How daily kaizen fits alongside weeklong improvement events
- What leaders must do to create and sustain a culture of daily improvement
- How to initiate, track, test, document, and share kaizen ideas
- Common mistakes in kaizen programs and how to avoid them
Who should attend: Managers, directors, VPs, senior leaders from hospitals, health systems, medical practices, dental practices, ambulatory surgery centers, specialty clinics, and academic medical centers. Valuable both for teams new to Lean and for those who've worked only in a project or event framework.
For more detail and resources, visit hckaizen.com.
What participants say:
“That training was so awesome! You should see all the email traffic back and forth among the participants today.”
“Your workshop was very practical and rich in wisdom.”
“We are great at identifying problems at [our organization]. We just don't fix them. Now we feel empowered to fix things.” — Workshop attendee's employee, after implementing what they learned
Additional Workshop Topics
Mark also delivers on-site workshops on:
- Lean overview courses — from two hours to two full days, tailored to your organization's experience level
- Value Stream Mapping — identifying waste and redesigning workflows
- 5S and workplace organization
- Problem solving — structured approaches to root cause analysis
- Kanban and materials management
- Lean space design
- Executive Lean strategy sessions
These can be standalone sessions or combined with the workshops above into a multi-day program.
Contact Mark to discuss what would work best for your team
Bring a Workshop to Your Organization
All workshops can be delivered on-site at your location, virtually, or at your conference or event. Mark offers a free introductory call to discuss your goals and help determine which format and topics would be most useful.
Schedule a conversation with Mark | Back to consulting overview