There is a very good chance that you got started by working with outside experts to help you with your Lean initiative. Those experts, whether they work for the hospital, the hospital system, or are outside consultants, were a very valuable resource because they brought experience and an unbiased view to the project. Sometimes it’s easier to get started with outsiders, since they are not involved with department politics.

Part of your job, from the very beginning was to learn from them so you could establish that “first line of defense” in processes improvement. The idea was to develop your own internal team, capable of assessing the value stream to identify opportunities for improvement, to develop the alternative solutions, and to implement them.