KaiNexus: Continuous Improvement, Leadership, and More Mark Graban Podcasts

Watch video, download the PDF worksheet, and more

Presented by Stephanie Hill, Senior Lean Strategist at KaiNexus

Having worked as……a CI practitioner reporting to a CFO,…a consultant and coach to executives and…a Lean Strategist configuring software to meet executives’ needs,Stephanie has learned that senior leaders are the influencers of any organization - able to make or break a CI program and culture.Attendees will:


Gain clarity on the need for executive buy-in and engagement.
Learn three considerations before engaging senior leaders in CI.

During the session, attendees will have the opportunity to reflect on their gaps in building relationships with their senior leaders. Participants will walk away with a plan to increase executive engagement.

Stephanie Hill is a Senior Lean Strategist with KaiNexus and owner of Light Bulb Moment Consulting. She has over 23 years of experience applying Lean to various industries, including legal, manufacturing, retail, insurance, healthcare, and government. She has certifications in Strategic Human Resources Leadership and Scaled Agile, a Master Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma, a master’s degree in Public Health, and a bachelor's degree in Chemistry. She lives near Columbus, Ohio, and enjoys building LEGO sets, dancing, and traveling. She is also preparing to publish her first book, "A Life of Learning: Lessons in Leadership from Raising a Boy with Autism."

See the video: https://youtu.be/8XhR8n8sn8M

Learn more about KaiNexus: https://kainexus.com/

Matt Banna: My name's Matt Banna, and I'm an enterprise account executive at KaiNexus. Oftentimes organizations come to us because they're having challenges managing their A3s. They don't have visibility into the work that's happening, who's doing what, and when are things on track or off track? And ultimately, how are these A3s impacting their organizational goals? They've tried to solve these challenges through tools that aren't fit for purpose, like Excel or PowerPoint, or uploading things into a SharePoint drive or even creating homegrown systems.

Matt Banna: What they've found is that once things get saved into SharePoint, they go into some sort of black hole. And nobody ever sees the results of those A3s. Or if they go to some sort of project management solution. Those A3s aren't shaped like A3s.

Matt Banna: And so all the work that they've done to teach the A3 problem solving methodology goes out the window. Because the format of how people are solving those problems in that tool doesn't look like the format that they've been taught. But we'll work together to configure your A3 in KaiNexus to mirror the standard that you've built and that you've taught within your organization. In this example we have configured, you can see a background and a current condition countermeasures a way to prioritize this project against others. You can use it to assign tasks directly to people that will automatically notify them once they've been assigned, or that work becomes overdue.

Matt Banna: Categorize this work however you want with some sort of priority, or connect it to strategic initiatives. Add in root cause like Five Whys or Fishbones, attach before and after pictures or any approvals that are needed once this A3 is actually completed, simply going into the resolution to say what happened? What was the outcome of this project? Was it qualitative or quantitative, such as some sort of quality or safety change? Or maybe there was some sort of cost savings where you can say how much you saved, how often, and then be able to report on that later throughout the organization.

Matt Banna: Managing your A3s and KaiNexus gives visibility to the organization at multiple levels, gives visibility of the work that's happening to different team members so they can share best practices or make sure that they're not working on duplicate efforts. It gives visibility into your CI team so that they can more effectively coach or congratulate people who are doing good work, and it gives more visibility to executives so they can track the impact of the work that's happening. And ultimately, how is that affecting your organizational goals?

Harness the power of continuous improvement (CI) as it nods to many facets of both personal life and business in our KaiNexus Continuous Improvement Podcast featuring speakers Mark Graban and Greg Jacobson. Get a closer look at the impact of CI on daily activities with an interesting focus on cooking a Thanksgiving turkey and see how the establishment of standard operating procedures (SOPs) can aid in safety and efficiency.

Learn more about KaiNexus: https://kainexus.com/

In addition, the podcast delves into the critical role of checklists and SOPs in complex tasks, using the turkey preparation as a case study. Tune in and explore how technology integration can further enhance safety and cooking outcomes. Understand the application of CI principles in scheduling the timing of various festive dishes for stress-free holiday meals, on par with standard industrial processes. The takeaway from this podcast emphasizes the profound influence of CI on personal traditions and professional progress.

Books and Resources for Aspiring Leaders

Educating oneself on effective leadership practices can significantly transform how one goes about influencing behavior and instituting lasting change. Books like Crucial Influence: Leadership Skills to Create Lasting Behavior Change offer guidance on how to lead with intention and purpose.

Other notable texts include:


Never Lose an Employee Again by Joey Coleman, which focuses on employee retention through onboarding and integration into company culture.


Drive by Daniel H. Pink, that delves into human motivation and the factors that compel us to excel in what we do.


Atomic Habits by James Clear, emphasizing the power of small consistent changes over time.



Finally, foundational reads like Kaizen by Masaaki Imai remind leaders of the roots of continuous improvement and lean thinking.

Register here for the live event


December 5 from 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm ET

Presented by Stephanie Hill, Senior Lean Strategist at KaiNexus

Having worked as…
…a CI practitioner reporting to a CFO,
…a consultant and coach to executives and
…a Lean Strategist configuring software to meet executives’ needs,


Stephanie has learned that senior leaders are the influencers of any organization - able to make or break a CI program and culture.

Attendees will:

- Gain clarity on the need for executive buy-in and engagement.
- Learn three considerations before engaging senior leaders in CI.


During the session, attendees will have the opportunity to reflect on their gaps in building relationships with their senior leaders. Participants will walk away with a plan to increase executive engagement.


About the Presenter:
Stephanie Hill, Senior Lean Strategist

Stephanie Hill is a Senior Lean Strategist with KaiNexus and owner of Light Bulb Moment Consulting. She has over 23 years of experience applying Lean to various industries, including legal, manufacturing, retail, insurance, healthcare, and government. She has certifications in Strategic Human Resources Leadership and Scaled Agile, a Master Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma, a master’s degree in Public Health, and a bachelor's degree in Chemistry. She lives near Columbus, Ohio, and enjoys building LEGO sets, dancing, and traveling. She is also preparing to publish her first book, "A Life of Learning: Lessons in Leadership from Raising a Boy with Autism."

View the slides and more


Recorded November 7

Presented by D. Lynn Kelley, Ph.D.
Co-Author of Change Questions: A Playbook for Effective and Lasting Organizational Change

The book "Change Questions" unlocks the secrets of sustainable organizational change by asking key questions that deliver a customized approach for change that is just right for your specific initiative and organization. You will be given access to the free digital workbook, which is a fillable PDF that you can save, use, and reuse in your future change activities.

After this webinar, you will be able to develop a customized implementation plan for a change initiative that integrates the topics listed below:
a. Purpose
b. Design, Do, and Improve the Work of the Change
c. Capability Building and Employee Engagement
d. Management System and Leadership
e. Culture

Following a career highlighted by leadership roles in engineering, supply chain, and continuous improvement in various industries, Kelley retired from Union Pacific Railroad in 2018. Now serving as a senior advisor to BBH Capital Partners, she assists in sourcing, investment evaluation, transaction execution, and providing post-investment oversight to the firm’s portfolio companies.

At Union Pacific, she was senior vice president of supply chain and continuous improvement. She was also the executive co-owner of the company’s innovation program. Before joining Union Pacific, Kelley was vice president of operational excellence, an officer and a member of the executive leadership team at Textron.

Kelley holds a PhD in evaluation and research and taught undergraduate and graduate statistics courses. Before becoming a professor, she held the positions of executive vice president and chief operating officer of Doctors Hospital in Detroit.

Register for the webinar

D. Lynn Kelley, Ph.D. joins Mark Graban, senior advisor with KaiNexus, to preview her webinar presentation.

November 7 from 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm ET

Presented by D. Lynn Kelley, Ph.D.
Co-Author of "Change Questions: A Playbook for Effective and Lasting Organizational Change"

The book "Change Questions" unlocks the secrets of sustainable organizational change by asking key questions that deliver a customized approach for change that is just right for your specific initiative and organization. You will be given access to the free digital workbook, which is a fillable PDF that you can save, use, and reuse in your future change activities.

After this webinar, you will be able to develop a customized implementation plan for a change initiative that integrates the topics listed below:
a. Purpose
b. Design, Do, and Improve the Work of the Change
c. Capability Building and Employee Engagement
d. Management System and Leadership
e. Culture

Following a career highlighted by leadership roles in engineering, supply chain, and continuous improvement in various industries, Kelley retired from Union Pacific Railroad in 2018. Now serving as a senior advisor to BBH Capital Partners, she assists in sourcing, investment evaluation, transaction execution, and providing post-investment oversight to the firm’s portfolio companies.

At Union Pacific, she was senior vice president of supply chain and continuous improvement. She was also the executive co-owner of the company’s innovation program. Before joining Union Pacific, Kelley was vice president of operational excellence, an officer and a member of the executive leadership team at Textron.

Kelley holds a PhD in evaluation and research and taught undergraduate and graduate statistics courses. Before becoming a professor, she held the positions of executive vice president and chief operating officer of Doctors Hospital in Detroit.