How a Hospital Adopted KaiNexus to Scale Lean Improvement
Paper idea boards helped St. Clair Hospital start its Lean journey.
But over time, Post-its weren’t enough.
As improvement activity grew across departments, leaders faced new challenges: limited visibility, siloed work, difficulty measuring impact, and no reliable way to track cultural progress.
In this webinar, Tanya Lyon, PhD, Director of Organizational Performance Improvement at St. Clair Hospital, shares how her team transitioned from paper boards to KaiNexus — and what changed as a result.
The Challenge: When Improvement Becomes Invisible
For years, St. Clair used physical idea boards to capture frontline improvement ideas. They worked — at first.
But as Lean maturity increased, new problems emerged:
- Improvement work was siloed by department
- Leadership lacked visibility into progress
- Culture change couldn’t be measured
- Data was difficult to collect without burdening managers
- Collaboration across departments remained weak
The organization needed more than a suggestion box. They needed transparency, accountability, and data.
The Turning Point
Five years into using paper boards, St. Clair realized their culture had evolved — but their system hadn’t.
They made a strategic decision to adopt KaiNexus in order to:
📊 Measure improvement culture with real data
🔎 Increase transparency across departments
🤝 Strengthen collaboration between teams
🎯 Align improvement with strategic goals
🧠 Improve scientific thinking and A3 problem solving
📈 Demonstrate the cumulative impact of small improvements
This was not a “big bang” rollout. It was a deliberate, culture-focused transition.
What You’ll Learn
🏥 How St. Clair built a Lean foundation before going digital
📋 Why Post-it boards eventually became limiting
📊 How digital visibility strengthened coaching and accountability
📈 How year two adoption dramatically improved completion rates
🧠 How leaders coached staff to write better problem statements
🎯 Why leadership included KaiNexus in formal annual goals
⚖️ How to scale improvement with limited Lean resources
📚 How A3 thinking became a living, editable process
🔄 How to avoid overwhelming already overworked managers
This session is especially valuable for healthcare leaders, Lean professionals, and operational excellence teams navigating similar challenges.
A Practical Healthcare Case Study
St. Clair Hospital serves more than 2,400 employees and operates 328 beds in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Over eight years of Lean transformation, they trained more than 1,600 employees in Toyota principles.
Their move to KaiNexus did not replace Lean behaviors.
It strengthened them.
Digital transparency allowed Lean coaches to see bottlenecks, guide managers more effectively, and focus limited coaching resources where they were needed most.
Small improvements became measurable. Engagement became visible. Leadership accountability increased.
Tania Lyon
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