The Four Bottlenecks That Slow Continuous Improvement — and How to Remove Them

How Leaders Can Restore Flow, Accountability, and Engagement in Improvement Work

Many organizations invest heavily in continuous improvement but still struggle to sustain momentum. Ideas are submitted but not acted on. Projects drag on. Engagement fades.

The problem often isn’t commitment — it’s bottlenecks inside the improvement system itself.

In this webinar, you’ll learn how to identify the four most common bottlenecks that slow or derail continuous improvement efforts and what leaders can do to restore flow, accountability, and results.

Drawing on years of experience observing improvement systems across industries, we’ll show how these bottlenecks appear, why they develop, and how disciplined leadership behaviors can eliminate them before they damage your culture.

What You’ll Learn

• The four most common bottlenecks that stall improvement efforts
• Why unassigned ideas quickly reduce employee engagement
• How overdue work weakens accountability and momentum
• The hidden cost of ignoring completed improvements
• How “divergence” signals an overloaded improvement pipeline
• Leadership practices that keep improvement work moving
• How visibility and measurement can prevent slowdowns

Why Bottlenecks Matter

Continuous improvement depends on flow.

When ideas sit unassigned, teams stop contributing.
When deadlines slip, accountability erodes.
When improvements aren’t reviewed, motivation declines.

Over time, the system quietly trains people that improvement isn’t a priority.

Healthy improvement cultures remove obstacles quickly and reinforce positive behaviors through timely response, coaching, and recognition.

Who Should Attend

This webinar is designed for leaders responsible for building or sustaining a culture of continuous improvement, including:

• Executives and senior leaders
• Continuous improvement and Lean leaders
• Operational and department managers
• Quality and process improvement professionals

What Makes This Different

Rather than focusing on tools or methodologies, this session examines the management behaviors and system conditions that determine whether improvement efforts succeed or stall.

You’ll leave with practical insights you can apply immediately to diagnose issues in your own organization and strengthen your improvement system.

About The Presenters:

Gregory Jacobson, MD | Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer   

Greg graduated from Washington University in St Louis in 1997 with a BS in Biology.  He attended Baylor College of Medicine from 1997 to 2001. From 2001 to 2004, he completed a residency in Emergency Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center where he then stayed on as faculty. It was his observation and research of operational inefficiencies and unrealized continuous improvement opportunities that resulted in the founding of KaiNexus. Jacobson is co-author of Kaizen: A Method of Process Improvement in the Emergency Department, published in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine.

Ryan Confer | VP Strategy  

As the VP of Customer Experience for KaiNexus, Ryan helps our new and existing clients deploy KaiNexus in their organizations to track and manage their continuous improvement activities. Ryan brings nine years of entrepreneurial experience in a variety of entities including, an early-stage technology investment fund, a non-profit commercialization foundation, an automotive design agency, and a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. His diverse range of experience in start-up technology environments instilled a principle that drives his objectives: that continuous improvement is a fundamental driver of innovation and adaptability. It is this tenet that drew him to KaiNexus. Ryan holds a BSBA in Finance and Legal Studies from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania and a MS in Technology Commercialization from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin