Practical Lean Leadership for Health Care Managers

Kjeld H. Aij is a nurse with an MBA and more than fifteen years of experience in health care, where he has held a number of managerial positions. He has been working as head of Anesthesiology & Operative Care at the VU University Medical Center since 2010. Over the past three years, Kjeld implemented various projects in the areas of quality and patient safety and, among other projects, spearheaded the introduction of Lean thinking and processes in the operating rooms. Kjeld has an MBA from the Business School Nederland. He is currently working on his PhD thesis at the VU University Amsterdam, investigating which leadership behavior is essential for a successful and sustainable implementation of Lean principles in hospitals.

Bas Lohman studied economics at the VU University Amsterdam and is operational manager gynecology and pediatrics at the Albert Schweitzer hospital in Dordrecht, the Netherlands. Earlier in his career he was a Lean coach at the VU University Medical Center. Part of his job was to support line management in using Lean principles. Before that, he supported similar processes in a variety of sectors as a consultant, with a particular interest in banking and insurance. He feels the social involvement and relevance of health care are key motivators for continuously seeking out possibilities for improvement.