Intro: Welcome to the E6S-Methods podcast with Jacob and Aaron, brought to you by E6S Industries, your source for expert training, consulting, and leadership in business performance and continuous improvement methods, like Lean and Six Sigma. In this episode number 99 we interview Vic Wilson from Sentara Healthcare on the benefits of be in a flexible and kinder, gentler engineer, practitioner or project manager. Semper Gumby. Vic also drops that she has three Senior Engineer openings in Virginia Beach right now, early November 2015. Hurry up. Going fast. Here we go. http://bit.ly/E6S-099; http://bit.ly/E6S-iTunes

Who is Vic Wilson?

Vic Wilson is a Senior Process Improvement Engineer at Sentara Healthcare, a multi-hospital system across southeast Virginia and northeast North Carolina. She has twelve years of Lean, Quality and Management experience. This includes over 20 years of project management and oversight experience workingpreviously at Northrop Grumman; and at WBB?? (Whitney, Bradley & Brown) – www.wbbinc.com as a consultant traveling from Bahrain to Guam teaching Lean and Quality approaches, and managing government improvement and study efforts. Her credentials include a Masters in Management, Ecommerce from Cambridge College, and a BA in Biology Education from Virginia Wesleyan College.

She is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt; Certified Program Management Professional (PMI PMP); Trained/Experienced Baldrige Examiner (VA-SPQA); Trained/Experienced ISO 9000 Auditor; and Credentialed Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Associate, LEED GA (GBRI).

For 10 years, Vic has been actively involved in ASQ as the Lean Enterprise Division Social Responsibility Chair; and in the Virginia/Tidewater ASQ section, as both Chair (2 years) and Treasurer. Vic has presented at guest speaking engagements at several universities, and for the 2015 Engineering Lean Six Sigma Conference in Atlanta; and was the 2013 Key-Note Speaker for the Clinical Laboratory Quality Regional Annual Meeting (VA/NC).

Experience highlights:

· Conducting observations and studies of healthcare operations and working with teams to increase efficiency and improve patient care

· Developing & facilitating tailored Partnering Sessions, Focus Groups, Strategic Planning Sessions, & Gap Analyses

· Designing & facilitating Lean Events such as: VSMs, RIEs, & 5S Events

· Trainer and program manager of WB, YB, GB, & BB Lean Six Sigma Classes & mentor of students during project execution

· Oversight, planning, mentoring & review of LSS Certifications for personnel, and engineering certifications (e.g., ISO) for facilities and organizations

For 12 years prior to joining Northrop, Vic taught sciences and computer technology in both the public and private sector. She grew up mainly in Virginia Beach, and attended Princess Anne High School. Vic has 3 daughters and 4 grandchildren, who all live nearby. Her current focus is finding just the right piece of land at Afton Mountain for building that special little retirement cabin.

Apply the “kinder, gentler” approach when working with Leadership and teams. Comfortably “adjust” your current tool-kit to fit every situation. Apply “flexibility” as a tool.

I Starting premise – Being “Semper Gumby”

a. Always be willing to bend, but never be willing to sacrifice (e.g., choose your battles)

i. Meeting the team Leads:

ii. Assess the situation

iii. Do your own Stakeholder Analysis

iv. What’s the bottom line?

b. Meeting the team:

i. Setting the tone

ii. I’m here to help…

iii. Patience, patience, and more patience

II Who the heck are you, anyway?

a. Listen to their initial concerns and stories

b. Come clean – don’t pretend to have all the answers

c. You’re just a facilitator, and project manager/or process engineer, there to guide them as they develop solutions

III Let’s boil the ocean! - Chartering & Scope

a. Understand the Problem, Vision and Goal of the effort

b. In-Scope/Out-of-Scope – formal statements

c. Hand-offs to other project teams and/or prioritization of current effort

IV So here’s our task – a sample project (Describe the story and challenges)

a. Goal: “Achieve 2015 Balanced Scorecard limits for CLABSIs in 8 of 11 hospitals.“ Reduce Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infections (CLABSIs)

V Who’s on first? - Roles & Responsibilities

a. Ensure all Leads (sub-teams/sub-tasks) are identified and clarify what they’re responsible for and when

b. Clarify roles of support staff:

i. Communications

ii. Data & Tech

iii. Finance

iv. Education

v. Liaisons

VI Tool for structuring the Roles &Responsibilities

a. Describe the approach

b. Benefits or Pitfalls vs. other method?

VII What project schedule? - Wing it!

a. So now we have a schedule…Status please?... Anyone?...Anyone?...Buhler?...Anyone?…

VIII Enter Gumby

a. New Cut at Schedule – After Reorganized Effort

IX Team Activity – Creative Use of Existing Tools -> being always flexible to your customer’s abilities, needs, & requirements. Meet them on their level. Being flexible with how you use and design custom-tailored tools is a big part of that flexibility.

a. Scenario:

i. You need to develop a new process for getting patient consent for tissue banking for research and other clinical purposes.

ii. Processes for several similar healthcare facilities have been openly shared with you and your team.

iii. What approach would you take to select the best design for your process?

X Calls to Action:

XI Would you like to connect with other listeners of this podcast? How can they best reach you?

a. VWFARWEL@sentara.com

Outro: Thanks for listening to episode 99 of the E6S-Methods Podcast. If you're intersted in working for Sentara Healthcare in Virginia Beach, which is a wonderful place to be, be sure to contact Vic at VWFARWEL@sentara.com. If you would like to be a guest on the podcast, contact us through our website. Join our mailing list! Subscribe to past and future episodes on iTunes or stream us on-demand with Stitcher Radio. Don't forget to leave a review and share us with a friend. Find outlines and graphics for all shows and more at www.E6S-Methods.com. “Journey Through Success - If you're not climbing up, you're falling down.”