Why This Episode Matters
Healthcare organizations often know they have problems with flow, safety, delays, frustration, and waste, but they may not actually see the work clearly enough to solve them. In this conversation, Maria Mentzer explains how See to Solve helps organizations surface hidden problems, involve the people closest to the work, and build practical problem-solving capability through simple, repeatable behaviors rather than heavy improvement infrastructure or abstract training.
Key Ideas Explored
Why leaders often see only the tip of the iceberg of organizational problems
How See to Solve helps teams make work visible before jumping to solutions
The role of process and relationship mapping in creating shared understanding
Why leadership support is essential for sustaining improvement behavior
How small, rapid experiments help teams generate learning instead of just implementing fixes
Takeaways for Quality Leaders
Start with a narrow slice of real work rather than trying to solve the whole system at once.
Involve the people who actually do the work; they see barriers leaders often cannot.
Treat mapping as a way to create insight, connection, and energy for change.
Make leadership participation visible, practical, and sustained beyond the first workshop.
Build internal coaching capacity so improvement becomes part of daily work, not a consultant-dependent event.
Continue the Conversation
Resources & Frameworks Referenced
Disclosure: This episode is not sponsored. Jason has no financial or commercial relationship with See to Solve. The conversation reflects his editorial interest in the work and in Steven Spear’s contributions to improvement science.
Leading Quality is a podcast for healthcare leaders committed to improving systems, culture, and outcomes.
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New episodes published every other Thursday at 7AM Eastern Time.
Credits:
Host, Writer, and Executive Producer
Jason Meadows, MD
Produced by
Thrive Healthcare Improvement
Edited by
Milan Milosavljevic
