LEAN Leadership Skills
Leadership behaviors that drive sustainable execution. How to build accountability, reduce firefighting culture, and lead operational recovery without relying on heroics.
Quality System Governance Archetypes: The Faucet, the Sink, and the Drain
May 12, 2026 • By Mike Barlow, Paul Van Buskirk
Many GMP governance meetings are overloaded with metrics but starved for operational clarity. Today's GMPKit Field Guide article introduces a simple stock-to-flow model—the faucet, sink, and drain—to help pharmaceutical operations and quality leaders identify hidden backlog formation, predict system saturation earlier, and transform Quality System KPI review from administrative reporting into operational control.
Don’t Start Conversations as a Bulldozer — Start Them as a Domino
March 25, 2026 • By Paul Van Buskirk
Most operational conversations in pharmaceutical manufacturing begin like bulldozers—forceful, reactive, and loud. Effective leaders start them like dominos: small, precise actions that trigger system-wide improvement.