A typical coaching conversation
Coach (me): What are the daily pain points?
The client (Let us call him Peter - the General Manager): My biggest problem in my team is my assistant - the Production Manager. I am just frustrated with the guy! He just does not do what is planned. We agree - then he either forgets or is too busy to handle it or suddenly changes priorities. Worse – he often does something completely different or does half-heartedly and leaves the task incomplete. If he were not technically so strong, I would have replaced him without a second thought! Grrrr .... it all shows up in our monthly results and reports and I am the one who gets the flak in the monthly management review!
Me: Oh! Does he have all the information he needs - to function? Do you think some process improvement may help?
Peter: Information? Of course, we do have all the information! The quality reports, daily output, monthly trends, inventory reports, labour cost, material cost - you name it - our ERP gives it! I think all the processes are great too!
Me: Very good - do you have 1-on-1 catch-up session with him every week?
Peter: Well - not every week - we are too busy to do that. We have one immediately after our monthly financial review. We keep discussing informally now and then.
Me: Hmmm ... do you keep notes - at least just short bullet points, say – a quick 2-minute scribble - to go back, refer and review briefly to improve upon? Does he?
Peter: Not really ... we just know. That would be too pedantic - wouldn't it?
Me: So, Peter ... just to relook at this conversation so far - do you think he has all the information he truly needs to improve his performance? Do you think your 1-on-1 catch up “process” is working? Do you think some improvements could be done there?
(An awkward moment follows .... some nervous body-language in hesitation ... I sense that Peter will come up with an intuitive response soon to justify his earlier answers and all I would need to do at this stage is - just park the conversation for future without challenging Peter's ego! I think to myself - this is not the right moment for me to make Peter look inwards and perhaps, even in the future, a group-discussion with no reference to any name or person at that time would be a better option! I may not have to prove Peter wrong - the time will soon lead to the required realization.)
Different coaches and clients have different styles to deal with such situations. But the underlying common denominator is the same. Looking inwards and introspection - which I call self-discovery - is the first step to start improving or start being proactive for business excellence.
It is easy to put yourself into coach’s shoes in the above conversation. I am sure, you would recall many Peters and many such conversations. Go a step further and introspect by putting yourself into Peter’s shoes too. I would not be surprised if you find the conversation familiar in that imagination too. What Peter said may sound correct too! It would be too pedantic to define processes around behaviours and casual conversations. The reality remains that it was Peter's problem and he needed to solve it - and to do so - he needed to introspect.
Organization is analogous to an individual
What is true for Peter is often true for many – perhaps almost all of us - therefore, true for the organization at large. Kübler-Ross model holds good for a team or an organization as well as it does for an individual. Majority of the team or majority of the organization is in the typical “denial” mode to start with when it comes to being proactive. As an organization often we simply don't know what we don't know.
It is not uncommon to see that the minds of managers quickly jump to conclusions through intuitive thinking instead of strategic thinking or rational thinking. Furthermore, Jonathan Haidt’s rules from the famous book “The Righteous Mind” are quite relevant in business context too. Especially: Intuitions come first, strategic reasoning second. Glimpses of the behaviours associated with this rule are often reflected in the day-to-day management. Once a Peter in the above conversation is fixated on the viewpoint that is innately intuitive, it becomes difficult for him to challenge it. Furthermore, the rhetoric of being open minded is correct but the mindset and the resulting behaviour are not. The best person to challenge such a viewpoint is the person themselves. How to do this? As is recommended by experts in the area of emotional intelligence or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), the best personal policy for one is to notice oneself being fixated on a viewpoint intuitively. Notice yourself not being open-minded. Paul Sloane, in his TED talk on open mindedness gives three invaluable recommendations:
1) Consciously take a different point of view – look in a different direction
2) Introduce the random – take a random cue and work on it and
3) Welcome the unfamiliar, welcome the strange – because serendipity and lateral thinking go hand in hand
The first and the third are particularly quite relevant for the context of this article.
I further always find that, application of "blinded" approach, as is used in clinical trials, can be very useful. At least a partly blinded approach. A well-designed blinded approach removes the elements causing bias from the sight of decision-makers. If one employee is being considered more competent than some other without sufficient basis (often out of personal likes and dislikes), then it is best to throw the ideas without mentioning the source into the discussion forum. If any jargon is likely to evoke a biased response such as “We need a lean solution” – as if lean is a panacea or “Don’t talk about lean – just a buzzword” – as if it is completely useless, it is best to just say, “Let us look at one possible change that one of the employees has suggested and a couple of others have further modified. Let us not trace the names at this stage.”
Only when the foundations for true open-mindedness are laid, the readiness of the team can further be used to yield acceptance and desire to act. This can be best done by participants themselves. A coach or facilitator can only mediate or facilitate to let the people communicate with themselves! Most importantly – a coach or facilitator is just a generic role. Each leader or manager, normally, must be a coach anyway! Once the required self-awareness and willingness are established, several methodologies or frameworks and also tools and techniques are available for help.
Selection of a suitable framework
It is best to then embrace a sufficiently broad-based or holistic framework – with willingness and ability to adjust as required.
Typical frameworks which I have found very healthy and invaluable are:
1) Risk management with all the business dimensions. My favourite set is People – Process – Product and Technology. I use Steve McConnell’s book Rapid Development: Taming Wild Software Schedules for manufacturing and supply chain environments too. The author has outlined classic mistakes made in typical software projects for all four dimensions PPPT. Important: Those are mistakes when they are committed! Before they are committed – they are risks! The list is very helpful.
2) 14 principles of the Toyota philosophy. In this model presented in the book The Toyota Way by Dr Jeffrey Liker, problem-solving is really the last set of principles. The philosophy, process focus and people focus are all actually the sets that encourage being proactive. When these principles are embraced with utmost commitment and perseverance, a truly proactive work culture grows.
Similar to these frameworks, the basic project management and change management methodologies are very robust and reliable too for continuous improvement - especially Kaikaku i.e., a large and radical step-change.
The Toolkit
Once the holistic framework is selected as the broad but adjustable approach, specific relevant tools and techniques can be used. Some general-purpose tools which I have often found very effective are:
1) A3 methodology for mapping the current state and visualising the future state. This can be used with varying degrees of depths depending on the readiness of audience. (Irrespective of whether one embraces Hoshin Kanri for strategic planning, just some simple A3 based practices are often very valuable.)
2) Value Stream Mapping – it truly gives the value adding and non-value adding areas. Of course, this tool requires overall sense of moderation and proportion. In a printing industry that I once coached where, for one type of a special purpose paper, forward purchasing was extremely important for two reasons (one – the fast increasing prices and two – frequent dearth of the scarcely available types of rolls) it was futile to push for inventory reduction at raw material level. The experience-based thumb rule was simple – amass as much as possible not to run out of that “gold” of the business! In a quarry environment where the raw materials in theory are already available in the pit for decades to come, the focus is on maximizing value addition. So – with Value Stream Mapping – one must not inadvertently get into one-size-fits-all thinking.
3) Lean or agile utilities readily offered by ERP systems. (Kanban, Heijunka, cycle counting, inventory analyses, visual tools etc.)
Several other methodologies come handy to resort to proactiveness and excellence once the barrier of lack of willingness is overcome and the holistic approach is wholeheartedly embraced.
The Residual Risk
When the pursuit of excellence becomes a way of life for all the teams, the real last risk to control is that of complacency. While Stephen Covey’s prioritization matrix is a great conceptual guide, people often find it difficult to smoothly transition from Urgent-Important to Non-urgent-Important – instead they throw themselves straight into a relaxation mode i.e., the Non-Urgent-Not-Important quadrant.
Maintaining the sense of urgency for excellence and not only for reacting to problems in a panic-mode is the real tricky part in the journey of excellence.
There is a famous quote by John P. Kotter,
“A higher rate of urgency does not imply ever-present panic, anxiety, or fear. It means a state in which complacency is virtually absent.”
Absence of complacency – sense of urgency – without being reactive. That is the essence of true excellence. Ensuring that is precisely the real function of leadership in management! If that is not the case, it is best to introspect to start with!
- Nilesh Pandit
December 8, 2022