How To Make A Difference

"Which step have you reached today?" The picture with this question makes round on-and-often on social media as also at workplaces (gembas¹).

I don't know its source but would like to give credit to this picture that in a way, among other things, triggered this blogpost.

One can reach the 'top-step' within a moment if one knows "How to make a difference!"

One can make a difference to a given situation by training her brain to be positive. Brain can stay positive by keeping it engaged through positive behaviors.

Here is a 3-point agenda that I try to use in order to engage "myself" in positive actions and stay on the top-step.

1/ Attempt 1-small improvement a day.
2/ Appreciate improvements demonstrated by others.
3/ Say "Thanks" , "Sorry" , "Please" at every opportunity. Good if it's complimented by an action-oriented message fitting the situation rather than merely being goodie-goodie. Good leaders do so: clap as well as "slap" if necessary and appropriate.

Attempt 1-small improvement a day

This helps one to take responsibility to make a difference to status-quo of a given situation. It helps brain to challenge a problematic situation while staying positive on corresponding action.

My S.O.S. commitment to myself is to save-on-something (S.O.S.) each day be it something in the material¹ world or say water¹ or some activity such as say a few wasteful walk-steps.

This may sound like an idiosyncratic fellow, that I am. But it's difficult to dispute the fact that global-warming has crossed threshold levels of warning especially because of greed-based human activity. And of course, driven by the way we measure performance (by want-based results than the need-based input\s - process\es) at both the business as well as at individual level.

If you keenly observe you may find that a lot of human activity is unnecessary & wasteful. If one finds ways and means to combine, merge or eliminate a few activities it can definitely save some material, some human energy as well as ease some difficulties for self and others.

The other day I told a friend of mine that I'm ok with SMS invitation of his son's wedding instead of a hard copy. I even offered him my telephonic time to convince a few common friends so that he could print those many cards less. Helps "Save¹ a Tree" mission! Although it's good if 'such offer' comes from receiver's end, more often than not it gets ridiculed, sometimes as being a miser.

In another instance, a new acquaintance did appreciate my act though, when I humbly returned his business-card after scanning it immediately on Android phone. Hopefully I communicated the message S.O.S. !!!

This brings us to second point of the 3-point agenda.

Appreciate improvement efforts demonstrated by others

This one forces one to catch someone making efforts to do something good and the desired. Remember, "making efforts" or s\he "taking efforts". 

It helps one to "observe" others. It helps to appreciate the 'process' they are involved in rather than waiting for the 'results' of their action that isn't in their control. It forces one to reflect and thereby begin observing "self". It's like subtly learning from others: a source of input for the first point above. 

It also improves your active listening ability.

No need even to say 'Good' while appreciating. Just a 'Smile' as a token of expressing appreciation is OK. It's the fastest and implicit way to recognise others. It's likely to be valued by the receiver because it's done just-in-time (JIT) for the occasion.

I did it the other day when I saw a small boy putting off fan while alighting from lift. In less than a few seconds in the lift, not only I could reinforce his desired behavior but also could earn a friend. Unknowingly I am sure 'thought' process of both of us got triggered in a subtle manner. 

It's like respecting a person by taking cognizance of her efforts. 

Say Thanks, Sorry, Please everyday

This one helps one to express gratitude in an explicit manner. If done particularly when others are at a "receiving end", action-oriented messages fit for the situation also get accepted.

Other day morning my ATM card got stuck. Luckily currency notes came out promptly. Security guard on duty tried his best by fiddling with the keyboard. He seemed to be in a typing-speed contest. After a couple of minutes he acrobatically "slapped" the machine at a couple of spots but in vain. Looking anxiously through the glass as few more morning-walkers joined the queue, he offered to summon another guard on duty on rear-side door of the bank that was yet to open.

By the time both walked in to the scene (the Gemba²) a transaction-slip rolled out of ATM at snail's pace. "It came out  automatically without asking for one", I exclaimed.

"Subahmein machine ko garam honeko time laagta hai (Machine takes time to warm-up in the mornings sometimes.)", one of them said with scenic expressions.

Card however was still stuck inside. Their 'warm-up theory' refused to work this time. Sensing the 'warming temperature' out in the queue, they again "slapped" the machine. By then a bank officer walked in and 'slapped' them with seemingly abusive body language. This time again the machine made fun of all of them. It gently rolled out the card itself without even anyone touching the machine. Fearingly I grabbed the card before it could get "sucked in" again.

Looking at their embarrassed (pinkish-red) faces I said, 'thank-you' and 'sorry-for-the-trouble'. "Now 'please' do some Hansen-kai learning about this frequent 'warming-up theory'. You need to put some operation and maintenance practices in place to remove such abnormalities so that a lot of energy can be saved for yourself as well as for so many people in the morning rush hours.

Although upset, I tried to make a difference by staying cool. That's what was in my control. Of course registered a complaint! 

Doing what's in ones control rather than staying indifferent itself leads to the first-point i. e. making an improvement!! 

All 3-point actions are possible anytime, anywhere, autonomously without any budget, without anyone's permission or approval!!!

Footnotes

1: Go paperless.. is the punchline in my mails that I practice each day. An inefficient paper-mill uses 300-400 ton-water per ton-paper !.. 83,000,000++ton paper is wasted each year !!.. A-Paper-Saved => Lot-of-Water-&-A-Tree-Saved !!
2: Gemba means the workplace where action takes place. One can find a lot many improvement opportunities if the gembutsus (the ATM machine that makes abnormal noise, the card that rolls in, the paper that gets stuck, etc) there are powerfully observed for the way they function. 

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or sharing this post.

No Time? Micro-Meditate!  

Overworked? Tension? CPU of the mind hung-up? 
Do you exercise your choice meaningfully 
IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important? 
Eternally Happy! 
In-a-problem? No-problem! Dwell-a-while! 
I am afraid ! What do I do !! 
Fearful-Of-Death-of-Birth
Take Habits For A Ride 
Happy-Birthday-to-Youooo
Do You Celebrate Mean-or-Green 
Big-Be Or Bug-Be ! 
Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam! 
Are You Good If Others Are Bad?  
Want Need-Or-Want 
Love is Care.. Care is Love !  
Deity is in the eyes of the beholder 
Success-or-failure! What-do-you-like?
Ball-Basin-Team Combine !  Maketh The Smile Divine !! 

Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation

"Break All the Rules" but with care!

I have some comments to offer on the six leadership lessons that Goler, the Facebook's HR chief, recommends from the book "First, Break All the Rules". I'm sure, the book is valuable though.

But before I begin, here's a MaiKu© (my Haiku) on it that I dare..

Rules broken without care

Cure is the nightmare

Crisis that all dare

The first lesson she talks about is "Personal relationships are crucial for success".

She talks about the 12-questions that the authors Buckingham and Coffer write to "capture everything you need to know about the workplace." Four of which she says are as follows that employees should respond positively to.

1. "Do I know what is expected of me at work?"
2. "Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?"
3. "At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?"
4. "In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?"

That's about empowering your employees. And I completely agree with it.

Lesson two she says, "Great managers do not follow the Golden Rule", which states that you must treat others as you would like to be treated, is one of the most common pitfalls of management, argue the authors.

This lesson is acceptable as long as the person has right intentions for the common good. Otherwise, a 'Kaans' who gets a 'Raama' treatment (i.e. gets forgiven for intentional mistakes, as per his own expectations) may get reinforced to continue his wrong acts if he is not awarded a 'Krishna' treatment at the right time in right proportion. Hardly anyone expects to be treated with punishment right?

Lesson three she says is "Employees should primarily be hired for talent". Good that the authors Buckingham and Coffman define talent as "a recurring pattern of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied.

I would always hire a person for talent as well her attitudes towards work and towards the people at workplace. In fact, I would value her attitude more than the talent and her knowledge itself. Because the latter can get diminished in absence of the former.

Lesson four she says, "Employees should be guided by outcomes, not steps". This does help to accommodate for individual approaches to work as also to unearth some innovative ones.

But if employees are given unguided freedom to find their own paths to achieve the agreed upon results, at times it may result into some damages in the form of prohibitively extra costs in terms of damages to customer, other stakeholders, or to the property itself due to abuse of certain procedures, norms on safety and change in specifications of the offerings.

Lesson five she says, "Buckingham and Coffman write that it seems intuitive that managers should spend more time with struggling employees than with top performers, but that their research shows the opposite is true, because top performers are responsible for the work that moves a company forward."

Struggling employees are as much important as the top performers, because else they may get demotivated if they feel ignored.

An abnormality, while in its seed stage, ignored by 'ignored people' may grow into a big problem that even the top performers may not be able to solve.

Remember, generally top performers are fewer than the number of struggling employees in an organisation. The time may not be enough for the top performers to catch up with the growing number of grown problems ignored by the struggling employees inadvertently though.

Lesson six, she says, (Buckingham and Coffman recommend that in order) to have a thriving organization, a company must offer several developmental paths, creating "heroes" in each primary function, so that an employee is actually rewarded with more freedom to excel.

I do appreciate this one provided the "heroes" are created and recognized from among the struggling employees as well, in fact from all around the company. The freedom to them should of course be guided and with a protection from fear of failure, if any. The resultant will be a lot of improvements (Kaizen innovations) across the company even from the so called struggling employees... A win-win for the struggling employees as well as for the top performers and ultimately a win-win for the company.

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or sharing this post.

Forgive Or Don't?  
Strategise To Achieve Targets Daily

Make It Simpler, Rest Will Follow 
How To Make A Difference 
Big-Be Or Bug-Be ! 
Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms ! 
Nauseous Communication Gaps 
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis 
Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam! 
Will It Work Here?  
Some Moron ! Some Great !!! 
That's How Morons Work 
You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable 
Smart-Moron Who Breaks Your Glass  
WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling 
Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy 
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture 
Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice? 
That's how some business partnerships work 
Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !! 
Technology in-place, security dis-placed
IQ-EQ-or-SQ: What-is-more-important?
Do you know a Best-Career-Plan 
Customer or Custo-Mer?  
Experienced A Delightful Payment ! 
An Experience of Heart-and-Soul 
Less With More And More Gets Sore 
Should one care for value?  
ABCD of India Shining
Beware Of Political-Presentations 
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis 
Hoarders Of Filthy Hoardings

How To Make A Difference

What do you do when a dog barks at you? 

IQ, EQ or SQ: What is more important

Do you exercise your choice meaningfully

Success Or Failure: What Do You Like?

Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture

You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable

Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice?

Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy! Why? 

Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !!

Nauseous Communication Gaps 

In a Problem?: No Problem ! Dwell A While !! 

Succession-Plans In Fast Lane!

How Many Times Do You Wash Hands

Our regular cook was to stay absent for a few days. We asked for an alternative arrangement. Usually they won't make it. You have to ask for it. 

The person who substituted her straight went to kitchen (shop)floor to fetch flour. She dug into the container without washing her hands. After a while she began beating the dough.

When I asked her 'why didn't she wash her hands' her response was that she had washed hands at home.

Funny!

One does encounter such behavior at automated high-technology workplaces as well. Other day I saw a bearer with a nice hair-cap worn to prevent hair falling in food. Although he had a glove worn over his right hand he was serving roti (Indian bread made on a touch-free automatic machine) by the bare left-hand. Funny isn't it!

Back home I had to tell the maid that her hands might have encountered so many undesired touch-points on way to my home, her workplace.

Typical Touch-Points

Fetch purse or bag while going to work
Wear shoes (one touch-point less for the good if socks aren't worn)
Hold handle of the door in order to open it
Hold handle of the bus to board it
Exchange cash for ticket
Hold the handle of the lift (at workplace)
Pick up dust bin left outside the owner's home overnight in order to bring it inside

Unbuckle her shoes

One may consider so many such kind of touch-points like combing hair, picking teeth, shaking hands with friends-and-foes on the way, and many more creative ones that people usually engage into.

After all such diversely possible touch-points, she had taken a deep dive into the flour merrily beating it's dough inside-out: All this without washing hands!

One might suffer a blackout at slightest of imagination of even a single touch-point:

On blowing their running noses, do you know how many people  touch all those handles (of buses, of doors, of toilet doors, etc.) how many times in a day?

Do you know that the currency that you exchange might have landed in your hands after having passed hands of so many beggars?

A single search on internet can confirm that one of the most dirty touch-points housing most dangerous bacteria are the various knobs and handles that one handles at public places.

After so many such dangerous touch-points, how about eating food without washing hands because they were "already washed while leaving the workplace or leaving home for work"?

One may allow such funny practices if on a massive immunization programme or is on a mission to be a guinea-pig for all kind of germs on the planet. Some more germs might not make much of a difference having swallowed some inadvertently already.

But reality is different. Not only does one take a complete wash on entering home but also takes a well-rubbed hand-wash just before eating. 

Then why tolerate double-standards like that of the maid, behaving exactly the reverse on leaving home for work?

Surely it's the result of lack of attitude that's reflected in unclean behavior. One reason might be lack of education. Prior to that it may be lack of adequate standards and procedures (SOP¹) on cleanliness: unique-standards or single-standards if you may like to call. Most important reason is the lack of commitment by decision makers to train and motivate and if required take tough and unpleasant decisions about the concerned. 

Else corresponding consequences are well-deserved if one doesn't work towards it. 

Some do appear unreasonable mavericks at times on self as well as on others to change such bad habits! 

It's not out of place here to remember those few who refrain from shaking hands. Instead they greet by putting both hands together: The well-thought-out Indian practice of Namaskar! 

Footnotes: 

1. SOP: Standard Operating Procedures such as GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) or Five-S practices in industry. 

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

How To Make A Difference

WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling

Some Moron ! Some Great !!!

That's How Morons Work

You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable

Am I 'Short-sighted' or 'Long-sighted'?  
Beware Of Political-Presentations 
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis 
Hoarders Of Filthy Hoardings 
Are You Good If Others Are Bad?

Smart-Moron Who Breaks Your Glass 

Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy

In-a-problem? No-problem! Dwell-a-while!

Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation

Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture

Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice?

Taken-For-Granted ? You Deserve It !!

Technology in-place, security dis-placed

Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis

Would you like your purse to be transparent?

Answer from some people may be a Big-NO with exceptions of course. Reason is obvious if you look at the picture.

Anyway, transparent containers are usually preferred to opaque ones. Like for instance transparent glass bottles  usually used in a typical kitchen. They are also used in some industries like processed-foods, pharmaceuticals, etc.

Why do people prefer transparent containers?

Obviously because contents therein can  be easily seen even from a distance just by a single look. You may call this as a step towards look-free²-engineering in order to reduce number of glances or looks (as required in ergonomics) thereby reducing search-time.

In fact, making or rather more appropriately 'designing' a workplace¹ to be transparent (alongwith systematic arrangement of equipment therein) is a principle practised in Seiton-pillar of Five-S. It makes the workplace¹ search-free² as well. Five-S is a Kaizen-tool to make improvements proactively.

Is it so important?

Apart from making the workplace¹ look-free², search-free², etc. there is also a 'not-so-obvious' reason behind the practice of 'transparency' principle. 

Transparency makes abnormalities, if any, obvious and visible. Look at the purse again if you don't believe this. Had it been opaque, you couldn't have noticed 'defects' inside: Be it chaotic (lack of systematic) arrangement or a sharp object inside it causing injury to  finger or a leaky-pen messing up other items.

An opaque container on the other hand hides defects behind it. Imagine a stock-out situation resulting due to invisibility of say grain-stock attacked by pests inside it. Or imagine a situation when a  pendrive containing  important information couldn't be fetched just-in-time (JIT) when 'need'ed in spite of it being in the purse. 

Or imagine a loose connection inside an opaque computer-cabinet or in an opaque (closed) electrical control room the spark of which resulted in a devastating fire. Realizing this, leading businesses have already begun marketing transparent-cases of their offerings as a differentiating proposition.

So the later one i.e. to make 'defects visible' is more important subtle-reason of designing a workplace to be 'transparent' than the former one i.e. to improve 'visibility-of-contents' itself.

Ways-and-means to make a Gemba transparent

Ways-and-means could be many. Some are as follows.

1/ Use of a transparent glass or plastic (for a container or for a cabin partition or as an enclosure of a product).
2/ A simple daily-cleanup (of a desk or a house) like done in Seiri-pillar of Five-S by getting rid of items unused (lying idle) over a given time period.
3/ An advanced daily-cleanup like a mother bathing a child or a workplace practising Seiso-pillar of Five-S that exposes cracks, crevices, etc. as defects.
4/ Seiton-pillar of Five-S: A systematic arrangement of routinely used items, consumables, tools, tackles, etc. using space vertically (rather than spreading the items horizontally) so that more can be stored close to point-of-use in an arm's reach.
5/ A system-based method such as an RTI-Act to make governance visibly transparent and thereby to unearth corruption as 'defect' in governance

What is the learning?

Taking it a little ahead, making a Gemba transparent is the desired result. Choice of ways-and-means to do so lies with the user. However, there is 'no-choice' at all not-to-do-it.

Otherwise ensuing crises as a result of not doing it do force one to do it reactively though. History has enough proof of this and costly at that. Causes pushed under the carpet do boomerang (raise their heads) in the form of crises exactly when we don't want them! 

Look at the forced-cleanups as in (rape-fame Shakti-mills compound) picture that had to be undertaken reactively after experiencing costly-consequences.

"History never really says gogoodbye. History says, 'See you later'", as Eduard, Galeano, Uruguyan writer and historian, says unless of course you work on root causes. 

So better to 'Cleanup-Before-Crisis'! Better to be proactive!!

Footnote-1, Workplace is called as Gemba in Japanese language in the context of doing Gemba-Kaizen for workplace improvement-management.

Footnote-2, These are Free-Engineering concepts to make a workplace free of, say, a non-value-activity (waste) like searching or looking or unscrewing, walking, etc.

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder: Please do consider leaving a comment or sharing this post via social media.

That's How Morons Work 
Functional-Aesthetics 
WOW Work-Culture: By Telling or Selling 
Take Habits For A Ride 
Make It Simpler, Rest Will Follow 
How To Make A Difference 
A Ride To Hell 
Make checklists your friends  
Drove To Hell ... Almost ! 
Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms ! 
Nauseous Communication Gaps 
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis 
Raam or Krishna-Shyam: Tell me Hey Raam! 
Will It Work Here?  
Some Moron ! Some Great !!! 
That's How Morons Work 
Suggestions On-Sale, None-To-Buy 
Technology in-place, security dis-placed 
Succession-Plans In Fast Lane!  
Prevention: The Best Cure! ... Is it really so? 
How Many Times Do You Wash Hands 
What You See Isn't What's Made 
Am I 'Short-sighted' or 'Long-sighted'?  
Beware Of Political-Presentations 
Do You Cleanup-After-Crisis 
Hoarders Of Filthy Hoardings 
Are You Good If Others Are Bad?

Tolerate Once, Twice, Thrice?

Recently I came across a spiritual article on Tolerance that referred to UNESCO's definition: "Tolerance is respect, acceptance and appreciation of the rich diversity of our world's cultures, our forms of expression and ways of being human. It is fostered by knowledge, openness, communication, and freedom of thought, conscience and belief. Tolerance is harmony in difference."

Sometimes it appears difficult to practice some spiritual prescriptions such as above. Such sane characteristics typical of epic-character 'Rama' become impractical especially while dealing with insane 'Kaansaa's kind black behaviors. So I dug into UNESCO's definition further knowing very well that I am too small a fly in front of spiritual Gurus and UNESCO's definition as well that went on to say that, "Tolerance is the responsibility that upholds human rights, pluralism (including cultural pluralism), democracy and the rule of law."

On seeing reference to "the rule of law" in the definition, I was a bit relieved.

How long does one tolerate a given abnormal situation or an abnormal behavior, be it that of self or that of others?

Once, Twice, Thrice? How many times? Everyone faces this dilemma some time or the other.

Epic character Rama in you may tolerate abnormal behaviors limitlessly. However another epic character Krishna 'directed me' to devise my own method to make a judgement.

In any given situation there may be an involvement of man, machine (equipment), material, method (a standard, a process or a procedure to perform act/s) in a typical work environment.

Anything going wrong in any one of these ingredients individually or collectively may create an undesired or a mistakeful outcome that one refers to  as an abnormal situation. It's like an undesired, out-of-tune, out-of-beat, noise instead music getting produced in an orchestra.

The undesired outcome may be due to a collection of mistakes. Role of 'music director' of the situation is to track and trace such mistakes in order to  'orchestrate' prevention of those for producing desired effect in future.

So as a student of Kaizen-school-of-thoughts, in order to prevent making wrong judgement while studying an undesired situation, I identified three categories of mistakes.

1/ Inadvertent mistakes
2/ Careless mistakes
3/ Criminal mistakes

An inadvertent mistake is unintentional. It's not done on purpose. It might just  happen as a result of missing consciousness of one's own mistake or that of others. It is like falling in a given pit or a pot-hole on road for the first time. The cause may be inattention while talking on cell phone. Or it may be that  someone else being on wrong side forced the victim on right (correct) side to suffer.

A careless mistake happens due to missing concern or worry about consequences of a mistake. It might occur as a result of not giving sufficient attention or thought, especially concerning it's avoidance or harm therefrom. It is like falling in a pit second time while talking on cell phone. Mostly fools fall in this category.

A criminal mistake is the one that recurs due to recurring carelessness. It's criminal since there is a resistance to learn from past mistakes. It's criminal if it's done intentionally. In most cases, the criminal himself may not fall but surely makes fellow-beings fall and, if not arrested, repeatedly so. In fact, he ends up pushing them and at times pushing community itself into crises.

Inadvertent and careless mistakes are relatively easy to tackle. But criminal mistakes are the most difficult ones to tackle because they are more to do with wrong intentions and criminal mindsets deployed by-design.

So coming back to the question, "How long does one tolerate a given abnormal behavior?" is like asking "How long does one tolerate mistakes of self or of others? How many times: Once, Twice, Thrice?"

My method is:

1/ Tolerate a mistake one-time while it's Inadvertent. Invest in training and putting Kaizen efforts on errors thus revealed in order to make the process mistake-proof. Establish complimentary SOPs (standard-operating-procedures), rules and regulations to prevent deterioration of the mistake-proof level attained.

2/ May tolerate a mistake second time while it's at Careless-stage. Put in training, Kaizen efforts and complimentary rules & regulations by revisiting the mistakes in order to make the process mistake-proof.

This way the chances are that inadvertent and careless mistakes may get prevented from getting matured into criminal ones especially that concerned with safety, dignity and rightful rights at personal level as also concerned with rightful common goals.

3/ So having given opportunity for structured learning and that of tolerating mistakes once or twice, tolerating it the third-time is being criminal on the part of the tolerates or the orchestrator himself apart from tolerating the so-called criminal making mistake. Because in that case it's the orchestrator who allows a small-mistake to grow into a crime or a crisis or a disaster.

Having established that a mistake falls in criminal-category, it should be dealt with with a sense-of-urgency.

Apart from enforcing rules & regulations used to deal with criminals while 'dealing with criminal mistakes', great leaders deal with 'causes of such intentional behaviors'. Like wrong intentioned poor leaders they don't corner the people making mistakes. That's a separate topic to be dealt with some other time on investing time and efforts in 'behavior-modulation' of the people concerned.