The Kaizen mindset challenge
In our whitepaper, we describe what it takes to create a continuous improvement culture. A desire to improve in all you do. People and Process.
Kaizen
The key element to any change and specifically creating a cultural change is mindset. Shifting culture will be an even tougher job without the curiosity to discover better ways of working.
Or without the dedication to pursue perfection;
or that endless desire to be fulfilled.
What we think precedes what we do.
Toyota developed its production system, its way of being, on a principle they called Kaizen. "Kai" meaning change, and "Zen" meaning good. It can be roughly translated into continuous improvement. Some refer the meaning to be:
“Change for the better to get closer to the right state”.
It’s a principle to adopt in life not just in business. It’s a mindset of making everything better than the current or past state. We can apply this concept to the individual level as well as the surrounding environment and within business. It’s a natural human condition to continuously improve and evolve. Making improvements in all aspects of our life is what has set us apart from our close relatives, the Neanderthals and our primates cousins.
Toyota struggled for many years to get their people to foster this mindset. In Japan, a cultural norm was “Harmony of all people”, ideas that went against this harmony were deemed to be disrespectful. A key value that Japanese people hold at their core. In fact for many of us, we like to conform to the norms of our society, to those around us.
Discussing Kaizen and Kaizen Mindset with a client recently, I was told:
“You don’t want to stand up and speak up as you may get your head shot off.”
The notion of going against the norm has been conditioned within us, so we often avoid situations where we may disrupt the norm. We do this with good intent, to protect ourselves and the tribe we are in.
The Paradox
People at Toyota first found the principle of Kaizen to be a paradox should ideas disrupt the harmony. Toyota knew that it was disruption that would set them apart. They knew people would need to learn how to be disruptive as the need for harmony was part of the conditioning since early childhood. People needed to learn how to reframe their thinking to look at Kaizen as a principle working in complete synergy with respect for people.
They needed to learn that failure to improve is disrespectful to people.
Failure to improve presents a risk to the success of the company, the security of everyones job.
Growth Mindset
Kaizen wasn’t new for everyone, for some they have always dreamt up ideas to improve their work. However never felt they had the authority to step up and speak up, to share their ideas and get them implemented. They felt restricted by the need for harmony and also in the limiting belief that it was for senior leadership to set out how work is performed and who were they to dispute that? Over time, the flow of ideas ran dry. The spark of creativity went out.
In their book True Kaizen, Colin McLoughlin and Tosihiko Miura describe a fable about a child called Jorge. A fable that describes an elephant chained to a small wooden stake at a circus. The child wondering why this elephant puts up with the ridicule of the circus. In Jorge’s mind the elephant could easily pull the chain off its stake and run away.
“As a child, Jorge loved going to the circus. One day, he noticed one of the huge elephants was being held by a large chain around his foot, which was only fastened to a small wooden stake. This appeared to be a weak system, as the elephant was easily strong enough to simply tug at the stake and walk away whenever he wanted. So why didn’t this strong elephant just break away? Jorge decided he would ask, but every adult he asked simply replied that the elephant was trained. So with that explanation, he closed his eyes and imagined the elephant trying to get away, and it was not until he began running through scenarios that he had his breakthrough. He thought of the elephant as a baby, and the chain and stake would have been enough to hold a baby elephant in place, so the baby probably fought and fought to get away until it was too exhausted and fell asleep, before waking to try again the next day.
”
This analogy of the elephant could describe your organisations. Great people with great ideas limited by a conditioned mindset chaining them to a status quo that no longer works. They can’t see it let alone do anything about it.
Building a culture of continuous improvement, you have to tackle this challenge.
You have to shift people’s thinking from “I can’t” to “I can, and I will”.
This individual shift in thinking goes from what Carol Dweck framed in her book Mindset, Fixed mindset to a Growth Mindset.
The Organisational Challenge
Too often organisations ignore this challenge. They don't see the learning that is required. They see the challenge as simply following different processes. They believe the teaching of tools and techniques is enough. Toyota realised early on it was an adaptive challenge. A challenge that required learning, collaboration and co-creation.
Ronald Heifetz in his book “Leadership on the Line” describes this type of challenge along side the popular technical challenge.
Technical Challenges
Assumes the organisation has the current know-how to overcome the challenge.
The challenge is overcome within the formal authority and are often low to moderate difficulty.
It’s a comfortable and safe approach for the leaders and those involved.
If the know-how isn’t available in the organisation, they draft in experts who have the know-how and implement actions within departments they have authority for.
Directives are given to those closest to the problem often in a form of a new procedure to follow.
However this type of challenge only works with simple easy problems. Culture change is complex in nature, with lots of uncertainties. Embedding a Kaizen Mindset, Improvement and Innovation within an organisation can be both simple and complex. However the majority of improvements are an adaptive challenge…
…Adaptive Challenges
The challenge demands learning, a shift in thinking, a potential change of values, innovation.
The challenge calls on those closest to the problem/opportunity to deal with it.
It often requires going outside of formal authority to get it done.
It requires time and energy.
It’s tough and often avoided
The traditional improvement treats all challenges as technical ones. Improvement often requires people to look outside their lines of authority. It requires doing things on behalf of the organisation not just their part in it. Most improvement activities involve changing ways of working. This doesn’t just involve doing something different or following a new process. It means changing established behaviours, habits and entrenched thinking. That’s the real work.
“The mark of leadership in the competitive world is leading others in adaptive work”
Six Principles for Leading Adaptive Work
1. Get on the balcony
a. Leaders need to have distance to see the “big picture”
2. Identify the adaptive change
a. Leader’s need the ability to identify adaptive change when it is called for
b. Must address it in order to turn it around
c. Confront the brutal facts (Jim Collins, 2001)
3. Regulate distress
a. Do not overwhelm but provide enough tension to maintain urgency
b. Challenge unproductive norms
c. Ask questions rather than give answers
4. Maintain disciplined attention
a. Must be able to identify distractions and refocus the work
b. Attention on tough issues
c. People ten to slide back into old behaviours unless focus is maintained
d. Reframing issues get at the heart
5. Give work back to people
a. Getting others to assume responsibility
b. Instill confidence in others through encouragement and support
c. Be part of the change
6. Protect voices of leadership from below
a. Protect rather than squelch those who risk speaking up
b. Need to hear all voices including dissenters
Cited from Heifetz, R . (2007) Perspectives on Change. Available at http://changetheorists.pbworks.com/w/page/15475038/Ron%20Heifetz (21 November 2019)
If you're looking at your results and seeing a gap between what you desire and what you’ve got, it is highly likely that the adaptive challenge hasn’t been dealt with. Doing so, will not only close the gap, it will lead to sustained performance.
Image: Photo by Thomas Griggs on Unsplash
