The North Wind and the Sun
I’ve enjoyed connecting the fables of Aesop to lessons in lean and leadership. You can read my previous posts here. Here is a lesson about change management. How do you get engagement? How do you get compliance?
The North Wind and the Sun
A dispute arose between the North Wind and the Sun, each claiming that he was stronger than the other. At last they agreed to try their powers upon a traveller, to see which could soonest strip him of his cloak. The North Wind had the first try; and, gathering up all his force for the attack, he came whirling furiously down upon the man, and caught up his cloak as though he would wrest it from him by one single effort: but the harder he blew, the more closely the man wrapped it round himself. Then came the turn of the Sun. At first he beamed gently upon the traveller, who soon unclasped his cloak and walked on with it hanging loosely about his shoulders: then he shone forth in his full strength, and the man, before he had gone many steps, was glad to throw his cloak right off and complete his journey more lightly clad…Persuasion is better than force.
This about more than being nice. It is about giving people a reason to do something, instead of just forcing them to do it. If you are trying to get people engaged in your transformation, focus on the reason why they would engage. This has to be something specific.
Too often, change agents focus on simple merit: my ideas are good, and you should engage. There are a lot of good things an organization can do. The problem is we have limited resources. You’ll have to create a reason more compelling than that.
Focus on a reason that is specific to that person or that organization. What’s a challenge that we don’t know how to meet? What is a condition that we would like to create for our future?
How have you gotten people to remove their cloak? How have you created a compelling reason to give up their comfort zone and try something new?
May be a tad off topic, but our Company has been going through change over the last year. Because people are so resistent to change I feel there has been a reasonable amount of demotivation which greatly affects throughput. I have a fairly young group I am vertically responsible for (30 people). We’ve spent the last year building a foundation of trust. I fully trust over 90% of my employees, but more importantly they trust me. As a group, or team, we have created a football game based on quality, productivity, and downtime; where yards are awarded for different categories. When a touchdown is acheved we have a pizza party. Sparing all the details the workforce has really bought into this and productivity and throughput are on the rise again. The “pesausion” I used was to completely involve them in most decision making processes. It is one thing to hear what people are saying, and something entirely more rewarding to listen and act upon suggestions and input. Although the employees may not realize it they are becoming more adapt at accepting change because one, they trust me (which means they trust the Company more), and two, becasue they are a main ingredient in creating departmental change. I have found the conditon I would like to create for our future! It is called trust and respect!!
May be a tad off topic, but our Company has been going through change over the last year. Because people are so resistent to change I feel there has been a reasonable amount of demotivation which greatly affects throughput. I have a fairly young group I am vertically responsible for (30 people). We’ve spent the last year building a foundation of trust. I fully trust over 90% of my employees, but more importantly they trust me. As a group, or team, we have created a football game based on quality, productivity, and downtime; where yards are awarded for different categories. When a touchdown is acheved we have a pizza party. Sparing all the details the workforce has really bought into this and productivity and throughput are on the rise again. The “pesausion” I used was to completely involve them in most decision making processes. It is one thing to hear what people are saying, and something entirely more rewarding to listen and act upon suggestions and input. Although the employees may not realize it they are becoming more adapt at accepting change because one, they trust me (which means they trust the Company more), and two, becasue they are a main ingredient in creating departmental change. I have found the conditon I would like to create for our future! It is called trust and respect!!
May be a tad off topic, but our Company has been going through change over the last year. Because people are so resistent to change I feel there has been a reasonable amount of demotivation which greatly affects throughput. I have a fairly young group I am vertically responsible for (30 people). We’ve spent the last year building a foundation of trust. I fully trust over 90% of my employees, but more importantly they trust me. As a group, or team, we have created a football game based on quality, productivity, and downtime; where yards are awarded for different categories. When a touchdown is acheved we have a pizza party. Sparing all the details the workforce has really bought into this and productivity and throughput are on the rise again. The “pesausion” I used was to completely involve them in most decision making processes. It is one thing to hear what people are saying, and something entirely more rewarding to listen and act upon suggestions and input. Although the employees may not realize it they are becoming more adapt at accepting change because one, they trust me (which means they trust the Company more), and two, becasue they are a main ingredient in creating departmental change. I have found the conditon I would like to create for our future! It is called trust and respect!!
Nice analogy, and I think Jerry is on the mark here, by identifying trust and respect as key drivers of persuasion. Getting to this stage is of course not easy. Moving beyond engagement and into involvement is the KPI, I believe that by, like Jerry, getting staff involved in the decision making greatly improves the success rate of a change initiative. Another factor that really hits at the heart of the employees, is leading by example. There is nothing more motivating or indeed persuasive than seeing a sponsor or front line manager getting involved and leading by example.
Nice analogy, and I think Jerry is on the mark here, by identifying trust and respect as key drivers of persuasion. Getting to this stage is of course not easy. Moving beyond engagement and into involvement is the KPI, I believe that by, like Jerry, getting staff involved in the decision making greatly improves the success rate of a change initiative. Another factor that really hits at the heart of the employees, is leading by example. There is nothing more motivating or indeed persuasive than seeing a sponsor or front line manager getting involved and leading by example.
Nice analogy, and I think Jerry is on the mark here, by identifying trust and respect as key drivers of persuasion. Getting to this stage is of course not easy. Moving beyond engagement and into involvement is the KPI, I believe that by, like Jerry, getting staff involved in the decision making greatly improves the success rate of a change initiative. Another factor that really hits at the heart of the employees, is leading by example. There is nothing more motivating or indeed persuasive than seeing a sponsor or front line manager getting involved and leading by example.
Well said. Even, my ideas are good and have significant importance (high value to customers, reduce waste dramatically, improve safety..) is not enough. Getting people to make an effort to improve a situation by simply laying out the dry facts is not very effective. You need to engage in the management system to make your ideas something other people care about and want to do (and you need to consider the psychology of getting things done in human systems). Often an easier way to do this (for me anyway) is not just think what is best for the system, but figure out what people want fixed/improved… and then figure out what I think could help there.
Not many places I have been just want to adopt Deming’s ideas (which basically is my default position). But they have things they care about – reducing the times people get mad at them, increasing cash flow… I find it much easier to help them with their desires and slowly get them to appreciate the benefit of lean thinking. Though even this way it isn’t easy.
I also think about the long term as I am thinking of how to help. It is important to not just solve the current dilemma but to improve the organizational capacity in the way I think it needs to be (increasing people’s understanding of lean idea, understanding how to use data and the risks of reacting to common cause variation…).
Well said. Even, my ideas are good and have significant importance (high value to customers, reduce waste dramatically, improve safety..) is not enough. Getting people to make an effort to improve a situation by simply laying out the dry facts is not very effective. You need to engage in the management system to make your ideas something other people care about and want to do (and you need to consider the psychology of getting things done in human systems). Often an easier way to do this (for me anyway) is not just think what is best for the system, but figure out what people want fixed/improved… and then figure out what I think could help there.
Not many places I have been just want to adopt Deming’s ideas (which basically is my default position). But they have things they care about – reducing the times people get mad at them, increasing cash flow… I find it much easier to help them with their desires and slowly get them to appreciate the benefit of lean thinking. Though even this way it isn’t easy.
I also think about the long term as I am thinking of how to help. It is important to not just solve the current dilemma but to improve the organizational capacity in the way I think it needs to be (increasing people’s understanding of lean idea, understanding how to use data and the risks of reacting to common cause variation…).
Well said. Even, my ideas are good and have significant importance (high value to customers, reduce waste dramatically, improve safety..) is not enough. Getting people to make an effort to improve a situation by simply laying out the dry facts is not very effective. You need to engage in the management system to make your ideas something other people care about and want to do (and you need to consider the psychology of getting things done in human systems). Often an easier way to do this (for me anyway) is not just think what is best for the system, but figure out what people want fixed/improved… and then figure out what I think could help there.
Not many places I have been just want to adopt Deming’s ideas (which basically is my default position). But they have things they care about – reducing the times people get mad at them, increasing cash flow… I find it much easier to help them with their desires and slowly get them to appreciate the benefit of lean thinking. Though even this way it isn’t easy.
I also think about the long term as I am thinking of how to help. It is important to not just solve the current dilemma but to improve the organizational capacity in the way I think it needs to be (increasing people’s understanding of lean idea, understanding how to use data and the risks of reacting to common cause variation…).
I think it is easy as coaches and leaders to want to take control over many situations, especially continous improvement initiatives. We have obligations to the companies we work for, and we try, sometimes too hard, to prove we are worth our weight in water. But the “I” mentality and worrying about ourselves and how our superiors view us only distracts us from those things that “we” can accomplish. When “we” involve every team member in the CI and Lean journey (by gathering input, acting and following through) it doesn’t take long to notice a positive change in atmosphere because the skilled workforce feels like they are adding value to something. No matter how small or large, a victory is a victory, and through continuous positive reinforcement and constant reminders that the system works because of “you guys” it opens up that door allowing us as Supervisors to implement an idea of our own without any animosity from team members. Why? Because the bond has been created and trust is no longer something we strive for; it’s just something as invisible as the air we breathe, but always present.
I agree that long term strategy is equally as important, but I also believe in the crawl, walk, run taught to me by my Supervisor. I would love to hit the ground running, but I am fairly new in management and I’m not convinced my brakes work well enough to stop a trainwreck! In my own experiences I found it is better to take baby steps forward than large steps backwards.
I think it is easy as coaches and leaders to want to take control over many situations, especially continous improvement initiatives. We have obligations to the companies we work for, and we try, sometimes too hard, to prove we are worth our weight in water. But the “I” mentality and worrying about ourselves and how our superiors view us only distracts us from those things that “we” can accomplish. When “we” involve every team member in the CI and Lean journey (by gathering input, acting and following through) it doesn’t take long to notice a positive change in atmosphere because the skilled workforce feels like they are adding value to something. No matter how small or large, a victory is a victory, and through continuous positive reinforcement and constant reminders that the system works because of “you guys” it opens up that door allowing us as Supervisors to implement an idea of our own without any animosity from team members. Why? Because the bond has been created and trust is no longer something we strive for; it’s just something as invisible as the air we breathe, but always present.
I agree that long term strategy is equally as important, but I also believe in the crawl, walk, run taught to me by my Supervisor. I would love to hit the ground running, but I am fairly new in management and I’m not convinced my brakes work well enough to stop a trainwreck! In my own experiences I found it is better to take baby steps forward than large steps backwards.
I think it is easy as coaches and leaders to want to take control over many situations, especially continous improvement initiatives. We have obligations to the companies we work for, and we try, sometimes too hard, to prove we are worth our weight in water. But the “I” mentality and worrying about ourselves and how our superiors view us only distracts us from those things that “we” can accomplish. When “we” involve every team member in the CI and Lean journey (by gathering input, acting and following through) it doesn’t take long to notice a positive change in atmosphere because the skilled workforce feels like they are adding value to something. No matter how small or large, a victory is a victory, and through continuous positive reinforcement and constant reminders that the system works because of “you guys” it opens up that door allowing us as Supervisors to implement an idea of our own without any animosity from team members. Why? Because the bond has been created and trust is no longer something we strive for; it’s just something as invisible as the air we breathe, but always present.
I agree that long term strategy is equally as important, but I also believe in the crawl, walk, run taught to me by my Supervisor. I would love to hit the ground running, but I am fairly new in management and I’m not convinced my brakes work well enough to stop a trainwreck! In my own experiences I found it is better to take baby steps forward than large steps backwards.