Why is Year-End Reflection so Difficult?

 

Everybody wants the answer, but nobody wants to ask why. Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.

Flatt & Scruggs

Flatts & Scruggs put it well, no?

Daylight wanes, the trees are bare, creatures big & small hunker down for winter. For organizations big & small, it’s also time to hit the PAUSE button and reflect.

Why do we find reflection so hard? Heuristics (mental shortcuts) and cognitive biases explain a great deal.  Scholars like Kahneman & Tversky have illuminated Anchoring, Status Quo, Sunk-Cost, Availability and other traps. Even the most capable Boards & senior leader teams are vulnerable.  Ironically, the more capable a Board, the greater the risk.  Hubris is endemic to the human condition, no?  (How could King Lear, Macbeth, Hamlet have been so blind?) 

In any event, what does reflection entail and how to we get better at it?

What Does Year-End Reflection Entail?

Reflection entails hitting the PAUSE button and asking questions like:

·       What were our goals this year? What was our winning logic & plan?
·       What worked & why? What did not work & why?
·       What have we learned?
·       How do we apply what we’ve learned?

As we get stronger, we can also ask harder questions like:

·       Did we put the Safety of our people, customers, and community first?
·       Did we stick to our core values?
·       Did we recognize problems early? Did we react quickly and intelligently?
·       Did we adjust our strategy and activities in a thoughtful way?
·       Did we stick to our management system & core processes?

How Do We Get Better at Reflection?

1) Recognize & accept we’re not good at it

A color-blind person accepts she can't see certain colors and adjusts their behavior accordingly. Let’s admit we that we see what we want to see, not what’s there, and that we jump to half-baked conclusions & countermeasures.

2) Build humble reflection into our management routines.

Humble means we leave our rank at the door. Data wins arguments, not the most senior person. After every major project, launch, strategy, and cycle, hit the PAUSE button and have a short reflection meeting. What was the objective? What was our winning logic & plan? What actually happened? Why did it happen and what can we learn from it? Over time it becomes part of your muscle memory. I’m a fan of ‘Red-teaming’ wherein a critical strategy is subjected to no-holds barred challenges.

The Control Tower (aka Obeya, Cockpit, ‘Big Room’) is a great enabler. This is a safe visual place wherein senior leaders reflect on the above questions in a frank open way.  The Control Tower is part of a tiered management system, which comprises regular team huddles around a visual board. ‘What you do is what you get’. The onus is on senior leaders to walk the proverbial walk.

So, here’s a challenge to all of us. Pull in your team and reflect on the questions above. Answer them honestly and share what you’ve learned. Then apply them.

Have a safe & prosperous 2026.

Pascal Dennis        E: pascal.dennis@leansystems.org