When You’re Convinced You’re Right, You’ve Lost Your Ability to Learn

By Pascal Dennis (bio)

A deep bow to the late great psychologist, John Bradshaw, for the title. Dr Bradshaw, a genuine healer, recognized the corrosive effect of parental self-righteousness on children and families. [Bradshaw On: The Family: A New Way of Creating Solid Self-Esteem]

The philosopher, Eric Hoffer saw self-righteousness as the driving force behind mass movements and fanaticism [The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements]

Self-righteousness is also corrosive to personal growth, and hence to lateral learning in an organization (Yokoten in Japanese). The confident, convinced and unquestioning mind is closed. ‘Been there, done that!’ is its motto.

Self-righteousness is usually caused by hubris, the ancient Greek word for arrogance, and occasionally by fatigue, laziness, and fear. People who are overwhelmed often invent mental shortcuts

What’s this got to do with management systems and leadership?

A strong management system comprises clearly defined end-of-pipe and process goals, visual management, daily huddles that highlight at each level:

• What’s going well,
• What’s not going well, and
• Why

Good leadership is about building a strong management system, and strong people, who can bring it to life. Good leaders try to live the great Paul O’Neill’s mantra:

• What did we discover is broken today?
• How did we fix it?
• How will we share the learning?

In my coaching experience suggests companies and leaders who try to live this way prosper beyond their wildest dreams.

But first we have to recognize the corrosive effect of self-righteousness. We have to cultivate debate, dissent, and a healthy skepticism.

We have to recognize that reality is far bigger than any of us can imagine. We see but a tiny sliver of it, and have no business being self-righteous.

Best regards,

Pascal




In case you missed our last few blogs... please feel free to have another look…

On Labels – ‘Expert, Master, Sensei’ and the like
Fred Taylor & the Illusion of Top-Down Control - Part 2
Fred Taylor & Illusion of Top-Down Control - Part I
Jackie Fisher – Transforming the Royal Navy

When You’re Convinced You’re Right, You’ve Lost Your Ability to Learn

By Pascal Dennis (bio)

A deep bow to the late great psychologist, John Bradshaw, for the title. Dr Bradshaw, a genuine healer, recognized the corrosive effect of parental self-righteousness on children and families. [Bradshaw On: The Family: A New Way of Creating Solid Self-Esteem]

The philosopher, Eric Hoffer saw self-righteousness as the driving force behind mass movements and fanaticism [The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements]

Self-righteousness is also corrosive to personal growth, and hence to lateral learning in an organization (Yokoten in Japanese). The confident, convinced and unquestioning mind is closed. ‘Been there, done that!’ is its motto.

Self-righteousness is usually caused by hubris, the ancient Greek word for arrogance, and occasionally by fatigue, laziness, and fear. People who are overwhelmed often invent mental shortcuts

What’s this got to do with management systems and leadership?

A strong management system comprises clearly defined end-of-pipe and process goals, visual management, daily huddles that highlight at each level:

• What’s going well,
• What’s not going well, and
• Why

Good leadership is about building a strong management system, and strong people, who can bring it to life. Good leaders try to live the great Paul O’Neill’s mantra:

• What did we discover is broken today?
• How did we fix it?
• How will we share the learning?

In my coaching experience suggests companies and leaders who try to live this way prosper beyond their wildest dreams.

But first we have to recognize the corrosive effect of self-righteousness. We have to cultivate debate, dissent, and a healthy skepticism.

We have to recognize that reality is far bigger than any of us can imagine. We see but a tiny sliver of it, and have no business being self-righteous.

Best regards,

Pascal

Why is Safety Foundational to Lean?

By Al Norval

I’ve visited several organizations that have taken the traditional five areas of 5S and added a 6th S to them – Safety. I understand why they do this, as they are trying to highlight Safety as an important part of a Lean Transformation but I think it goes deeper than this.

Let’s start off by asking what we mean by Safety.

Safety is more than the physical safety of our employees. That’s just the beginning. Of course we don’t want anyone to get injured or have an accident at work but Safety in Lean goes far beyond that. We need to provide a workplace that is not only physically safe but emotionally safe as well. One where people don’t need to worry that their ideas may be ridiculed or fear that their boss will yell and get angry if they make a mistake or worse if they suggest something the boss doesn’t agree with.

By providing our people with a working environment that is both physically and emotionally safe, we lay the foundation of a workplace where people are treated with dignity & respect.

Respect for Humanity is one of the pillars of Lean along with Eliminating Waste and Continuous Improvement.

It means engaging their brains as well as their bodies in the daily work of the organization.
It means providing challenging problems that stretch people’s capabilities to solve and lead to huge learning.
It means believing in the creative and innovative power that resides in every person.
It means engaging people to their full potential and helping them become the best they can be.

It’s a workplace where we engage people’s hearts and minds to help get a little bit better every day. We can only do this when we provide a workplace that is both physically & emotionally safe, where people don’t have to worry about their well-being and so can focus on the task at hand as well as making daily improvements in the way we do the work.

Paul O’Neill, former Secretary of the Treasury and former Chairman and CEO of Alcoa used Safety as a window on the process to drive improvements and make Alcoa the industrial giant they are today. He understood that Safety was foundational to engaging people in improvement. He is now leading a charge to do the same thing in Healthcare.

We wish him all the best.

Cheers