Hal Croasmun had a nice post about work reality and fear in the workplace
as it relates to morale and motivation in LO1231.
I completely agree with what he said; atttacking this "fear thing" has
been a main philosophy of my training and consulting since 1978 and links
to issues of quality and productivity and change. I still have an article
in files from around 1981 called, Theory F that was a contempory with the
Theory Z (Ouchi) thing and took the position that FEAR was the BEST
framework for managing the worker. Nicely written, an old BOSS agreed
with it -- BTW, BOSS spelled backwards is self-explanatory.
Anyway, one can make subtle changes by merely focusing on whether the
feedback systems measure mistakes or corrects and changing the goals from
avoiding negative ones to attaining positive ones. (Instead of a goal of
less than 2 errors per 100, making the goal of exceeding 98% correct and
that type of thing.)
It is amazing how many systems are negative in the tone of measurement.
MAYBE there is a good reason for it, but Six Sigma attainment is a much
better framework than Zero Defects (which translates to "Hide Your
Errors." Offense rather than Defense -- Reframe: De-Fence and remove the
barriers to collaboration?? (Post is too deep, maybe. ;) )
Anyway, I'll suggest three, simple useful models I use to get people to
discover this -- one includes a Blame Frame theme that turns any activity
negative. You can mention the concept and then ask if we might be using
such a Blame Frame when we are addressing the issue or opportunity for
improvement.
Another is my basic Square Wheels wagon, with the Square Wheels merely
representing things accepted as workable when there are better solutions
(round wheels) already in the wagon. Thus, we depersonalize discussions
and create a framework for discussing ideas to make things better. Errors
and faulty processes just become Square Wheels.
(If anyone wants a transparency and tip sheet of this cartoon, send me a
snail mail address by private email, phone or fax -- I'd be more than
happy to send it to you, IF you'll try it!)
My most favorite trick is to engage in a discussion of what makes change
possible and get from the audience answers like perspective, continuous
improvement, need to try things differently, etc. Get a long list or set
it up in your comments. Then, I show them a drawing:
A horse is attached to the wagon by a workable harness, only the horse is
facing the wagon. The wagon has Square Wheels on it and round wheels in
it and the team standing on the side of the hill looking at this situation
Then I ask the tables to discuss what is happening and give them 3 or 4
minutes to talk about it knowing that I will ask each table for one or
more ideas about it.
Going around the room, we will get a ratio of 15 or more negative comments
to each positive comment. The lowest was 4:1 and I've had as many as 21
negative and NO positive; I've done this worldwide for the last 3 years
with no discernable difference across cultures.
The illustration is called Trial and Error and the basic belief is that if
we don't try and experiment, we won't make any improvement and if we don't
make mistakes, we probably won't discover better ways of doing the job.
Punishing the mistakes is an obvious way NOT to generate new
possibilities.
My behavior is to then ask the significance of what transpired if we as
managers are going to ask people to try to implement change and continuous
continuous improvement if we respond negatively to mistakes. By stepping
back from the situation, many recognize the problems inherent in their
constructive criticism (an oxymoron if here ever was one). Some may even
change their behavior a little. Trial and Error (BTW, all my comments on
their mistakes are neutral or positive! One must strive to be congruent,
of course).
Given Hal's comments in LO12331, it would be of interest to know how
others see and address this issue of "mental mindset in the workplace"
and how we deal with managers' attitudes and behaviors,
-- For the FUN of It!Scott Simmerman Performance Management Company 3 Old Oak Drive, Taylors, SC 29687 (USA) 864-292-8700 fax 292-6222 SquareWheels@compuserve.com
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>