The key is to acknowledge that “rational analysis of facts and data” rarely (if ever) evokes the kinds of things that cause change. Can I structure the work to sequentially cue the next process step as each is accomplished? Are you trying to spread the early adopters too thin, in the hope that they will inoculate the rest of the organization? Earlier this year, we learned that Sharp is working with Nintendo to produce new Switch panels, I was curious to see if the screen on the new Switch included any of Sharp's technology. Further, there are processes to verify that what was expected is what happened, and any deviation triggers another specified response. This is a classic “is / is not” analysis, but applied rather than just theoretical. Yes, we are stabilizing and improving the process, but we are also clearing the path toward the behavior we want. “When we implement flow, we are going to see a lot of problems come to the surface.” By warning people in advance about what to expect, you can shift the response from being discouraged to accepting the challenge of solving those problems one by one – because those problems tell us “This is working” rather than “it isn’t working.”. It establishes a concentrated environment where everyone is focused on the same thing, and eliminates (or at least reduces) the social pressure against the new behavior. | Make the World Co-Op, Problem Solving through ‘Bright Spots’ | Giles Dickenson-JonesGiles Dickenson-Jones, Rider, Elephants and The Path – Script the Critical Moves | Tales from a Trading Desk. I have been touting Chip and Dan Heath’s book Switch for some time now, so it I thought I ought to actually write about why.. Given too many choices, the rider becomes paralyzed and takes no action at all. Thoughts and Insights from the Shop Floor. Switch dedicates itself to change processes that manage both aspects — direct the rider and motivate the elephant— along with a third segment, Shaping the Path, that details the steps once driver and elephant are mastered. Break down the change until it no longer spooks the Ele-phant. So as we work to “tweak the environment” the real question for a lean practitioner is how to structure things that make and hold space for this creative process of improvement to happen. It shows people, in a tangible way, what is possible. I want to know that my customers are going to get exactly what was specified. Are the people who are adopting the new behavior isolated from one another? In one, they outline an experiment with customer loyalty cards for a car wash. Two groups of customers were given loyalty cards. The cool thing, in my mind, is that Switch is as much describing what should be our routine as it is describing how to change the routine. It is likely that structure wasn’t deliberate, these outlier companies just stumbled into it. Your email address will not be published. I have been touting Chip and Dan Heath’s book Switch for some time now, so it I thought I ought to actually write about why. This is one benefit of the model line. It's deeply rooted in psychology, yet written in a simple, effective language so anybody could understand and apply it. Look for the behaviors. So our efforts to enact “change” start, first and foremost, with trying to educate so that people will “understand the changes” and the “reasons why.”. It is a concrete description of how we want the organization to work. Wow! And finally, Heath and Heath challenge us to look at the environment before we start blaming people. They wanted the results, but apparently never dig in to truly understand the few key things that went deeper than the mechanics. Small, isolated efforts dissipate your resources to the point where they are ineffective. The most common theme of frustrations I hear from change agents and practitioners has to do with people “not supporting the changes.” But when I question them about what they WANT people to do, I often get a list of abstractions. “We are in this together.”. Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System, Now, having a model line does not guarantee that the rest of the organization will spontaneously adopt the new way, Il meglio della blogosfera lean #106 — Encob Blog, Why are we so groupish? [The 5-Minute Room Rescue, procurement reform] GROW YOUR PEOPLE. He doesn’t talk about it much once he makes the initial point. What sense of identity already exists? One good way to test a theme or critical move is to ask whether or not it is “sticky.”. ?IÖ*æÎPDŸyé+�ËT*W!M'sq4÷G“. It is filled with case studies and examples of success stories, and whatever your particular area of change is, you are bound to find one that is a close match. We want to feel we are part of a group. The other group required 12 stamps to get a free car wash – but they were given two free stamps to start with. Is it counter to what you are trying to do? Because they started with a sense of investment. In this category, Heath & Heath cover three key points that address the logical approach: Rather than focusing on what isn’t working and trying to fix it, go find examples of where things are working and try to understand why – what makes them different. What is the prevailing social pressure in the organization? (You do have to work harder and more explicitly, though.). To make things even more interesting, many of us (myself included) have been taught to focus on the physical process changes rather than the behaviors required in a continuous improvement culture. The path is not clear. Following that metaphor, Heath and Heath outline nine actions that shape how groups (and individuals) respond to changes. The other thing that helps, according to the workbook, is keeping the change within the scope of how people think about themselves. What really hooked me into this book, though, was just how well it maps to key characteristics of a Toyota-style management system. TPS / “Lean” is a management system that strives to do this every day. Remember the child abuse study [from the book]? The people we call the “anchor draggers” and “cement heads” are making the best decisions they can in good faith, based on the environment and information that surrounds them. If you are in the role of a “change agent” this book is your manual. Required fields are marked *. But the response was significantly higher for the second group.