Of change, progress and a kaizen story

Let’s start with a kaizen story, that I heard a long time ago. A particular organization had rolled out kaizen (continuous improvement). An incentive scheme was also launched to reward the employees who make any such improvement in any part of work. So, one person successfully claimed a ‘kaizen’ for putting some flowerpots in the work area and thereby ‘improving the work environment’.  After sometime, another person successfully claimed a kaizen for removing those flowerpots and thereby ‘improving the flow of people and materials in the work area’. So, we were back to square one though it counted as two kaizens (making the organization appear ‘continuously improving’) and both the employees received their incentive payout!

While the above story might come across as a caricature (and not a portrait) of what actually happens in business organizations, it has more than a grain of truth. The biggest source of waste in many business organizations, that so deftly escapes even lean six sigma and productivity improvement efforts, is that results from frequent changes in direction and the tendency to equate ‘change’ with ‘progress’. Yes, rapid changes in direction, including fast U-turns, helps in creating some sort of illusion (or even a convenient collective delusion of) progress and of taking 'decisive action'. The point here is not that one shouldn’t change the direction when it is required or that one shouldn’t correct one’s mistakes. It is just that one should have some accountability for one’s decisions and the organization and human costs associated with them.

This works well in Human Resource Management (HR) also. One of the great ‘advantages’ of being in HR is that one can get credit for both hiring and firing the same person, that too in rapid succession. Similarly, we can get credit for adding a reporting layer to ‘integrate’ and also for removing that layer to ‘increase efficiency’. Yes, this leads to the HF² model of HR, where HR is reduced to Hire (sourcing), Feed (payroll) and Fire (exit). Of course, one can have other (more ‘fashionable’) functions in HR. But they are more of ‘show horses’ than ‘plough horses’!

Postscript : This post, especially the 'kaizen story' at the beginning of this post,  generated quite a bit of discussion on social media. It left me wondering why such an old story could connect so well. Now, I realize that it is because the story almost perfectly matches the definition of a 'myth'. A myth is a story that keeps on happening again and again in various forms, because it contains a deep truth (a deep truth about the nature of reality in organizations, in this case)!

Any comments/ideas?

Appropriate metaphors for organization progress

“We are on an upward spiral; while it does look like we are going around in circles most of the time, we are actually making progress”, said the business leader. “Well, the upward displacement is so small as compared to the total distance traveled and this does create a lot of inefficiency and human suffering”, replied the Organization Development Manager (see OD Managers as Court Jesters for an earlier interaction between the business leader and the OD Manager).

Metaphors are highly useful tools for thinking. Metaphors facilitate the understanding of one  domain (typically, an abstract one) by relating it to another more familiar domain (typically a more concrete one). They are so much a part of our lives and thinking that often we are not fully conscious of the metaphors we use. By examining the metaphors we use, we can a learn a lot about ourselves, about our values and assumptions!

So, let’s look at the appropriate metaphors for organization progress. The simplest is a linear one. Organization is supposed to move from point A to point B within a stipulated period of time. In a fast changing environment, a linear metaphor for progress might not be appropriate. That is when non-linear metaphors become more appropriate for organization progress. However, they can also be so easily misused to create an 'illusion' or even a 'convenient collective delusion' of progress.

This can be dangerous, as the apparent ‘progress’ allows the leaders to sweep the inefficiencies and the human costs created by the repeated changes in direction under the carpet. Sometimes, the degree of flux in the business environment is overestimated and it is used as an excuse for poor strategic planning and inefficiencies in the organization's response to changes in the environment. 

While a fast U-turn looks like a 'decisive' response, it is not necessarily the most efficient one. It is also the most significant source of (hidden) 'waste' in organizations and of human suffering (e.g. arising from a feeling of Sisyphus-like meaninglessness when one's work output gets discarded again and again and from the repeated cycles of hiring and firing that also create 'survivor syndrome'). 

Since the valuation or share price of the company is often more about speculation regarding future of the company than about current performance of the company, the investors or board also might not have too much of an incentive to intervene. Hence, this can go on for a long time!

One interesting variation of this is that of  ‘vision that is always in the future’. It works something like this. In 2020, a company sets up a 2025 Vision. Around 2023 or 2024 the same company replaces the 2025 vision with a 2030 Vision.  Once this 2030 vision is in place, the 2025 vision is discarded and no one is any longer bothered about seeing if the company achieves the 2025 vision (or about holding anyone accountable for the failure to do). Hence, 'future becomes a great place to hide' the lack of progress in working towards the Vision!

Any comments/ideas?