Stephen Covey concludes his bestselling book ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ with the habit that makes all other habits possible – sharpening the saw. The name of this habit comes from a story in which we come across a man feverishly and exhaustedly sawing down a tree, which he’s been doing for the last 5 hours. When asked, “Why don’t you take a break and sharpen the saw?”, the man replies, “I don’t have time to sharpen the saw, I’m too busy sawing!”.

My edition of ‘7 Habits’ is the 15^th anniversary edition. I now note that the 30^th anniversary edition is available! Despite its age a key principle outlined in the book and illustrated by the sawing story feels more relevant today than ever –  the P/PC balance.

Production (P) is focussed on what we do. There can be a tendency to suppose that the more we produce and the harder we work, the more effective we will be. The lumberjack in the story thinks this way. We could work all hours and push ourselves to the limit. We could drink even more coffee and sacrifice even more personal time to achieve our target. Would we still be as productive, or might the saw start to get blunt and less effective? The importance of focus not just on the product but on the health and welfare of the producer is highlighted by Covey – the balance between the golden egg (production) and the health and welfare of the goose (production capability). When we sharpen the saw we’re improving production capability. Covey encourages us to do so through the renewal of four dimensions of our nature: the physical; the social/emotional; the spiritual; the mental.

Throughout this period leaders have been required to respond to challenges quickly and decisively, stay calm and productive and modify approaches as appropriate, all while looking out for the wellbeing of their people. Resilience and agility have never been more important.

Leaders can foster resilience by being open about the resilience-building activities they themselves are engaging in and by encouraging others to participate. Resilience building activities are way more than a ‘nice to do’. They are ‘PC’ activities – focused on production capability and an important investment in future productivity.

Lockdown has caused many to stop sawing and some have had the opportunity to sharpen the saw.  But as we pick up again should we continue to saw in the same way we always have?  leaders can encourage agility by empowering their people to try new and different ways of working and to reflect, adapt and improve their methods based on the evidence and learning. It creates a ‘high challenge, high support’ environment and it makes change far easier for people to handle.

Upskilling is key, as the blend of skills and approaches required is different now from what used to work ‘normally’.  Resilience and agility are emerging as the key skills required to deal with the changes and challenges our organisations are facing now, and they apply at every level. We’ve seen that blending Agile, Lean Startup and Design Thinking with Lean and Six Sigma are boosting innovation and significantly accelerating improvement. Covey’s story reminds us of the importance of balancing focus on production and production capability. The power tools of resilience and agility make the lumberjack a force to be reckoned with.

For help in applying these techniques, please take a look at our latest modular programme Business Black Belt – or contact us we will be happy to help.

We frequently ask people in our workshops and webinars to tell us about the challenges they experience from day to day. This is done using a non-technical audio measurement system of our own invention which we call the ‘ugh-ometer’. We simply ask people to provide us with an “ugh” if they experience any of the following things in their work. The louder and longer the “ugh”, the greater the feeling. You might like to “ugh” along, silently or otherwise, as you read.

Frustration – not being able to do things easily. This generally encourages a loud “ugh” that grows more confident when people realise that they’re not alone. Why aren’t things right first time? And why do they take so long?

Confusion – people not really sure of what is going on. This conjures a thoughtful “ugh” as people start to consider what might have happened to certain pieces of work after they’ve been handed off, and if their teams are really aligned with what matters most in their organisation.

Hassle – fires to put out. A big, strong “ugh” is usually the response to this one.

Overload – too much to do. And again, though possibly a bit louder.

Complaints – spending too much time dealing with unhappy customers. A higher pitched, thoughtful “ughhhmm”, and often the admission that the hassle and overload is brought about in an attempt to deliver the right thing to customers, to prevent the complaints from happening.

And on top of all of that, people also then tell us that they’re being asked to do more with less.

Digging a bit deeper, as we always do, we find certain themes below the surface of the “ughs”. Among these is a lack of clarity about customers’ requirements. What aspects of processes, services or products do customers really value? When was the last time that this was considered?  Where offerings and ways of working are shaped around assumptions, or what is easiest to deliver, we often find that the measures and metrics being used to understand performance are not focussed on the aspects that matter most to customers. How well are the most critical aspects being delivered? And it gets worse – activities aimed at improving the delivery of products and services to customers can only fail to hit the mark if the mark has not been clearly defined!

A lack of definition and clarity around those ways of working is also found to be a theme – the outputs of processes are not consistent or take too long to deliver, or the work itself feels inefficient and frustrating. We’re not just talking about the core, front facing or ‘money making’ processes either. Processes such as the recruitment process, the expenses process, the board papers process, the complaints process etc often feature in our discussions. And since these aren’t the raison d’etre of most of the organisations we come across, the situation is more frustrating still!

And while we’re on the subject of frustration, data and information are a significant source. Organisations are certainly not short of the stuff – as the saying goes, “Data, data, everywhere, but no one knows a thing!” Despite the surfeit, people in organisations still admit to making decisions based on gut feel and opinion where they find they don’t have the data they need. They also admit to using bad data – which may be worse.

Improvement itself is not easy, people have told us. Solutions that have been implemented have not been effective, as problems resurface over time instead of going away. And projects themselves can be too big and take too long to deliver. Improvements have been unfocused, and it has been hard to pinpoint their impact.

A further theme is that people in the organisation aren’t getting involved and engaged in shaping processes or there is a lack of acceptance for change.

Be glad to know there are alternative ways to approach things. “There’s a way to do it better”, Thomas Edison once observed. “– find it”. Well we can certainly help to shed some light on another way of working!

The extract from A.A Milne about Pooh Bear, who initially went by the name of Edward, puts it very sweetly:

“Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it.”

So like Edward Bear, start by recognising, talking about and challenging the bumps, the “ughs”, frustrations, hassles, overload and confusion. There really are other ways of working that are smoother, easier and better for the organisation, its customers and its people.  The thing is, its those who need it the most that find it most difficult to step back and consider them.

Stop bumping for a moment, and let us tell you about Lean Six Sigma.  It’s really not as difficult as people think its going to be.

If you would like to learn more about working with Catalyst, then please contact us and we will be happy to help.

This article was first published by LID Publishing.

Icebergs seem ubiquitous in the world of Continuous Improvement: there’s John Kotter’s change management fable ‘Our Iceberg is Melting’; the Iceberg model used by systems thinkers to get below the ‘surface’ events in order to understand the patterns, structures and mental models underneath; the famous Cost of Poor Quality iceberg that shows there are many hidden impacts of not getting it right beyond what we see at the tip of the iceberg. And I won’t mention (you’ll be relieved to know!) the thousands of icebreaking techniques used by CI facilitators and trainers to warm people up and get them comfortable for what’s to follow.

There’s also Kurt Lewin’s iceberg model which breaks change into three distinct phases – Unfreeze, Change, (Re)freeze. The phases address motivation for change, the change itself, and then the ‘internalisation’ of the change to embed a new normal.  It feels particularly pertinent at the start of a new year when we’re thinking of breaking out of old habits and building and sustaining new ones.

Lewin’s iceberg model (also referred to as Change as Three Steps or CATS) dates back to the late 1940’s. It is clear and simple and has influenced succeeding models and frameworks associated with change.

In her book ‘The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k’, author Sarah Knight provides advice on how we can rid ourselves of unwanted obligations, shame and guilt, to free up time for the things that make us happy. After a chapter focused on looking at ‘things’ (like basketball or having a bikini body), readers are invited to look at ‘work’ – starting by listing “the things we may or may not give a f**k about” so they can be challenged one by one, and then managed accordingly. (Family and friends are dealt with in later chapters.)

Scribbling out a list of work tasks and applying the appropriate challenge to it – whether or not I really care – I realised that there is not a single item listed that I don’t care about – each task outlined has a clear point or purpose, and an impact I can directly trace back to customers. For example, when providing coaching I can sometimes actually literally see practitioners grow in confidence. And when helping people to apply tools to overcome issues and unlock potential in their processes the benefits are clear and real in terms of time, energy and money. These are meaningful things.

According to experts Catherine Bailey and Adrian Madden in their research for MIT Sloan, work that provides us with the opportunity to apply our skills and talents is classed as meaningful too, along with a sense of achievement and pride in a job well done, especially when things haven’t been easy and there have been challenges to overcome along the way.

Finding meaning in our work is not a new concept. Maslow started to develop his Hierarchy of Needs model in the 1940s and described ‘self actualisation’ as the need to fulfil one’s unique potentials. One of the traits of self actualising people is that they enjoy problem solving, and care about humanity and having a positive impact on people – self actualisers find meaning in what they do.

What can leaders to do help people find meaning in their work? It’s clearly a personal thing, so perhaps the role of leaders is to provide conditions that enable it and sustain it. They may not be able to directly provide it or guarantee it, but their actions can certainly diminish it! Leaders can help people in their teams to make connections between the work they do and the customer, if the link is not completely clear. They can also contribute recognition for a job well done, and provide opportunities for people to use their skills and realise all of their potential. They could easily demotivate people and strip away meaning from their work by removing these aspects.  And returning to Maslow’s model, threatening or failing to provide people with the elements addressed in the lower levels of the Hierarchy of Needs, like safety, connections with the organisation’s mission and purpose, respect and recognition will impede our ability to find meaning in our work.

Some meaningful words on this subject from inspirational people:

“If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader.” Dolly Parton

“Man: A being in search of meaning”. Plato

“If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking”. Steve Jobs

If you would like to learn more about working with Catalyst, then please contact us and we will be happy to help.

You might have come to this blog expecting to read all about the Agile Methodology Steps and how to apply them. In that case, this blog is not the right one for you. In fact NO BLOG claiming to have Agile methodology steps would be right! Let me explain why.

The Agile principles and manifesto were developed in 2001 by a small group of people seeking to find a better way of developing computer software. “We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others to do it” they stated. Through their work they claimed, “we have come to value Individuals and interactions over processes and tools, working software over comprehensive documentation, customer collaboration over contract negotiation, responding to change over following a plan”. That’s not to say they didn’t value the things ‘on the right’, but they valued the things on the left more.

With this approach the traditional ‘waterfall’ method of delivering software in a single release that may take several months was replaced with a more rapid release of software (value) and further iterative releases every few weeks or days. The approach also incorporated customer feedback and the use of it to decide what to do next.

What was created is clearly applicable beyond software – we inherited a new way of thinking about project management in general. And more than that, Agile provided us with guiding principles for behaviour. The principles enable modern organisations to flourish by instilling a culture of empirical experimentation – learning what works by trying it out rather than by theory – and creating an environment of psychology safety.

Agile Philosophy and Culture

Clearly, some major shifts of mindset may be needed to succeed with Agile working!

The aforementioned Agile pioneers came together through a shared desire to overcome problems in writing software, but also to espouse values and really ‘live and breathe’ excellence and customer centricity. They worked collaboratively to experiment and share information on what was working and what wasn’t, seeking to test out ideas, learn fast and apply the learning. This is the spirit of Agile. Does it remind you of the spirit of your workplace? Any gaps or conflicting attitudes?

Agile working represents the antithesis of bureaucracy. For example, it requires only the minimum necessary documentation rather than excessive amounts and empowers people to be accountable rather than requiring multiple sign offs, so that team members can spend their time on value adding development work. Further, Agile requires people to be comfortable with flexibility and ambiguity – responding to opportunities, challenges and changes rather than following a rigid plan. Agile working necessitates a partnership style of working with customers – it provides them with the opportunity to help shape products (and services) by allowing them to use and test early releases and provide feedback on what does and doesn’t work.  These are just some of the features of true Agile working! You might already work this way. If not, what changes are required?

As for a series of Agile methodology steps that can be readily applied, there’s no single solution , but there are some useful frameworks (the most famous of which is known as Scrum), which contain best practices to get us closer to the Agile principles.

Scrum

The Scrum provides an approach which supports the Agile principles and is used to help bring them to life practically and get the work done. This may come closer to the Agile Methodology Steps you’re looking for – though we prefer to describe it as a framework. The approach precedes the development of the Agile principles and manifesto, but was adopted from manufacturing by developers because it supports flexibility and speed.

Scrum requires specific roles and responsibilities to be established. These help to drive the cultural elements and the philosophy of Agile – it won’t work without them.

A key role in Agile working is that of Scrum Master. The Scrum Master’s role is to teach people about this way of working so that they truly understand it and respect it. Their role is to organise the work and to create an environment of psychological safety within the team. The Scrum Master will empower and enable team members to make their best possible contribution.

A Product Owner is also required. The Product Owner is responsible for ensuring customer views are represented. They are ruthless decision makers, who are well connected individuals who manage stakeholders and make sure the work done next is the most valuable in line with the vision.

Team Members play a vital role. They will understand the practicalities of the work and get it done. Team Members should be ‘T shaped people’ – having both a deep and a broad knowledge. Remember that Agile calls for empowered teams of people who are self-organising rather than micromanaged. Without empowerment there is a real risk of disrupting the flow and delivery of work (i.e. value) – for example if everything has to be signed off by the Leadership team or if approval is required at every step.

The way the work often gets done in a Scrum can be described as follows.

• A backlog of work is generated. It’s the responsibility of the Product Owner to agree and prioritise with customers what goes into the backlog.
• Work is undertaken via a series of Sprints. These require some planning and preparation to make sure the deliverables are clear and tasks required to achieve the deliverables are defined.
• Team members ‘pull’ work from the backlog. During a Sprint, daily Scrum meetings (progress updates) are carried out to share information on the progress being made and any obstacles or changes that might prevent the work (value) from flowing. This is a brief meeting, carried out standing up in the workplace or via a call or video call.
• At the end of the Sprint, a review of progress against the deliverables set out at the start is undertaken. A chunk of value (e.g. a feature of a product or service) can now be delivered to the customer.
• The team carries then out a retrospective review of the working process – what went well during the Sprint and what could be done better at the next Sprint is shared by the team and captured to support best practice for the next iteration.
• And repeat! The next sprint is planned. You may well recognise the application of Plan Do Study Act to Scrum working.

Kanban

The use of Kanban (which has its origins in the Toyota Production System) as a project management method to support Scrum working is a relatively recent innovation. The system of displaying on a board (either physical or virtual) the tasks required and tracking them through their various stages of completion –  Backlog, In Progress, Testing and Done – brings visibility and transparency to project progress, and incorporates Lean principles like ‘pull’ and ‘flow’ to keep the work (value) moving through to the customer. Using Kanban in the Scrum brings a dynamic approach –  new features and tasks can be added as they become identified as important, unimportant items are removed, and the team pick work in the sequence that is most appropriate in a changing situation.

So where are the Agile Methodology Steps?

Agile can be applied to any project, process improvement or product development undertaking, and its principles can be applied to entire organisations to provide a powerful boost to performance. While frameworks such as Scrum and Kanban are used to bring us closer to Agile principles, true adoption of Agile requires more than adopting a series of Agile Methodology Steps off the shelf.  Unless attitudes, beliefs and behaviours are aligned, frustrating bottlenecks will emerge, choking the flow of work and value, and blocking the real benefits of Agile.

The first step therefore is to recognise what Agile really is – a set of guiding principles, rather than a methodology or template.

If you would like to learn more about Agile, join our free Webinar on Strategy Deployment by clicking here.

This Sunday, every single person in the UK will unite and take action, with a clearly defined and common purpose. We have done so twice a year since 1916, with a couple of exceptions.

Amazing – the fact that people, all of the people, will mobilise and co-operate to change something as ubiquitous and vital as the time.

The outcome of this change is predictable and absolute – by turning our clocks forward by one hour British Summer Time will begin, we will lose an hour of sleep and gain lighter evenings, until we turn the clocks back again on October 27^th.

According to change management and neuroscience expert Hilary Scarlett, it is changes that have unpredictable outcomes that cause us to struggle. Studies have shown that people cope better when they know that the outcome of a change will be negative than they do when faced with uncertainty about what the outcome will be.

Uncertainty activates the parts of our brain that deal with fear and pain. We’re less able to think clearly in these situations. Anxiety increases, we feel more threatened and we expect the worst. Scarlett gives the example of a child being punished, where “Go to your room and just wait until your father gets home…” is far more frightening than “Go to your room and don’t come down again this evening.”

It’s no co-incidence then that the term ‘Brexit Anxiety’ is now widely used to describe the impact of indefinite outcomes and shambolism on increasing numbers of our population. The effect of Brexit on mental health services has been a key topic discussed at the NHS Confederation’s recent mental health network conference. Not just with regards to staffing challenges and the funding of mental health research, but also in relation to the mental health of UK people and the impact that uncertainty is having on wellbeing.

Neuroscience (the study of the nervous system including the brain) is being used increasingly as a means of understanding the impact of change on people, in their lives and in their work, and insights are informing change management approaches. It is acknowledged that change is a constant – we go through major changes ever more frequently in our work spaces and smaller changes almost continuously.  Yet our brains rely on stability and predictability. It is the brain’s job to protect us and therefore it constantly works on our behalf to seek out threats.

To understand the impact of threat on our ability to think, and to respond accordingly; to support people in feeling stimulated and challenged but without being overwhelmed; and to stimulate the reward centre of the brain that brings focus, resilience and creativity can help to maintain performance during anxious times.

Whilst writing this article I flicked open a news page and found that MEPs have proposed an end to the twice yearly clock change. The plans will have to be agreed with EU member states and the European parliament if they are to become law.