IQC Enhanced Assessment Criteria (Feb 2012)

Another upgrading of the WITs Assessment Criteria by Singapore Productivity Association was released in early Feb or late Jan 2012.

By studying the criteria carefully, team members, facilitators and  managers will do well to know how points are allocated. 

In my years of consulting, WITs and IQC teams wants to know whether they measure up to other teams.  They want to be assessed on how effective their teams’ problem solving methodology compares with the outstanding teams.  Agood place to start – the Assessment Criteria.

There are several valuable ideas ‘hidden’ in the criteria.  Over the years, teams who regularly participated in the Team Excellence Symposium (or convention, as it used to be known as) actually discover for themselves a whole deeper understanding of the problem solving process.  

For instance, one team, I coached begin to appreciate the importance of target setting, and that the target is the anchor for the problem definition.  They begin to see that without a ‘firm target’. the problem cannot be defined clearly.

Analysis is really the final stage of the data (evidence) collecting process.  Those in the healthcare industry will know that doctors who are good, pay a lot of attention to gathering the historical progression of a disease.  For instance, to understand Diabetes better, and to be able to advise the patient on the best treatments available, the doctor will do well to examine a complete history of the patient’s background, type of physical activities he is involved in, his normal diet composition, sugar intake, carbohydrate intake. etc.data is important.  Similarly, decisions must be based on sufficient (not complete) and relevant data.  

Finally when it comes to implementation, managers of large companies are interested in getting buy-in of the internal stakeholders during the implementation of a nw procedure.  If people are not supportive of the solution, whatever change that is being implemented will not be sustainable.  How and how much was the buy-in is crucial.

Together with the write-up on the Assessment Criteria (2012),  I have also extracted the key focus of each of the ‘items’.  While the criteria write-up is a view from the Assessors’ perspective, my objective here is to provide a perspective to help the team members and facilitators view the criteria from their angle.  

Sin 7. Lust

From my years of experience, the issue of lust did not affect the management of WITs directly.  At least, the team leaders were not of that tendency; not to my knowledge.

By the time the team leader and members return to their workstations after the sessions with me, they are so filled with things to do, that deviating from the objective of pursuing of their quality goal has already becomes a remote possibility.  The task and activties listed out during the session will become a preoccupation for the next two or three weeks, which is usually on top of their existing workload.

So many things to work on, WITs Project also!

Well let us not let our guards down.  The seventh sin is as determined as ever.  Lerking in the dark. Lust, could creep in and effect on some members or leaders theoretically.  Sin afterall is sin.  When you least expect it, it pounces on you.  Be on your guard. 

...I can help you with the work .. in more ways then ..

And leaders are also target of Satan’s snare.

Even the most powerful man on earth could become victim of this temptation. A powerful sin indeed!

Again refering to the Good Book does help me.  The Bible speaks of lust in several passages.

Exodus 20:14, 17 , “Do not commit adultery. . . Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else your neighbor owns,” or

Matthew 5:28, “But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Job 31:11-12 brings up the problems associated with lust quite directly: “For lust is a shameful sin, a crime that should be punished. It is a devastating fire that destroys to hell. It would wipe out everything I own.”

Top professional golfer, can he escape from the jaws of lust?

The latest most colorful story unfolding is the Tiger Woods rumour, which I read over the internet.  When you follow the rumour mills, you will inevitable come across the writeup on him going for ‘sex theraphy’,  just so that he can manage his Lust. 

I always think that golf is a game which demands the full concentration of the player; so what went wry with the best golf player of the century?  Some may even suggest that his sin made him better at golf or what? 

The multiple 'Causes' are the 'small bad things' that leads to the 'big bad thing', the Effect

In WITs, we have a fundamental assumption that ‘bad things leads to big bad things.’  We use this problem solving assumption as in the Cause Relations Diagram, or Cause-and-Effect  Diagram, sin cannot have helped him in winnng the games.  So in WITs, our line of thinking is to defend yourself against this sin.  If you apply it to the Tiger case, you will come to a conclusion that, when he manage this sin (assumming, he had) he will come off a better person and be even better!

Guard against the temptation of Lust and you can improve yourself.

Sin 6. Gluttony

 

That is really related to the previous sin – greed. 

Proverbs 23:2 “And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.”

This particular one really focus on the body.  The sin of gluttony is related to the way we treat ourselves, and in the case of WITS Managers, the team is your body. 

How the team ‘greedily gobbles up rewards’, develops a strong and uncontrolled yearning for more and more rewards to be given to them for whatever slight effort that they have put in; the team had gotten themselves into gluttony.

It is not wrong to eat, and not even wrong to be a little fat.  Afterall, there are studies which attempt to show that fat people are fat because of some ‘fat genes’ and scientist have indeed found some.

However, even if there are exceptions to being fat, let us not become gluttony. 

Take some lessons from St Thomas Aquinas’ on what he says on the characteristics of the sin of gluttony.  The signs are :

• Praepropere – eating too soon.
• Laute – eating too expensively (washedly).
• Nimis – eating too much.
• Ardenter – eating too eagerly (burningly).
• Studiose – eating too daintily (keenly).
• Forente – eating wildly (boringly).

Eating uncontrollably is sinful, not that eating is.  The thing is that St Thomas believes that we all can actually control the intake of food, but there are some who do not wish to control that urge to gorge,  ending up doing ‘too soon, too much, too eagerly, too …..’  thus hurting our bodies.  In fact in the next sin – lust it is also the result of sinful nature.

Manager is liken to the mouth – the controller of the intake of food and unless the WIT Manager controls what goes into the team and make it a form of  ‘reward’ the body will abuse the nourishment that it gets. 

Over feeding of the cat, who does not know the meaning of getting obese

 

The team (body) grows on what the manager rewards (feeds the mouth), therefore unless managers take the trouble to know what the team are getting as rewards, not just depending on the taste of the food, we will all be in for a sad turn of events – obesity is not the worst of gluttony, it is the consequences of glutton that kills the body.

Sin 5 – Greed

 

“Greed is not a crime” according to Prof Jitendra Singh, the ex-dean and Shaw Foundation Chair, Professor of strategy, management and organisation at Nayang Technology University.  

His statement was made in the midst  of today’s  financial turmoil, which many attributed it to greed.  He further elaborated, “There is a complex interplay of micro and macro things leading to such human behaviour.” 

In the legality construct, if you had taken something and can explain why your taking it had not hurt others, well it is all clear, there is no crime.  I am sure, you also know that even if such acts did not hurt others (directly), but somehow we know that greed in our financial world today is surely not right. 

To trace the ‘hurting of the masses’ to the individuals who ‘practise’ greed in their business and careers is not very easy.  The factors, context and indeed timing etc are extremely complex. 

Deep down inside, surely you would agree with me that ‘something is definitely not right’  in the finances.   Yet, until someone trace the linkage it is not legally wrong.  That is the difference between legality and morality.  Legality need proofs, traceabilty and links.  But as human beings that is not all, in fact that aspect of life is just a small spectre, not the main works of life as we know it. 

US Mammoth Bailout of the Century

Legality and morality are not necessarily consistent at the surface, but both have impact on our lives and those around us.

In fact if we extrapolate from any straight-line projection of any two points which are close to one another, we could project into the future and draw a conclusion.  When we traced back from where we are, it make us awe at the ‘wrong conclusion’ or wrong path we have taken.  But it was never ‘seem wrong’ in the first place.

The difference between Communism and Capitalism is that Capitalism believes that it not illegal to horde, but Communism is dead against it, and had made it illegal to horde (except by the central Government).  But we all know that both have their respective usefulness in a short term.  Once we extrapolate it, somehow the reality becomes complex.

The only way to guard ourselves against such errors is to fall back on some fundamental truths.  Check our source, check our path, to validate and evaluate, then take a step forward. 

I remembered the golden rule of crossing roads: STOP, LOOK(CHECK), GO

Our consciousness and sense of morality tells us right from wrong; what  we should be doing; and what we should not be doing. 

Somehow, the almighty God has ingrained into each of us; within our sub-consciousness; what we should be doing and what we should not.    

Ephesians 4:19 warns that,  “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more”.

In the raw form, greed is a bodily sin.   God is not saying that greed is legally right or wrong, but just morally wrong.  It is nothing wrong to eat, but ‘excessive eating’ (which is actually eating without checking) leads to sin, and such a sin causes bodily harm.

When God drop down manna from the heavens, it was only good for the day (except for the weekend portion).  He was teaching his people not to horde and become greedy.  However, we did forget fast, didn’t we?

This sin is taking its toll in many countries.  The result is obesity – a primary cause of many ailments, starting with diabetes, stroke, and minor dysfunction of the immune system. 

That is a recent survey in America – welcome to the land of the fat.

Two centuries ago, people in this part of the world were concerned with having enough food for their families.  In this part of the world, where my Grandparents migrated from China to this part of South East Asia, their primary objective is to escape poverty. Our great grandparents were term economic migrants by these countries. They had to leave home with one luggage because they were just escaping hunger and poverty.  It is hardly possible to have square meals every day in their homeland. They came here so that they can have enough food for themselves and their family.   Such a thought is deemed ridiculous today.  We have forgotten the real need but had translated such into ‘want’.

WANT + WANT + WANT  =  GREED

Marketing 101 teaches people to create wants first.  Then when people accept them it turns into a need.  Many years ago, we ‘want’ colour tvs, wireless handphones, air conditioning; but today these are basic requirements.  That is what my children ‘need’, my wife need a new pair of shoes, evening dress, new laptops etc.

The same is happening to management of WITS.  Unconsciously they have allowed the ‘need for WITS’ to improve productivity at the workplace’ to turn into “wants of glamour and status.” 

Do you really need this car, or wouldn't it be nice to have this car? A fine line between greed and need.

Originally the glamour and status of good WITS projects were accompanying achievements, but today, these had become the ends in itself.

As WITS managers, do you really need the Golds (?) when what you really need is the implementation of a good solution to reduce problems affecting your work team.

For Christians, they would be doing things according to Jesus’ examples and not doing them, is sinful.    The corollary is also true.   Things that God told us not to do but we are doing, is therefore sinful.  The reference to Jesus’ examples is a way for them to

“STOP(Wait for Jesus), CHECK (with Jesus), GO (with Jesus)

Sin 4 – Sloth

The next four sins are the sins that hurt the body.  These sins SLOWLY but surely poison your body.  That’s right you are literally committing self annihilation if you allow these to take over. 

During the 6th Century, this Pope had already known that laziness kills the body.  

Today the same fight against sloth is still on.  Look at the advice from almost every health advocate – exercise.  Unless you exercise; in otherwords, be less lazy, you may even die…

Picked this from the news - see inactivity kills

Sloth is a sin.   Hardly surprising.  Sloth is found everywhere.  Let’s start from the very begining.  The bible has it that Adam and Eve sinned when they ate the apple offered by Satan.   Had they been less lazy, planted their own apple tree, outside Garden of Eden, they might have laid a better future for all of us. 

If only they had planted their apples outside Eden!

Sloth in WIT Management.

The WIT Manager should be one that is concerned with the progress of the team’s project.  If the manager lays back and thinks that by waiting for the team to experiment and claims that he/she is ’empowering’ the team, my experience shows that that won’t work. 

WITS Managers must always pop by!

My experience shows that that total empowerment – as argued by many idealist who advocate pure empowerment – is pure fantasy.  Empowering without control is giving away the shop, and it is just for marketing, in reality this approach won’t work.    

The best way to get good results from your WITs is to make an effort to pop by at their meetings once in a while (not every meeting though). 

Be tactfully involved.  

My experience is that the WITs once a month, or once every four meetings you should attend their meetings, listen in on their views, share a thought or two. 

Your presence creates a magic that inspires.  It makes a difference in the way the team sees an issue. 

However, do not attend all meetings as that tempts you to develop dominance.  Constantly making the decisions, and ‘breathing down their necks’ is a recipe for disaster. 

Hit a balance.   Be there when they need it, be away when they need space.  Do not be ‘greedy’ nor ‘overpowering’ but be involved.

Sin 3. Wrath

What is wrath?   The third sin is WRATH.  Stripped to the basics, it is essentially anger.   But it is anger that destroys.  

This Chinese Diety has a weapon ready to strike at anyone literally. That is Wrath. It shows that the oldest civilisation in the East believe that there is such a thing as supremo anger - wrath!

Wrath always run ahead of our good sense.

It does not need to surface at all if we are in control, but many of us allow wrath to poke its ugly head into our lives; creating havoc.   We have to learn to control it.  If we have the will, the right perspective and positive we can manage it.

When I was much younger, at my first few job appointment, I used to listen to experienced managers telling me that in order to manage others, one must be able to manage ourselves. 

Later into my career, I realised that although in management textbooks, essential skills are organising, controlling and planning, the most difficult component of management is really controlling. 

And controlling begins with self-control; essentially, controlling our own anger.  This translates into controlling our wrath!  Good managers are those who can control their own temperament without boling over. 

 

Boiling over spoils the taste of soups, destroys the nutritional value and may even spoil the pot.

I came across a useful phrase :

“Danger is only one alphabet away from anger. 
Therefore if you can keep ‘anger’ at bay, your life will have less dangers.”

“How can we control Wrath such as these?”  You may ask, “How about those whose love ones were killed by totally strangers, in road accidents, insane or mentally unstable people on the prowl; what about the mass murders of the last two wars, and today’s indiscriminate sucide bombers;  innocent families, innocent men and women lining up to enter a mosque or church for prayers are bombed.   Innocent children returning home from school taking a short-cut through some lonely path, was waylaid by someone looking for some fun, but the practical joke went too far. 

They did not do anything wrong, yet were victims. How can one who witness these not feel angry?

Wrath controlled – An example.     The mother of a ten year old daughter lost her daughter to a 42 year old murderer in 2006.   The family decided to forgive the man. 

“Engla always knew that she was going to be something special, and now we know that she became a light-bearer that united our hearts all over the world… We understand that we are one…. Our life will never be the same but we will strive to return to everyday life… where we will find a way to carry the light of Engla onward to something great and positive for us all.”    

This family made a choice – to forgive the murderer.

It is our Choice – but as mortals we are influenced.   

Exactly why certain people choose wrath, get angry and seek destruction when faced with problems, while others find the same challenging and choose to change and improve is exactly why people choose lust over love.  It is up to the person, thus sin is tied to choice making. 

WRATH and the WITS Manager.

Sin is not related to problem solving, but because the manager can affect the way the team feels or choose to view a problem or even the way he/she infleunces the team when they choose the solutions, the source of sin may arise from the actions of WITS managers. 

i)   Setting Impossible Target .  Setting them impossible targets are potential for wrath to take root.  The managers are the final authority on the approving of a team’s target.  By telling or agreeing that the team achieve some impossible level of outcome is just pushing the team into Wrath.  The objective of the target is to give them a challenge not to break them into excesses and greed.

Zero Defects is a easy, convenient, and perfect target?? Before setting zero defects as their target, make sure that there are few if not no uncontrollable factors.

What can managers do?   

Examine the circumstances surrounding the problem before approving their target.  Look for circumstances, examine the availability of resources, consider all upcoming events and all possible related events which may strain the resources and affect outcomes. 

ii)   Setting Impossible Deadline = Wrath.  Many  kiasu managers (see sin 2 for ‘kiasu’) who will only set their priority on their teams winning awards that they have forgotten about problem solving process.  Some problems which are complicated and may not predictable.  Irregularities may arise mid-term during tht project.  The more complicated the project, the less likely the team can predict the deadline.

What can managers do?  As responsible managers, it is wise to set the team a deadline to foster commitment; yet managers must be willing to listen to the eventualities that arise.  The more complex the project, remember to consider as many associated events before setting their deadline; and allow more leeway for changes.

Timeline can only be properly set if the team is able to tell for certain that each component activity or sub-activity can be predicted with great accuracy.

iii)  Unresolved Cross-boundary Conflicts = Wrath. 

Many teams may projects that affect other departments.  They realised that some form of endorsement from people outside their team or department may be needed before they can proceed.  As their manager, it is important for you to be the contact person for all external liaison unless arrangements have be made between managers from both sides.

To avoid conflict - the Chinese Emperor built this great wall around his kingdom.

Today's conflict are not based on avoidance, it is based on resolution through dialogues

Effective WITS managers bring teams together; they help settle differences between teams.  Never allow the teams to approach the other department heads before you have made arrangements with your counterpart from the other department.  This way, they can make sure that the situation is under control.

Remember : Uncontrolled Anger Turns Into Danger

Sin 2. Envy (The ‘Kiasu’ Managers)

 

 

SIN number 2.

 

ENVY is probably closest to the local term,
“KIASU”. 

Everything Also Scared Lose

WEBSTER dictionary on line has it that, “Envy is a painful or resentful awareness of the advantage enjoyed by another joined with the desire to possess the same advantage.”  The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as, “the feeling of mortification and ill-willed occasioned by the contemplation of superior advantage possessed by another.” 

DR EVIL, Model for ill-intentions

 

Both definition has a common thread that is woven around ill-intention.

If there is no ill-intent, then we called it competition.  Competition is at its best is perfectly healthy, but once competition harbours ill-intentions, then it transform into the sin, ENVY, and that is not good at all.

 

“Why Did We LOSE To Department X?”
“But, but, we gave them a good fight, boss..”

 

Competition Generates ENVY?

Many WITS managers fall into the trap of ENVY because of the incorrect perspective when they compete.  One of my long time friend and critic of the National IQC Competition (started in the late 1980s) always associate competition as the cause of ENVY among WITS managers, therefore, all competition should be avoided. 

Competition has its merits.  It is not just the winning and losing.  The most benefit is reaped during the preparation for the competition. When properly advised, the whole team has the best chance to come together as one.  They face a common objective, first, they must draft their report; then they rehearse the project presentation.  This is also an excellent opportunity to give a pat on the back of the leaders and the team.  Wise managers will know it is also a great opportunity for the much needed morale booster shot.

A team preparing for the competition –
everything is now laid out on a big table. 
They are making our stand together!

 

Puts the Project in Perspective.

The 10-subcriteria of the NIQC Convention sets out a template for the team to validate their problem solving process, including; how rigorous was their data collection methodology, how the team was able to identifty the causes, and which are the critical ones.  When it comes to solution design and the team should be able to employ creativity and finally, implementation, the team is expected to see a reasonable level of operationalise new procedures.  Finally, the team must also compute results from the project, the team learns how to put a value to the project.  Here again, is an opportunity for management to share their views on the kind of value their project had achieved through their WIT project.  

  

Criteria framework of the National IQC Convention.  

 

How To Manage ENVY.

Perhaps, the greatest challenge to overcome ENVY is really that of managing the ‘competitive energy’ and channel it towards benefit.  I once heard a wise saying, “Floods and rivers consist of bodies of water. But flood destroys, while rivers gives live.  The main difference is that river water is guided by river banks, while flood waters do not respect their borders.”

Floods break out when the water over-runs river banks

Great Amazon River

The energy from competition and ENVY are the same.  However, if this energy is not channelled for good, it turns into evil, and becomes ENVY- our second sin!

Three Gorges hydropower project under construction on the Yangtze River. Xinhua, Du Huaju

Channel your energy to good use!

KIASU is a SIN, and that mentality is revealed by the other KIASU books.  “Everything also must grab, Everything also I want” – literally means that even if you do not need them, you also want to horde them.

  

 

ENVY Traps.

But why do many WIT Managers fell into ENVY and end up directing their energies, or their team’s energies away from good and end up with self-destruction?  It is complicated, but important to wrestle with this sin before it grows.  Let me begin by examining the three most common traps of ENVY.  I define a trap as … a seemingly harmless object, but it snares the unwary.  The statements below highlight three common Envy Traps in WITS.  Just like all sins, it happens when somewhere along the way, people got ‘lost in the woods’. 

Once the WITS Manager falls into these traps, they channel your teams’ energy towards ENVY.  By the way, most of these traps had noble original intentions.  They started out with a good vision of what the committee (WITS Management Steering Committee) wants – To encourage the spirit of WITS.

 

Trap 1.   Every Project Must Win Gold.

Trap 2.   Every Project Must Save Money.

Trap 3.   Every Team Must Complete 4 Projects  

  

Gold.  Gold,  Gold.

Eventually, the noble intention of helping and encouraging teams to work on useful projects, that can help the department, company and give them the opportunity to bond and develop better working realtionship, and to solve problems became reduced to the visible and tangible numbers.  The number of Gold Awards became more important. 

 

 

 

Money.  Money.  Money.

More Savings = Good Project

The value of a project has been reduced to the savings derived from the project.

 

Project.  Project.  Project.

Even more removed, is the target for number of projects per year.  Afterall, all these numbers are simple ways track the teams’ performance, and they can also serve as benchmarks for comparing.  Now it seems that the ‘water in the river is guided’. 

 

You want 4 projects, I will create four

 

Remember, sin is always looming and waiting in dark corners.

When the numbers are over- emphasised without regard for quality and truthfulness,

ENVY will creeps in

 

 

 

Sin 1. Pride (WITS Managers who claim all the credit)

—————————————————————-

-PRIDE-

I was here before you.

Pride At Work.    Well, isn’t it right that the success of the team was facilitated by great policies the managers set for their teams.  Isn’t it true that the right culture set by senior management – a good vision, an empowered environment, gave them the opportunity to showcase their success? So, without management’s strategies and insightful programs, there will be less opportunities for your team to produce results.

This was created by Management for you

We Are Definitely More Important.   In other words, WITS Managers are the ones who deserved more credit than the teams.  Afterall, most WITS Managers supervises  several teams.  The total savings from all the teams under that manager’s charge is surely more substantial than any one of the teams. So…

  

It Is Not A Sin To Rejoice.   Let’s view it objectively.  Surely, it is important that the manager is interested to see the teams’ succeed and feel that he/she had contributed to it.  Afterall, managers are suppose to be able to recognise success – and equally important, are proud to reward excellence.  They called this management skill, ‘staff motivation’, in management 101 books. 

Equally important is that the success of teams must contributed to the overall success of the company.  Success in saving cost, success in productivity improvements does reflect that policies, strategies and schemes are working correctly.  Management have the privilege to validate that this happens.  Teams, at a lower level may not be able to see it as clearly.  Managers should rejoice with the team, and feel good about themselves.

Let’s go for a ride in my new transport
yipee, yipee, doo

The Real Sin – Pride.   The sin of pride is when the WITS Manager did not share with the team an equal amount of joy.  They fail to see that basis of the joy came from the same success of the team and WITS Manager.   Therefore, no one party is any more successful than the other. 

I deserve more

In fact, if the team had not acknowledge the WITS Managers’ contributions, it is also a sin of pride in them.  The reason, why I had pegged more sinfulness to WITS Managers is simply, because it is more common that WITS Managers have the sin of pride because of the authority or position they are in.  Team members are usually not in the position to see the whole picture, and are less likely to fall into the Sin of Pride.  

WITS Managers are simply more pronged to the Sin of Pride! 

We are in the same team. 
Only when you look good, I look good

 

 

What can we do about quiet members?

Today, I met with a WIT Leader who had a problem with – quiet members.

Your team may have them.  You may have just one or two, sometimes even three, but if everybody in your team is quiet, then just too bad – I think you may be the problem.  I will discuss the leader’s personal problem in another post. 

Today I want to discuss the problems if you have one or a few quiet members.    

Why are they sitting so far away?

I am refering to the quiet ones during meetings.  The unresponsive, un-answering, ever cautious, ever starry look and non-committal.  They sit on the far side of the table, as far away from everybody as possible.  Sometimes, as near to the door as possible.  One WIT leader told me, he called them the ‘frozen fish’.  They are cold, hard and slimy.

The frozen fish

Right in front, at the white board, our dear old leader is trying his best to encourage them to give ideas.  The leader’s friendly gestures and sincere comments gets dissolve into their dead silent stares.  The silence is intended to make those who speak up feel weird.  A once positive member who later joined the ‘quiet evolution’ told me that the leader is the star in a freak show.  The only ones enjoying his contribution were people outside. The rest of the members are serious silencers.  

 

Saps away your life.

One WIT Leader shared with me how all the silence was sapping his soul of life.  When he was excited, he gets louder, the quiet ones react by keeping even quieter, not even smiling.  Then many started to pull their hand below the table.

 

“Can you imagine? They thought I was a weirdo.  Mind you, their non-commitment behaviours only happens inside the WITs meeting room!  Once outside, they are actively gossiping and pouring out to everybody what their leader (which is I, of course) haven’t completed, the mistakes the team made, the silliness of some ideas which was ‘obviously flawed’ from the start. etc etc.” said the frustrated WIT leader.

Quiet WITS members typically fall into a two types.

1.   Quiet and benign  –  Their quietness are their way of getting away from work.  The Chinese saying: “Speak less, wrong less.  Don’t speak, won’t be wrong.  (xao shoa, xao chor, bu shoa, bu chor)”.  They are reducing their commitment so that they will have little or better yet, no responsibilities.  There is nothing to win, anyway.  Many new WIT teams have these type of quiet members.

See no evil, Speak no evil, Hear no evil
(少说，少错，不做，不错。)

2.   Quiet and malicious –  These are the ones who are waiting out to get someone in the team and sometimes it may even be the team leader!  There is deep bitterness hidden beneath, waiting to manifest itself in some way, destructively.  They don’t want any change. Anything different is going to deprive them of a benefit they are enjoying!  They blame WITS – ‘because of WITS they will lose something’. Someone told them that ‘WIT’ stands for “wasting important time”.  They position themselves in attack readiness.  If they sense that they are losing something off they go for the kill.  They are like the black panther in the dark waiting for the prey. The least they want from WIT is to get even! These type had come a long way.  They became such over years of neglect by their WIT leaders.  Sometimes the previous WIT leader had done this dis-service to you!

What can I do?

Based on my conversations and feedback from WIT leaders with this problem, I would like to suggest five simple steps you can use to keep yourself sane.  However, the simple steps are vitamins not antibiotics.  It has to be administered over and over again for some time for the benefits to show.  Believe it or not, both types can be given the same vitamins – treat the silent ones in exactly the same way.  The key to do it is to reach their inner soul – Talk to them one-on-one. 

Step 1.   Invite.  Casually call them in.  Do not get another person to call him.  Do it yourself.  This should be a one-on-one discussion.  Do not allow a second person to come in, it conveys to them that it is indeed a special time.  If you have another person, the quiet person will play the waiting game.

Welcome

Invite them for a one-on-one meeting.

Step 2.   Opening.   Next, you lead the discussion.  Once together, speak of somethings else beside their silence at the meeting.  Tell them about something that you are busy with (as long as it is not a confidential topic), and invite them to give you some suggestions.   For example, knowing that he also uses the same copier down the corridor, so you may draw him to your problem, “Jimmy, you know, I have a problem with the printer, the paper gets stuck whenever I print more than 10 pages.  It seems that the machine is not able to take this kind of load.  You know, I take care to fit rim of the paper into the feeder.  But it still happen. Do you get that kind of problem?” Then continue to discuss what can be done – change the machine, service the machine, how, who etc.

Step 3.   Involvement.   Next go to specific action to involve the candidate.  Then you go on to non-specific issues like, “You know our WITS project is slightly behind time, and we need someone to interview line G.  Would you be interested to help out this Wednesday? All you need to do is … What do you think of helping out there?”

Small talk goes a long way.

Step 4.   Probe.   This next part you must deal with it most carefully.  This it the trickiest part. You need to tell them that you notice that they are extremely quiet during the WITS meetings.  Ask if they are enjoying the sessions, “Do you enjoy attending the WIT meeting we had last week?”  Now the trick is to be specific.  You are suggesting that you only realise it last week and you are concerned. 

You can do something here.

Do not say, “You have been very quiet for several WITS meetings,”  This statement tells them you are frustrated and the obvious reaction is denial – which is not something you want.  Denial will lead to defense and then your quite person will shrink into a defensive shell!

Step 5.   Leave Them.   You are going to leave them to make a change.  It is not something you will see at the end of this one-on-one conversation.  Change may happen a few days, a week or so, or even after the next two meetings.  This is where your patience come in.  The next time you meet, do not talk about their quietness.  Just ask for the progress.  Just assume that they are responsibly carrying out and in the event that you detect slack, say that you notice ‘slowness’ and say that you don’t understand why it happened.  Whenever they did something reasonably well tell them that you recognise their effort, ‘ Jimmy I am please to see that ….’  Show them that you noticed their initial results. 

Repeat cycle as many times as you want, changing the topic of opening and involvement everytime. In normal cases, the quiet person will take about three cycles before you gain the trust and response.  If yours is the frozen fish, it may take a few more thawings. 

Do come back for a visit sometime!
Good Luck.

Please feedback to me on your experiences and how you deal with quiet people in your WIT Team. 

 

 

How do we keep WITs active?

Sustenance – The Common Problem.   This is a common problem in many organisations that launch WITS.  I used to think that making improvement is such a noble thing to do when one is a responsible worker.  Don’t you agree that it is just ethical to make the company we serve a better one? That we can be proud of ? Since WITS activities occupy such a high moral ground, then why is WITS so difficult to sustain?

 

                                           

It’s a Common Problem – Don’t panic!~

This Problem – Also happening in Japan.    Over the years, I have seen many companies – including those which started out on the right footing, those that had the best of senior management support, good intentions all round.  They continue to have this problem of sustenance – of keeping WITS alive. 

Many years ago, (I think it was in 1986), the National Productivity Board invited several QCC Experts from Japan to advise and deliberate on this issue.  I learned that in Japan, they too had this same problem.  So even Japan, the originator and being the original master of QCCs, have this problem too!  

                            

Japan -Birthplace of QCC (and WITS)

Lessons From A Humble Charcoal Stove.  Before I suggest ideas for you to tackle your sustenance issue, I would like to draw an analogy. 

Charcoal Stove

No too many years ago, kitchen stoves use wood or charcoal.  My childhood experiences include helping my mother start the fire with little twigs and kerosene.  To make sure the fire in our stove is still burning, I periodically check by peeking through the little ‘sliding window’ at the bottom.  Every now and then, I add pieces of charcoal to make sure that our food do not end up half cook.  I fan the stove if the fire is dying.  Our elders used to boast that with their experience, they know the exact amount of charcoal to use.  That is the amount that gets your rice cooked when the charcoal burns out – synchronised and optimised.  They already know the concept of that two terms without attending business school.    

‘Bak Chang’ Taste Better With Charcoal

When it comes to ‘Bak Chang’, you have no choice but to monitor the flame, because it literally takes a few refills of good old charcoal before your dumplings are fully cook.  

This is exactly the thing that we should do to keep your WITs teams alive – check on them periodically. 

 

Super Convenience, Something Is Lost.  During one of my conversations with a manager friend of mine, he jeered at me and tried to destroy my analogy.   He said that I am behind time with that analogy.  He suggested to me to update myself. 

“Today, the world is very progressive,” according to him, ” it is so different.  We are using gas from tanks to cook!  Most of us even have the extra convenience of directly connecting to pipe-in gas.  Some better off ones have totally converted to super clean electrical heating.  Electricity is a quick, clean and ‘limitless’.    

Piped In Gas Meter.

“Our WIT teams should be like that.  They should be easy to switch on and off.  They must reach a stage of self-perpetuating, self-motivating, self-initiating; then we can call the teams successful teams.  That is what I need here.”  

Squeaky Clean Electric Stove

Outside Help, Modern Crutches.  Perhaps many of the new managers really think that way.  They, having grown up, pampered and surrounded by modern gas and electrical conveniences have missed what they could have learn from the humble kitchen charcoal stove.  

My seven year old son only learned about open ovens when I brought him to Kenny Rogers one day.  There the meat is flame-broil! He admitted that they do indeed taste better! He connect it to BBQ, a one-off picnic!

Gas Delivery In Iraq

They Say This Is How It Is Done In India!

This is what one learns from electrical ovens.  If the oven fails to light up, all you need to do is to check if the switch is on, and if the switch is on and it didn’t work, you really cannot do much.  You just go to the yellow pages and look for a technician or unplug and send it to the nearby electrician.  And if your gas tank is empty, you just change them. 

 

Modern Crutches – That Is What We Learn

Root Cause.   Hey presto, that is one root cause of inactive WITS!  If managers think of convenience, and that we have progress until we are programmable, they are wrong.  You see they have over-simplified management.  Their motto : “Once there is a problem, don’t waste time, seek outside help.”  (In fact, this is a good thing for consulting business.  We consultants love outsourcing.  Perhaps I should not kill the goose that lay the golden egg.  I should not have blogged on this golden goose…)

But seriously, changing without investigation is not what WITS management is about.   

Enjoy This Series?

Naturally Human, We Want Care.   Let me go to the basics of WITs Management.  The human specie of today has been genetically duplicated and copied many millions of years ago.  We are just naturally and totally human from day one.  Nothing much really change in us.  We do look a lot like our great-great-great forefathers.  Look at Ghengis Khan’s pictures in ancient drawings.  He does look like some of my Korean friends to day!  In all fairness, there is not much change in the way our brain works either, except that the input may be different, the hardware and processing of information did not change.  The way our arms stretch out to grasp things and the way our legs prop us upright have been that way for centuries or more. 

We Need Friends Who Care

We Care For Others

Now the connection.  Not unlike our forefathers, we are only able to digest certain types of food, plants or animals.  More importantly, we continue to enjoy hanging around with other people, like our forefathers used to during their time.  In teams they hunt, today, in teams we earn. 

We still enjoy sharing, competing and winning, and we learn lessons through success and failures.  We feel the same kind of grief from pain and loss, and elation on triumph. 

Finally, we all love to be loved and prefer our friends to think fondly of us than scheme against us. 

We All Belong To The Human Corporation.

WIT Team, Human Corporation.   The WIT team is really a human corporation.  It cannot be otherwise.  Human beings needs friendship and love.  The social instinct in us doesn’t expire, w need interaction with others to be inspired (Remember Forest Gump). 

We Are Naturally Unstable.   You cannot set people to automatic mode; simply because as human beings we were not meant to work consistently.   Human beings are naturally unstable.  Don’t get me wrong, all of us like stability and consistency, but because we are natural, we can never remain stable for very long ( after all we are all sinners!).  As human beings, we will either improve or go downhill, we cannot remain constant for lon.  What I am saying is that we resemble the charcoal stove better.  We are not like electric cooker.  We are more like the  charcoal stove that runs on natural fuel. 

We Find Meaning In Teams

Check The Fire, Feed The Flames.  If we wish to keep our WITS teams ‘burning’, we need to check their fire every now and then.  Recharge them with inspirational words as much as we can.  In fact, I have seen teams so charged up, and it was never the physical or monetary gains they get that matter.  It is more like the recognition and care shown to them by the manager.  When there is a problem, they are not ‘brought to the technician’ for service, and repair, and when they need a natural break, we don’t change the leaders!  Only when there is a lack of knowledge and expertise then change becomes the last option. 

Rather, like a good cook, who gently lift the pot to check and add a little charcoal to the stove, or give it a little fanning, the manager should care for the team.  By the way, when the rice gets cook on charcoal, it does taste better than the electrical ones – try it some time.   

Don’t Leave Your WITS Teams To Sink Of Swim. 
Fan The Fire From Time To Time.