I recently went to the LSS World Conference 2018 in Las Vegas, NV. Like most of the conferences I have been to in the past few years, the common thread among most companies on their Lean or Lean Six Sigma journeys was sustainment and culture. I have been working on these two things recently and have been using a set of Principles to drive a new mindset. Until this one presentation from the Arbinger Institute, I had not been able to properly explain how it all works with the drive toward results.
Embedded Video: Arbinger Institute
As you can see in this overview video from Arbinger Institute, the mindset we have will drive our behaviors. It goes further than that though, our mindset actually can be seen by others as someone who makes things easier, or someone who makes things harder. What they call the mindset of those that make things easier is something known as the "Outward" mindset. Their book, The Outward Mindset, goes into detail about this and how it can be applied to our work and daily lives. What they have found is that those who exhibit this outward mindset (or those who make things easier for others) create environments of collaboration, accountability, innovation, engagement, and growth. This type of environment is the holy grail that many of these companies I listen to at conferences are looking for. In fact, that is the environment I am looking to create with others. This outward mindset then, starts with ourselves. We must change how we think, as people and as leaders, about the lives of others around us and the lives of others that we work with. For me this starts with this shift in mindset starts with the question:
"What can I do that will help someone else?"
This is a statement that epitomizes the idea of support, respect, and humility that I have been exploring in my own life and work. I often discuss respect and humility, but what does that look like in practice and how does one show these things? Through this book, I am finding that process. The Arbinger Institute calls it SAM - See others, Adjust your effort, and Measure impact.
In order to See others, we must understand what their goals, objectives, and challenges are in their own lives. In the work environment we all, as an organization, share some common goals. So if we were to look outward to others and provide help to them, we in turn will be helping the organization as a whole. This creates an easier work life environment, one where we start to collaborate, because we can see the needs of other humans. The people around us are not objects to do our bidding, but are people with feelings, with heart, and with intelligence. We have to recognize this first, that all people are of value and have worth.
Once we are able to see others and their needs, we are then able to adjust our own efforts. Especially as leaders in an organization, we must be able to create an environment of collaboration, accountability, innovation, engagement, and growth. To do these things, we must first adjust our own efforts to help others with their needs. Helping others will make things easier on them, and by making the work life easier, we achieve our desired results. This general sense of selflessness is not easy for everyone, especially if we exist in an environment of what Arbinger calls the "Inward mindset." You see, in the environment where everyone has an inward mindset, silos are created and we see no need support others, in fact we think others ought to be doing things for us. When everyone has this mindset, we are generally frustrated with each other because we all expect others to do things for us. Shifting towards the outward mindset and adjusting our efforts to the needs of others helps to break this habit of constant self-focused actions. It starts with me, with you. As an individual, we must change how we interact with the world around us.
Finally, we must understand the impact that we have on others. This is known as Measuring the impact. This can be a relatively easy thing to do. For instance, if you are helping someone through their own challenges, you might just need to tag up with them on some periodic basis to review if your actions are providing a positive impact for that other person. If they need something other than what you are providing, you again adjust your efforts to these new or different needs. Measuring impact can also be something more quantitative if needed. In the book there is an example where a charity is providing clean water to a community in poverty. When with those in this community, the people of the charity ask them why they need the clean water. What they find is that the community wants to ensure that their children are able to go to school. They want the children to go to school in order to get an education and break the cycle of poverty. Knowing this, and truly understanding the needs of the community, the charity is able to adjust their efforts for this purpose. In order for the charity to understand if they are having a positive impact for the community, they measure the number of children from that community who are able to go to school. You see, if the children drink the dirty water, they get sick and are unable to go to school and if the children are unable to go to the school, the traveling teachers will not stop at their community any longer (for there is no one to teach!).
This idea has changed the way that I see myself and how I see how I interact with everyone in my work and personal life. I am making the effort this week to try these things and will most likely provide some insights on this next week. I encourage you all to find a copy of the Outward Mindset. I have provided a link below for easy access via Amazon if you are interested.