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<\/a>Leslie’s computer heralded the arrival of yet another email!\u00a0 They were coming in faster and faster – now that the word had got out on the grapevine about\u00a0Improvementology<\/em>.<\/p>\nLeslie glanced at the sender.<\/p>\n
It was from Bob.\u00a0 That was a surprise.\u00a0 Bob had never emailed out-of-the-blue before.\u00a0 Leslie was too impatient to wait until later to read the email.<\/p>\n
<Dear Leslie, could I trouble you to ask your advice on something.\u00a0 It is not urgent.\u00a0 A ten minute chat on the phone would be all I need.\u00a0 If that is OK please let me know a good time is and I will ring you. Bob><\/em><\/p>\n Leslie was consumed with curiosity.\u00a0 What could Bob possibly want advice on?\u00a0 It was Leslie who sought advice from Bob – not the other way around.<\/p>\n Leslie could not wait and emailed back immediately that it was OK to\u00a0talk now.<\/p>\n <Ring Ring><\/p>\n L: Hello Bob, what a pleasant surprise!\u00a0 I am very curious to know what you need my advice about.<\/p>\n B: Thank you Leslie.\u00a0 What I would like your counsel on is how to engage in learning the science of improvement.<\/p>\n L: Wow!\u00a0 That is a surprising question. I am really confused now. You helped me to learn this new thinking and now you are asking me to teach you?<\/p>\n B: Yes.\u00a0 On the surface it seems counter-intuitive.\u00a0 It is a genuine request though.\u00a0 I need to learn and understand what works for you and what does not.<\/p>\n L: OK.\u00a0 I think I am getting an idea of what you are asking.\u00a0 But I am only just getting grips with the basics.\u00a0 I do not know how to engage others yet and I certainly would not be able to teach anyone!<\/p>\n B: I must apologise.\u00a0 I was not clear in my request.\u00a0 I need to understand how you engaged yourself in learning.\u00a0 I only provided the germ of the idea – it was you who added what was needed for it to develop into something tangible and valuable for you.\u00a0 I need to understand how that happened.<\/p>\n L: Ahhhh! I see what you mean.\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Let me think.\u00a0 Would it help if I describe my current mental metaphor?<\/p>\n B: That sounds like an excellent idea.<\/p>\n L: OK.\u00a0 Well your phrase ‘germ of an idea’ was a trigger.\u00a0 I see the science of improvement as a seed\u00a0of\u00a0information that grows into a sturdy tree of understanding<\/em>.\u00a0 Just like the ‘tiny acorn into the mighty oak’ concept.\u00a0 Using that seed-to-tree metaphor helped me to appreciate that the seed is necessary but it is not sufficient.\u00a0 There are other things that are needed too.\u00a0 Soil, water, air, sunlight, and protection from hazards and predators.<\/p>\n I then realised that the seed-to-tree metaphor goes deeper.\u00a0 One insight that I had was when I realised that the first few leaves are critical to success – because they provide the ongoing energy and food to support the growth of more leaves, and the twigs, branches, trunk, and roots that support the leaves and supply them with water and nutrients.\u00a0 I see the tree as synergistic system that has a common purpose: to become big enough and stable enough to be able to survive the inevitable ups-and-downs of reality.\u00a0 To weather the winter storms and survive the summer droughts.<\/p>\n I then\u00a0reflected on what the water and the sunshine would represent when applying improvement science in the real world.<\/p>\n It occurred to me that the water in the\u00a0tree\u00a0is like money in a real system.\u00a0 It is required for\u00a0both growth and health; it must flow to where it is needed, when it is needed and as much as needed. Too little will\u00a0prevent growth, and\u00a0too\u00a0much water at the wrong time and wrong place is just as unhealthy.\u00a0 I did some reading about the biology of trees and I learned that the water is pulled<\/strong> up the tree!\u00a0 The ‘suck’ is created by the water evaporating from the leaves.\u00a0 The plant does not have a committee that decides where the available water should go!\u00a0 It is a simple self-adjusting, auto-regulating system.<\/p>\n The sunshine for the tree is like feedback for people.\u00a0 In a plant the suns energy provides the motive force for the whole system.\u00a0 In our organisations we call it motivation and the feedback loop is critical to success.\u00a0 Keeping people in the dark about what is required and how they are doing is demotivating.\u00a0 Healthy organisations are feedback-fuelled!<\/p>\n B: I see the picture in my mind clearly.\u00a0 That is a powerful metaphor.\u00a0 How did it help overcome the natural resistance to change?<\/p>\n L: Well using the 6M Design method and taking the desire to create a ‘sturdy tree of understanding’ as the goal of the seed-to-tree process, I then considered what the possible ways it could fail – the failure modes and effects analysis method that you taught me.<\/p>\n B: OK. Yes I see how that approach would help – approaching the problem from the far side of the invisible barrier. What insights did that lead to?<\/p>\n This seed-to-tree metaphor really helped because it allowed me to draw up a checklist of necessary conditions for successful growth of knowledge and understanding.\u00a0 Rather like the shopping list that a gardener might have.\u00a0 Viable seeds, fertile soil, clean water, enough sunlight, and protection from threats and hazards, especially in the early stages.\u00a0 And patience and perseverance.\u00a0 Growing from seed takes time.\u00a0 Not all seeds will germinate.\u00a0 Not all seeds can thrive in the context our gardener is able to create.\u00a0 And the harsher the elements the fewer the types of seed that have any chance of survival.\u00a0 The conditions select the successful seeds.\u00a0 Deserts select plants that hoard water so the desert remains a desert.\u00a0 If money is too tight the miserly will thrive at the expense of the charitable – and money remains hoarded and fought over as the rest of the organisation withers.\u00a0 And the timing is crucial – the seeds need to be planted at the right time in the cycle of change.\u00a0 Too early and they cannot germinate, too late and they do not have time to become strong enough to survive in the real world winter storms.<\/p>\n B: Yes.\u00a0 I see. The deeper you dig into your seeds-to-trees metaphor, the more insightful it becomes.<\/p>\n L: Bob, you just said something really profound then that has unlocked something for me.<\/p>\n B: Did I?\u00a0 What was it?<\/p>\n![\"plant_metaphor_240x135\"](\"http:\/\/www.improvementscience.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/plant_metaphor_240x135.gif\")
<\/a>It seemed to me that the first leaf needed to be labelled ‘safety’ because in our industry if we damage our customers or our staff we do not get a second chance!\u00a0 The next leaf to grow is labelled ‘quality’ and that means quality-by-design.\u00a0 Doing the right thing and doing it right first time without needing inspection-and-correction. The safety and quality leaves provide the resources needed to grow the next leaf which I labelled ‘delivery’.\u00a0 Getting the work done in time, on time, every time.\u00a0 Together these three leaves support the growth of the fourth – ‘economy’ which means using only what is necessary and also having just enough reserve to ride over the inevitable rocks and ruts in the road of reality.<\/p>\n![\"poison_faucet_150_wht_9860\"](\"http:\/\/www.improvementscience.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/poison_faucet_150_wht_9860.gif\")
<\/a>L: Well it highlighted that just having enough water and enough sunshine was not sufficient – it had to be clean water and the right sort of sunshine.\u00a0 The quality is as critical as the quantity.\u00a0 A toxic environment will kill tender new shoots of improvement long before they can get established.\u00a0 Cynicism is like cyanide!\u00a0 Non-specific cost cutting is like blindly wielding a pair of sharp secateurs.\u00a0 Ignoring the competition from wasteful weeds and political predators is a guaranteed recipe-for-failure too.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>L: You said ‘seeds-to-trees’.\u00a0 Up until you said that I was unconsciously limiting myself to one-seed-to-one-tree.\u00a0 Of course!\u00a0 If it works for the individual it can work for the collective.\u00a0 Woods and forests are collectives.\u00a0 The best example I can think of is a tropical rainforest.\u00a0\u00a0With ample water and sunshine the plant-collective creates a synergistic system that has endured millions of years of global climate change.\u00a0 And one of the striking features of the tropical rain forest is the diversity of species.\u00a0 It is as if that diversity is an important part of the design.\u00a0 Competition is ever present though – all the trees compete for sunlight – but it is healthy competition.\u00a0 Trees do not succeed individually by hunting each other down.\u00a0 And the diversity seems to be an important component of healthy competition too.\u00a0 It is as if they are in a shared race to the sun and their differences are an asset rather than a liability. If all the trees were the same the forest would be at greater risk of all making the same biological blunder and suddenly becoming extinct if their environment changes unpredictably.\u00a0 Uniformity only seems to work in harsh conditions.<\/p>\n