Etikettarkiv: improvement

A question worth asking

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That’s a question worth asking.

The sentence reverberated in my head…. as I realized that only because it’s a question worth asking, it does not mean, necessarily, that it’s a question worth answering.

I am extra fond of questions these days, compared to before. Or, I don’t know. It’s quite likely, now that I think of it, that a lot of my colleagues from previous work places thought I was a pain in the ass asking a lot of questions. Most likely a lot of them quite tough to answer, as I have always had a tendency to go up to system level, finding flaws and possibilities for improvement.

…if only the questions were asked, awareness raised…. then I could get going!

Perhaps once in a while, questions were not heard, deliberately, out of fear for what raised awareness might lead to?

And did I ever get frustrated when awareness was not raised. When I was speaking and writing to deaf ears and blind eyes, refusing to take it in. Like the three monkeys, holding their hands over eyes, ears and mouth.

I can imagine the unwilling recipients of words and writing desperately desired me to hold my hand over my mouth, taking on the personal of that third monkey. But nah, that’s never really been my strong suit.

question worth askingBecause sometimes it’s all in the asking! Agree?

Doing the right thing?

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Åsa Minoz sent a link on Twitter the other day, as a response to a discussion on whether or not calling oneself PRO or ANTI actually makes any difference. Well, both me and Åsa believe it does make a difference. I am a pro-person myself, getting energized by the possibility to move ahead, to create, to reach something, somewhere. There are anti-people as well, who get equally energized by that position. We complement each other, in my view, and I am not (any more, thank god for that!) an advocate for My way or the highway.

Since I watched the clip that Åsa linked to, I have managed to send it to many people, because it’s just the most eloquent (and funny!) way to describe a system and its parts, so please, give Russ Ackoff 15 minutes, and watch/listen to him talking on Beyond continual improvement:

A few of the gems hidden within this talk, in my view, are these:

”If we have a system of improvement that is directed at improving the parts taken separately, you can be absolutely sure that the performance of the whole will not be improved.”

”Any process improvement effort 20140429-210259.jpgmust be focused on what you want, and not on what you don’t want.”

”Quality ought to contain a notion of value, not merely efficiency. That’s the difference between efficiency and effectiveness. Quality out to be directed at effectiveness. The difference between efficiency and effectiveness is the difference between knowledge and wisdom. And unfortunately, we don’t have enough wisdom to go around.”

Are you busy doing things right or doing the right thing?