Schlagwort-Archive: Result

Instructions are for newbies

There are occasions when our character appears. For instance, if you squeeze into a parking space, even though someone is already parking according to regulations. Or when you give vent to your lack of empathy and your disrespectful behavior at work. Or if you ignore any manual. We know people who have learned the assembly of a furniture item already in the cradle and who use their common sense to assemble a shelf or a chair – and sometimes parts remain, or something is missing.

This approach is also followed by many in their daily work because they know what to do;-) start where the problem is, try hard and adjust carefully. This approach provides in the short term a satisfying feeling for all tasks that results in endless Sisyphus work. There are solutions, like examples and recipes, which prevent misleading approaches. What does such manual need?

  • The goal
    The presentation of the desired future, with conditions as well as results and use cases, creates expectations in the mind of the user. Many activities can be derived from this picture.
    In today’s offices there are complex tasks that are made easier with such manuals. For example, the design of business processes and the building of data models help to coordinate the involved areas. At various levels, goals are developed, which help to adjust in one direction – change activities need a vision, strategic goals, and whatever stimulates the imagination of those involved (e.g., values, SWOT, common terminology).
  • The parts
    The manual mainly provides an overview of the required components. In the case of a furniture item, there is an overview of all parts and their quantity. If you get an outline, you can be sure that everything is complete. Additionally, it gives you an understanding of which parts you are using.
    To master the complex interaction between different areas and systems, you need an overview of the inventory, which aspects have to be considered. Corresponding models provide these structures – a process has start and end events, steps, persons/ job positions carrying out the process, input and output data, IT systems, and other components as required.
  • The process
    Nowadays, the results are small and nested. It is crucial to know in which order something has to be done to fulfill the result. Therefore, a manual provides steps and their sequence so that eventually, everything fits together, and nothing is left over.
    Changes do not happen immediately but take time. Especially the size of the affected areas and the distribution across the world increase the duration. Here, too, some parts have to be assembled into components before they make up the whole. A new IT system needs precise requirements so that the expectations of the users can be met. Any subsequent changes undermine the so far achieved interim results. Therefore, the components must be planned in a way that they can be assembled at the right time and with little effort – an IT system requires an infrastructure of hard- and net-ware, databases, procedures, formulas, and rules as well as the correct terms and appropriate languages.
  • The result
    The holistic look at the outcome and its application is extended in the manual by including illustrations and explanations of the parts, the components, and the final result. Eventually, you will have a good understanding of how the whole thing works together.
    Due to the complexity of the interests and solutions, many people forego a well-reasoned approach. It may also be explained with the wishful thinking that has led to the hype of agility that takes the burden of decision making away from those responsible. This kind of established muddling through is only possible by virtue of the commitment of the employees, who take over the tasks of the managers – which makes the leaders obsolete. There is a blueprint for almost every result – be it an existing solution that can be bought off the shelf (e.g., SAP), or a standard (e.g., ISO56002:2019 Innovation Management) that describes everything like a manual.

Bottom line: If you are in the water up to your neck, then you have no overview. With a corresponding manual, you could get it and make a solution more likely. Unfortunately, most people are already up to the lower edge of their upper lip. The adhocrats reveal themselves by their expressions: We already know what to do; We do not need a plan; Instructions are for newbies; This is all much too abstract. Tutorials are the exact opposite of abstract philosophies of which these people are afraid. These manuals consist of a clear goal, an overview of the components, a procedure, and a presentation of the result. And this without lengthy derivation and justification. The only remaining objection would be that not everything is explained – which nobody would want to read. It is now an excellent moment to readjust one’s mindset and understand that experts never work without such a recipe, because: Instructions are not only for newbies.

 

Swat team into the dark

Shortly after midnight a man was walking his dog. At the end of his street he saw a group of young people next to a streetlight go along on their knees. He approached curiously.
“What are you doing?”
“We live in a guesthouse over there and we lost the key.”
The man’s eyes also scanned the ground: “Did you lose it here?”
“No idea. One started looking here and we formed a circle. ”
“Then why are you looking here?”
The youngster looked bewildered at him: “But this is the only illuminated area.”
The slightly adapted story by Paul Watzlawick creates the framework for the swat team into the dark.

For established companies, group dynamics create an unwanted limitation that requires special measures to open up unused potential. Red Teaming offers an approach for the courageous ones.

  • The idea
    When we are looking for new possibilities, we do not just follow the path of least resistance. There are so-called cognitive distortions (biases) that prevent us from considering the obvious: Groups tend to tie in with the first evidence found (Anchor effect), follow the opinion of the majority (Bandwagon effect) or believe in the aftermath in a logical explanation that determines future actions (Hindsight bias). In order to overcome such fallacies, one must leave usual paths. The Red Team does not necessarily provide a way out, but it rather generates the creative pressure that offers new perspectives.
  • The procedure
    This relates not so much to detailed planning but to the determined implementation of the steps. It begins in advance with the task clarification, i.e. the expected objectives and results. In addition, you need the unconditional management endorsement and support.
    The first step is to examine the circumstances in order to uncover difficulties, wrong conclusions and mental models. In the second step, the resulting internal and external causes are considered, and the actual initiative is prepared. In the third step, the Red Team affects meetings, workshops and other events with contributions that go beyond the normal scope of decision making – e.g. with surprising assumptions, unusual cause-effect relationships and radical proposals.
    The duration of the measures depends on the respective scope and expectations of the management team – e.g. from a few days up to half a year. The concluding After-Action-Review provides a summary of the ascertainable results.
  • The Toolset
    In a literal sense, Red Teaming is prepared lateral thinking – intuitive, volatile, unbiased, challenging and productive. It uses tools such as checklists, dot voting, mind maps, brainstorming, storyboarding,
    1-2-4-all, modeling canvasses and other available team interactions. The decisive factor is the open mind set, which accepts nothing as given, that is open to everything and thinks like the wiliest opponent – however unrealistic, inappropriate or unfair it may seem. The tools are mostly available and just need to be freed from the group pressure of self-restraint. The rules of brainstorming apply – everything that is conceivable and expressed is possible; criticism is forbidden; quantity not quality is decisive; ideas belong to everyone; fantasizing is welcomed.
  • The result
    In order to be able to comprehend the initiative, the Red Team generates a report with the mission, the identified weaknesses, logics and convictions, the evaluation of internal and external influences, the procedure and list of activities as well as the observed effects. It should be clear to everyone that the Red Team is not automatically right with its assumptions and results. The main intention is to create stimulating stress with critical and unorthodox hints, suggestions and solutions.

Bottom line: Getting out of the box is a central task for companies, especially, if they are trapped in joint, successful habits. We are in fast-moving times that threaten every business, no matter how flourishing. To be prepared for drastic changes in the surroundings, it takes more than to letting down your nets in the usual fishing grounds. The key is not lying in the light of the lantern, but in the unknown. Red Teaming is an effective approach to abandoning the own thinking processes, the cognitive distortions and established conclusions. As soon as the management team decides to explore and exploit the dark areas, new opportunities open up for the company. It’s time for sending swat teams into the dark.