The doHow? of Changing Mindset/Culture

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog about Policy Deployment , the left analytical brain of doHow?, a methodology I developed for Execution Excellence from Vision to Reality. Today, I will delve into the right emotional brain of doHow? for Changing the Mindset and Culture from Vision to Reality.

I'm sharing my experiential learning, reflecting on the wisdom gained from school, college, books, videos, podcasts, living in different societies, interacting with diverse people, and, importantly, from my own experiences after implementing this wisdom.

Let me start with my limited understanding of the magnitude of our brain—an incredible organ in our body with ~100 billion neurons, ~120-140 million retinal receptors, ~15,000 cochlear hair cells, ~1.5 million sensory taste cells, ~12 million receptor smell cells, ~17,000 tactile touch receptors. In my imagination, our brain is our hardware, like 100 billion minicomputers working together. According to a 2019 report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), there were just a meagre estimated 2.7 billion computers in use worldwide.

The mind, in my imagination, is the software with 2,500 synapses or connections of each neuron in a newborn baby, increasing to about 10,000 synapses/neuron in an adult with every new experience—totaling 100 trillion synapses in an adult. An adult gets about 12,000 to 50,000 thoughts per day, creating new synapses. Aside from synapses formed from our existential experiences, I also believe they form from the unlimited energy and intelligence of consciousness everywhere around us, especially during meditation or living in the zone—those times when we are at bliss in whatever we are doing.

Emotional Experiences: Throughout our life, experiences generate emotions such as admiration, adoration, aesthetic appreciation, amusement, anger, anxiety, awe, awkwardness, boredom, calmness, confusion, craving, disgust, empathic pain, entrancement, excitement, fear, horror, interest, joy, nostalgia, relief, romance, sadness, satisfaction, sexual desire, and surprise.

Good, Bad and Ugly: Some emotions generated are good, some bad, and some ugly, impacting either positive or negative feelings (valence), creating high or low arousal. Based on the intensity of feelings and arousal, our mind creates memories—some consciously accessible, and most others at a subconscious level.

Framework (Mindset): These memories become a filter or mindset, technically referred to as the reticular activating system, enabling us to survive, reproduce, be part of a group, and contribute to evolution, amidst the infinite clutter around us. Each of us has a unique mindset arising from our unique experiences.

Real-time Predictions: Our subconscious mind senses reality in about 250 microseconds and predicts our moves in real-time, 500 milliseconds before executing, so we can experience the present in its totality. Meanwhile, our conscious mind needs 100-500 milliseconds to sense reality and becomes aware of the real-time prediction about 200 milliseconds before executing—only with an option to stop executing, a skill of Free Will very few have mastered.

Perceiving (Prediction Δ): We perceive reality relative to the prediction for our mind to learn from the deviation to optimize the prediction, similar to what happens in machine learning, the core of artificial intelligence. For example, when I wash my hands in a factory canteen, I somehow notice the leaking tap, triggering thinking, deciding, and acting in me. This doesn’t happen with others using the same tap, as their mindset differs from mine.

Thinking (Prediction Δ): We think by connecting the dots relative to the prediction, for our mind to learn from the deviation to optimize the prediction—similar to what happens in machine learning, the core of artificial intelligence. For instance, after noticing the leaking tap, I quickly connect the dots and look for the daily autonomous maintenance (or Jishu Hosen) checklist in the washroom. This triggers deciding and acting, which doesn’t happen with others who can also check out this checklist, just because their mindset is different.

Deciding (Prediction Δ): We decide based on effort/benefit relative to the prediction for our mind to learn from the deviation to optimize the prediction—similar to what happens in machine learning, the core of artificial intelligence. For example, after checking out the checklist, I quickly assess the effort and benefit and decide to call the housekeeping in-charge. This triggers acting, which doesn’t happen with others who could also have called, not because they can’t but because their mindset does not allow them to.

Acting (Prediction Δ): We act with absolute conviction relative to the prediction, for our mind to learn from the deviation to optimize the prediction—similar to what happens in machine learning, the core of artificial intelligence. For example, after deciding to call the housekeeping in-charge, I speak to the housekeeping in-charge with conviction to get the leakage corrected and to calibrate the expectation of no leakage as a prevention. This doesn’t happen with others who could also have spoken, since their mindset is different than mine.

Individual Experience: Certifications, coaching, conferences, counselling, courses, e-learning, events, feedback, internships, journaling, meetups, mentorship, networking, online forums, peer learning, podcasts, reading books, seminars, sports, study groups, training, tutorials, watching videos, webinars, etc. trigger individual experiences, especially when we go beyond our comfort zones, impacting our mindset.

Framework (Culture): When individuals come together for a common purpose, they form a team with diverse mindsets. As an entity, a team has emotional experiences—good, bad, and ugly. These memories naturally serve as the basis for a filter or culture, regulating the way the team perceives, thinks, decides, and acts.

Collective Experience: Assessment, auditing, consulting, cross-functional teamwork, daily work management , debate and discussion, design thinking , facilitation, feedback, leadership retreat, lean-six-sigma , management review, mentoring, policy deployment , process mapping, progress reporting, project management, quarterly board meeting, role description, scenario analysis, simulation, theory of constraints, weekly kaizen review, etc. trigger collective experiences, especially during challenging times, impacting our culture.

Changing Mindset/Culture: The mindset and culture continuously evolve based on new experiences and memories, individual and collective respectively. The change is extremely gradual and slow, since the old experiences and memories are almost impossible to forget and delete. The new ones, depending on their intensity, become more and more prominent. The intensity is directly proportional to the extent to which we come out of our comfort zone. Therefore, the key to changing mindset and culture is regularly coming out of the comfort zones with experiential learning.

In conclusion, I want to illustrate the meagre 0.004% (1) mindset change from a full-day training program in a 35-year-old adult. Or a slightly better 0.4% (2) mindset change from a daily 30-minute new practice consistently done during the 6 working days in a week over 3 months. The change is slow, rather slow, but the secret is to keep regularly practicing the experience needed for the new mindset till the practice becomes a natural skill.

1. 100 x 8 hours ÷ 204,540 hours (16 hours per day of waking time x 356.25 days per year x 35 years).
2. 100 x 30 minutes x (1 + 10% retention rate) ^ 77 working days in 3 months ÷ 60 minutes ÷ 204,540 hours.

We are changing the mindset and culture with our doHow?, creating new insights every 2 weeks combined with the daily practice of the insights using our doHow? APP for transparency and accountability.

How are you changing the mindset and culture? Happy reading!