Harmonization is the way
In this article, I share my thoughts about how to harmonize the company business with their employee utmost motivation to sustain the growth for both in the long run and within dynamic environment.
With covid 19 pandemic, we realize that to solve the problem and maintain business operation, we need creative solution, and creative solution often comes from people in the ground floor.
What is ikigai?
ikigai?(n.)?a Japanese term that loosely translates to “reason for being”. It refers to the source of value in one’s life or the things that make one’s life worthwhile.
To find true harmony across your life, consider connecting all 4 categories to transform your career.
Too many of us accept that pursuing an interesting career, making a living, achieving whatever we define as success, fulfilling our personal desires and dreams are completely separate (or even mutually exclusive) endeavors.
The average full-time worker spends half of their waking hours at work on any given workday. This number then equates to 35% of their total waking hours over a 50-year working period.
A clear and defined ikigai could be the common thread that ties all of these things together.
Your?ikigai?[pronounced: ee-kee-gah-ee] could be the key to your new life purpose.
Ask yourself below few questions to find about your ikigai and encourage your team find their ikigai as well.
What inspires you?
What you can do it all night for free?
What makes you feel useful?
What is your value?
The very word ‘vocation’ is derived from the Latin vocatio, meaning ‘call’ (i.e. your ‘calling’). It refers to what you feel especially suited to, given your abilities, qualifications, experience, and personality.
What activities do you find most productive and fruitful?
Why we have to start with Why?
All businesses, organizations, and careers operate on three levels: (1) WHAT we do, (2) HOW we do it, and (3) WHY we do it. We’re all acquainted with WHAT we do—the products we sell, the services we offer, the jobs we do.?A few of us know HOW we do it—the things we think differentiate us or make us unique compared to the rest of the crowd, or our competition.?But only a handful of us can clearly articulate WHY we do what we do…
Successfully communicating the passion behind the 'Why' is a way to communicate with the listener's limbic brain. This is the part of our anatomy that processes feelings such as trust and loyalty - as well as decision-making.
This is a simple format to use as we draft our WHY Statement: TO ----- SO THAT ------
Knowing how important it is to find a purpose in life, we’re left asking ourselves how we go about finding our own. Indeed, many people believe that, in order to make the right choices in life, they must first discover their life’s purpose.
How to play the infinitive game?
Life and work are infinitive game, that's the fact.
In order to play and enjoy this game, we must know and choose the right game to play.
Therefore, finding your own ikigai and Why statement is very crucial to learn about your inert motivation and therefore we can play the infinitive game.
How to balance between practical thoughts and dreamers?
I learn this concept from a senior manager in my current working company, Mr Schlichtner, Marc.
Practical in business means about numbers, KPIs like revenues, profit & lost etc
And it is impossible for business to exist without being practical.
However, to sustain the success for business, the company also need to be the dreamers so that they can open new business and thus sustain the growth.
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Being practical in business is about optimizing all the current resources and status to drive the better profit and lost. It is exploit.
In contrast, the process of inventing new things, new solution is never assertive for success, and in fact failure is part of the process as well. Therefore, it is exploration.
It really reframe my thoughts and my relationship perspective in work place.
A good company must find a good balance between the exploit and exploration, exploit is to maintain the baseline as foundation so that the exploration can happens, and then exploration can invent new solution so that the company can ensure it success in future.
A hand drawing from Marc.
Each side will requires different skillsets, but the point is to find the balance in between, it is not about the old or new school of management thinking, it is about understanding the value from both.
A hand drawing from Marc.
What is Hoshin Kanri?
The term "Hoshin Kanri" originates from the Japanese and means compass needle and management. It is a methodology with which the company's strategy is broken down into long-term and short-term targets which are backed by Activities and Action Plans in order to achieve these targets.
Hoshin Kanri contains three ways of communication:
To facilitate the workshop for Hoshin Kanri, people use the X matrix template.
Using color coding to help you have a quick reference for later execution.
The final conclusion
The company must grow to survive.
In order to grow the company must find the balance between exploit and exploration.
Exploration is an entrepreneur process which requires creativity from people.
We have to find a way to embed the individual motivation, creativity and harmonize with company strategy, we have to find a way to connect company Hoshin Kanri with employees' Ikigai. It is a harmony between company's success and individual employee's success, people see their success in the overall company success.
Successfully doing so, we can ensure both the effectiveness in exploit and motivation to fuel exploration journey.
With Ikigai and Why statement, the leaders coach their team to build their individual compass, it is good for them in the long term.
With Hoshin Kanri, we all align with a common GPS to ensure that we will reach the desired destination together.
The leader must learn this harmony and balance between leading position and taking passenger seat. Now your team already got their compass and GPS, the leaders learn let go of the illusion of control and power, surrender the need to manage every little thing. You start to sense that you are part of a greater whole – a channel for some greater force or will or idea that wants to emerge through you. With that, they are not burning out and so the team.?
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Global Corporate Security Manager bei Siemens Healthineers - APAC // MBCI
3 年very interesting take on those two topics and the respective combination
Principal Key Expert @ Siemens Healthineers, C-Level Advisor, Founder of T-Club, Advisory Board Member
3 年?? and the balance is key...
B.Eng | MBA | Head PMO & Enterprise Services Executive at Siemens Healthineers | Business Coach at ActionCoach IQS | Author at 4daysperweek.com
3 年I also think that there are many ways the leader can lead the team and business result. I just think specifically about the balance, sometimes the leaders work too hard to push things forwards. That's why I am inspired by the idea of balancing between exploit and exploration. It reminds me a quote: going alone we can go fast but going together we can go long (not exactly word by word).
B.Eng | MBA | Head PMO & Enterprise Services Executive at Siemens Healthineers | Business Coach at ActionCoach IQS | Author at 4daysperweek.com
3 年I totally agree on feedback mechanism. I think as a team, we can discuss and try out to find what and how works best, properly every team has different mechanism. But the important part is the commitment to make the feedback loop happens.
Passionate for healthcare
3 年It would be great if a team leader understands his/her employees' Ikigai and know how to embed that into the team Hoshin Kanri. It would then be not only harmonization, but resonance. The challenging part, in my opinion, would be from the Ikigai. We are individuals and we keep changing all the time. Self-awareness is definitely a life-time journey. To fix this, there should be a feedback mechanism within each individuals, within the team & within the company. Then, the question is: how often should we do it? Monthly? Quarterly? Yearly? Hoshin Kanri of a company/a team seems to be more stable. However, it also definitely changes is the components of it change. The more stable, long-term the business is, the more easy-to-apply this harmonization. Another of my concern is there are leaders who do not care much about the Ikigai of their employees. However, they are doing great in Hoshin Kanri, meaning they are still able to inspire/guide the employees to pursuit the team's goal. What are your opinions on this?