If Only It was True

If Only It was True

I was reading an article recently and it described a mythical organization in terms that referenced my concerns for the human connection to continuous process improvement and the TLS Continuum. In this article, the mythical organization went out of its way to involve their human capital assets in the organization.

Imagine your organization doing this. The organization encouraged and facilitated training for all its human capital assets. They cared about the work/life balance by providing community swimming pools, employee breakrooms, pensions, housing, medical facilities for the entire family. They established work councils to deal with work conditions, health, safety, education, training and social life issues.

Their meetings were an event to yearn for. Every organizational meeting was based on a written agenda. It also asked for participants to put all issues in the form of written reports and proposals that were distributed before the meeting. At the meeting, each report or proposal was presented by the human capital asset who wrote the report. The method of presentation was in the form of a question to encourage team participation. The team leader encouraged moments of silence before and after each presentation. The team members were expected to listen both attentively and respectfully. This meant that there was an absence of reactions or critique of a contribution from other team members. Your contribution was based on your own experiences, and everyone was expected to speak at least once during each meeting.

I don’t have access to the demographics of those who are reading this issue, but for those of you who are of the age that you remember the radio commentator, Paul Harvey he used to end his show with the line “and the rest of the story is.” Well, let me pull a Paul Harvey here. My reading was not of a mystical organization. There was an organization which did all these things. ?Those of you who like the candy eggs you know the organization.

The mystical organization is the Cadbury Candy company and the philosophy behind the story is the Quaker Business Model. The model is based on the worth of the individual in your organization. Let’s look at the model mor in-depth.

Meeting success is grounded on a sense of the meeting

As Peter Senge states in the 5th Discipline, the process is grounded in a sense of dialogue instead of discussion. Everyone on the team has a chance to speak and to be listened to. When everyone has a chance to speak a clear picture is put forth there is a clear direction in which to move the organization. Further it allows the team to dig deeper into the issues at hand. Same as in Senge’s sense of inquiry.

The sense of inquiry may uncover new areas in which to dig deeper into the issues and that is fine. You are working to find the best answers to your questions.

New vision of leadership

It is through inclusive engagement in the act of problem solving that would nurture the organization to be proactive in creating a socially responsible learning community from which we could glean a new generation of leaders for our organization. It is a vision based on the ownership of the process not the product as such.

The Quaker Business Model Steps

Step 1: Silence and Speaking

Everyone is expected to involve themselves in an extended period of silence and waiting. The purpose is to quiet their minds and focus on the issue at hand. Everyone then is encouraged to speak regarding the issue at hand.

Step 2: Minute creation and drafting

A written statement is created of the minutes of the meeting and distributed to all participants. This provides a central record of the thoughts ot he team.

Step 3: Communication

The written statement is then distributed to all the stakeholders of the organization both internally and externally. This is so everyone is on the same page as to the direction in which the organization is headed,

The Quaker Business Model tells us that the mythical organization referred to in the beginning can be true in our organizations. We just need to refocus our efforts in the direction of the diversity of ideas, the equity of the human capital asset and the inclusion of all interested parties.

Here is your charge for the week, Go forth and follow the tenants of the Model and make sure that you include your human capital assets in every aspect of your process improvement efforts. They have a vital interest in your outcomes because it affects their lives also,

An Invite: We have started a new group on LinkedIn. It is the TLS Continuum - The Human Connection. We want to start a conversation regarding how we get around the ASSUMPTION that our human capital assets understand the improvement process and how we can bring them into the game. No selling allowed, just open dialogue. Join the dialogue, invite your network to become involved. https://www.dhirubhai.net/groups/13059813

An Invite: We have a Daniel Bloom & Associates, Inc. company page visit and follow for the latest on our services to the business community to enhance the organizational change initiatives. https://www.dhirubhai.net/company/daniel-bloom-&-associates-inc./

?Looking for the perfect model for improving your organizational processes? Order your copy of the TLS Continuum Field Guide - How the Theory of Constraints, Lean and Six Sigma will transform your operations and Program flow to be released in February of 2024

About the author: Daniel Bloom knows HR and Change Management. He’s a speaker on transformational HR, a strategic HR consultant and trainer. Thank you for subscribing to this newsletter.

The best strategy that I ever undertook was earning my SPHR and the Six Sigma Black Belt. You can take the same path with our Road to Operational Excellence - The Human Capital Edition

For more information visit https://dbaiconsulting.com/tls-continuum-master-seminars/

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