It’s been awhile since I last wrote down my thoughts in a blog post, but I’ve reflected a bit about the things that make me feel balanced, and this as it turns out was one of those things. Now, it is only really a balance if it’s something I truly want to write about. Last time I wrote I tried to force myself to write something once a week. While that got me to write more often, it became a bit of a chore at some point - not saying I didn’t want to write, just became something I had to do rather than something I wanted to do. Well, I’m writing this mainly for myself as a reflection of a thought I had earlier today after dying in the heat mowing the lawn. I sat down for a bit with the air conditioner blowing on my face, and just observed the outside world for a minute through the window. I thought about the things I had just listened to on a podcast, and things I’ve read in the past few days, and realized something quite interesting. Hansei (recognizing one’s own mistakes and pledging improvement) is vitally important to our daily lives.
I had thought about this term a bit, and often attributed "reflection" as hansei. However, hansei is a bit deeper and more personal. Starting with reflection is important though. Can you ask yourself how things are going? When? If we take the general PDSA improvement cycle, it requires a lot of reflection on what is happening. Study the situation, if you made a change, what happened? You gained new information, what did you learn? Hansei will then take you to the "so what will you do to improve?" part. So I sat in my chair, cooling down, thinking to myself, what have I learned? I have been listening to many podcasts about current events - whether it is the pandemic, protests, or politics. I came across a thought that I heard from a comedian - “don’t go to Twitter to find your opinion on what I just said.” Don’t go looking for your opinion in what others have said. Have I been really forming my own opinions from all the information I’ve been reading and listening to? What have I done to form a thought about these things? What will I do about it?
This made me realize there’s something more to this. I won’t go into the psychological studies of social media, but to generalize many of the findings, it basically creates a constant need for dopamine and it provides that to us in small continuous increments. It really doesn’t matter which platform it is, scrolling through post after post is a mainstay of social media. We are taking in a lot of information post after post. If you are a viewer of cable news networks, the same applies. Programming goes from one opinion show to the next. Depending on which network you watch, it will be giving you things that you generally agree on, not something that necessarily goes against your own conceptions. It provides that hit of dopamine and we feel good about what we have ingested. However, what have you learned?
I guess this is where my thought has come to. In our lives we will be constantly taking in information, and hopefully from many different and varying sources. When have I made the time to reflect upon that information? When have I asked myself, “what have I learned?” “What do I think about this?” “What more do I want to find out about?” This turns me to hansei. Striving to better oneself through deep reflection and practice of improvement. I think generally this is a life skill that is necessary for us all. I do have a thought on how this crops up in work as well.
Let’s take a company that, during this time, is considered an essential service. You can think of any one of the essential services for this. Now, the system around the company has changed. Whether that is a change in demand or a change in resources to meet that demand or any number of changes that have been occurring recently. The system is strained and our people feel it. This type of situation may become, as the book The Four Disciplines of Execution calls it, the whirlwind. In other words it is chaos, highly variable, or unpredictable. With this type of situation, one thing is coming at you one after the other and you need to respond to it quickly. There is not much time to think. Just do it. See what is coming, react, and hope it turns out ok. Those companies that follow this mantra are falling apart. In one instance you can see it in the strained morale of the employees - having to come to work and be put at risk each day. You can see it as the reactions from company management toeing the company policy line - “we are essential, you are important, we’re all doing our best.” These words do not provide the person with the feeling that everything is alright. The actions of reacting to fires that are constantly burning around you show that we are barely hanging on. When do you have time to step back, breathe, and ask “what is happening, what is going well, what can be done to improve, what will I do to improve this situation?” Taking the time to ask the questions and reflect, allows us to come together and more thoughtfully respond to the changing system, and seek stability.
Without standards there is no improvement; without hansei there is no learning.
It’s hard to force this time to occur, and especially for leaders, we must ensure this time is built in for ourselves and our teams. We deserve this time to reflect and learn from our experiences. Ask, listen, show respect. True leadership responds in ways to challenge thoughts and encourage learning. Life is growing to learn and learning to grow. Hansei is the way for this.
Seeking to learn and grow, I am making it a point that if I read some news, scroll through some social media, or watch some news programming (I still don't have cable, so am shielded from cable news at least) I will now take at least a few minutes and ask myself some powerful questions. What did this tell me? What was the context of what I heard or read? How has it challenged my current thoughts? In what ways do I need to change my current thoughts? What will I do with my new thoughts?
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