Don’t be ‘Prickly’ about continuous change!
It had been almost 10 years since I’d visited Canada – enough time to forget what a great country this is. Canada gets a bad rap in some quarters. The old joke was that the US invaded Canada, got bored and withdrew after 3 days. While funny, that’s probably unfair and Canada really has a lot to offer.
First Stop: We touched down in St John – home to those iconic dog breeds – Newfoundlands and Labradors. The big occasion was that my nephew, Peter, married a local girl. We caught up on all the family news and even got to see some Minke and Humpback Whales. The province is famous as the site for the 1st transatlantic wireless communication; the 1st transatlantic flight; the 1st responders to the Titanic’s distress signal – an event which occurred about 500 miles off their coastline. With a direct (4.5 hours) flight from Dublin, what’s not to like about this place?
Second Stop: The 2nd leg was a long cross-country trip to Winnipeg – a city that I used to refer to as the ‘Athlone of Canada.’ Winnipeg has come of age and is now well worth a visit, provided you bring your mosquito repellant. More family news and catch up – with a lot of pretending that people hadn’t gotten any older looking! Yes, lying with conviction is a key life skill!
Action Counseling: My niece, Tara, is a counsellor who works with troubled teenagers. Historically, clients came to see her at the office and they worked through the presenting issues. But the ‘no show’ rate was as high as 50%. When people’s lives are chaotic, keeping diary appointments is seldom top-of-the-to-do-list. So, they changed the method. She now meets clients in her car. And they go to McDonalds for a coffee or anywhere quiet where they can catch up. The ‘no show’ rate has declined to 10% and the clients say they prefer the more open settings. There’s also an emerging recognition that sitting ‘side by side’ (in a car) allows a depth of conversation on topics that are sometimes difficult in a face-to-face setting (staring directly at someone can seem very intrusive).
Program Evaluation: Of course, there are often unintended consequences to change. In this specific case, there’s a risk that key signals (e.g. body language) can be missed by the Therapist. Perhaps, a more difficult issue is the potential for boundaries to become blurred. A therapist is not a friend and may need to confront clients with aspects of behaviour that puts them at risk. To determine both the upsides and the downsides of the new approach, the centre where Tara works are seeking an external evaluation from the social-science department in a University to assess the changes made and determine the exact impact.
Lessons Learned: In this instance, we see the leaders of an existing programme – already deemed to be working well – deliberately changing how they operate. It’s in line with the Charles Kettering quip: “If you have always done it that way you are probably wrong.” They then have the courage to take a hard look at the changes implemented and learn from this. Some of us (myself included) are at fault in continually elevating ‘for profit’ organizations – seeing capitalism as the best driver for change. But, in reality, the ‘Science of Continuous Improvement’ is attitudinal. There’s something in this for all of us, regardless of where we work. So, here’s the question. When is the last time you initiated a major review of the way things work? As the Eskimos say: “If you don’t have a lead dog, the scenery never changes.”
Doubting Thomas: Perhaps you don’t believe in the necessity of continuous improvement? You might even think that ‘change’ has been oversold? Then consider the following gem from Dr. Liam Doherty. Based on information obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) and subsequently published by The Irish Daily Star: “Over 200 patients reportedly had the wrong body part operated on in Irish hospitals in the last 5 years i.e. 231 people had surgery on the wrong body part, place or side between 2012 and 2016.” Think about that the next time you are being wheeled to an operating theatre. Before you nod off into the fog of a general anesthetic, pray that the particular hospital you’ve chosen actively embraces the ideal of continuous improvement.It’s not just for Canadians.
Have a good week.
Paul
PS Lighter Notes:
Redundant Technology: Came across an interesting piece of technology this week called FlowLight. A small light which pulses either green or red reacts to an office workers key strokes, mouse clicks and movements. Apparently, when you are in the top 10% of your average daily activity (AKA when you are in ‘flow’) – the red pulsing light warms fellow workers to stay clear. The aim is to help people avoid the plague of distractions and interruptions – the constant stopping and starting of work that increases the risk of error and reduces productivity. In trials, interruptions decreased by 46%. Hey, what ever happened to just telling someone to F*** off?
From Tony Mooney in Canada (this joke actually makes my normal stuff look good). A Dwarf Psychic was arrested and imprisoned but subsequently escaped. Police are now looking for a small Medium at large.
Text Message From Husband: ‘Sorry I’m late honey. There’s a competition in the pub for who has the best wife and I’ve made it into the final group.’
The Consultant (from Larry McGivern)
Farmer Sam was overseeing his herd in a remote hilly pasture in Hereford when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced toward him out of a cloud of dust. The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, RayBan sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out the window and said:
“If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?”
Sam looks at the man then looks at his animals grazing peacefully and says: “Sure, why not?”
The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet. He then calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location that he feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo. The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany. Almost immediately he receives an email that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his iPhone. After 93 seconds, he receives a response. Finally, he prints out a full-colour, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer, turns to the Farmer and says: “You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves.”
“That’s right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves,” says Sam.
He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car. Then Sam says to the young man: “Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?”
The young man thinks about it for a second and then says: “Okay, why not?”
“You’re a Member of the European Parliament”, says Sam.
“Wow! That’s correct,” says the yuppie, “How did you guess that?”
“No guessing required.” answered Sam. “You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of pounds worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter than me you think you are; and you don’t know a thing about how working people make a living – or about cows, for that matter. This is a herd of sheep. Now give me back my dog.”
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Confessions of a Consultant 