My Journey to Why

My Why Statement

I few weeks ago I signed up with a mastermind group to learn Appreciative inquiry. I did not know what to expect. My friend Jason Makenzie had called me and asked if I would like to attend his 6 week mastermind group to go through an exercise of appreciative inquiry. I hesitantly said sure and thought I will throw myself into the activity fully to understand and learn something new that might help me get better at interacting with people and make me better at what I do.

So the process of Appreciative inquiry looked simple enough. Follow 4 steps and have a new vision and plan for obtaining that vision. Sounds very similar to my view on how to continuously improve an assembly line, a value stream, or an entire company. But I was going to use the process on myself instead of a process or machine. New concept for me.

So I thought this would be simple. It turns out to be simple but requires a ton of self-reflection and honest assessment of your-self. You need to be more honest with your-self than you have been in the past. Jason talks about being vulnerable and open and allowing your true self to shine through and not worry about what others think. The truth Jason has experienced and is encouraging me to experience is that most people want to help you succeed and grow, so by being vulnerable and open to the help that is available in the world your potential is only limited by your dream.

During the Discover phase I reflected on what I received joy from doing, and what parts of myself I bring to the experiences that added to the experience. For me teaching, coaching, mentoring people and or teams to learn something new and watch the application of that new knowledge brings me the most joy. There is no better thrill than working with a group of people and seeing the light turn on or the glass break, that moment when a person goes from sceptic to believer. When you see a person go from disengage to active contributor to exited advocate – there is nothing better. When I reflected on those moments with teams; I was open with what the target condition was; I clearly defined the vision of the future and why it was important to reach this different future rather than stay still with the current situation; I allowed my emotions and enthusiasm show to the team; I really got the team excited about reaching for the future and then getting out of the teams way so they could be creative to come up with solutions to the problems they felt passionate about.

The next set of questions Jason posed was along the lines of how would you create more of this feeling?

By focusing on creating more of the feelings you want, instead of focusing on the problems that are in the way, you will create more of what you want and there will be no more room for the bad things. A quote from Jason “No one ever hates themselves into success” To me this means to focus on the good things, and not the bad things.

To me this reflection led me to want to speak to groups about lean more, to try to run more improvement activities, to Mentor more people. For me I am really passionate about manufacturing and continuous improvement. When I combine this passion and the desire to talk with more people to turn more people onto the power and fun of continuous improvement I believe that we can save manufacturing, by getting people interested in manufacturing and using Lean to make manufacturing more competitive so that the products we buy are made close to where they are consumed rather than half way around the world.

After dreaming of a future were manufacturing is flourishing, and Lean Manufacturing is used by all to deliver more value in less time with less resources, I needed to think of some small steps that I could do now to move forward. So thinking about what I can do instead of what stood in my way, I decided to Talk to the local college Logistics and Industrial Engineering classes about my experiences in Lean Manufacturing. I also reached out to Gemba Academy to take part in the weekly pod cast on their web site. Booth the college and Gemba Academy Said sure.

I was interviewed by Ron Pereira of Gemba Academy and it will be aired Feb 2nd 2017. I will be speaking at Conestoga College on Feb 9th. As an unexpected I was asked by my employer to man a station at a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Conference on May 24th. I am currently writing a presentation for the AME (Association of Manufacturing Excellence) conference in October.

My next step will be to start adding web based training to my web page. I will need to move to a standalone web page (small road block). First step will be to make a few quick videos. As I take each step I will need keep the vision in mind and look for the small steps I can take. I think the next year is going to be fun.

The next set of Question Jason had for me was to fill out this sentence.

I help ___________

do _____________

so they can ______________

and not_________________

I was struggling with this. I was on the phone with my family one night as is so often the case and asked them what they thought.

My Daughter answered immediately for me

You help your Daughter do her homework so she can get good grades and get into an Engineering program and someday work for the Canadian space agency.

I thought wow that sound great, is that really what she see.

So I thought some more.

I Help people and companies be competitive and grow so they can keep as many people working as possible and not close the doors and move to a low cost geography.

I help people learn new tools and techniques so they can make their work easier to do, and not go home tiered and frustrated.

I help leaders create a vision of the future that is strong and compelling so they can inspire their teams to reach new heights and not get stuck in the day to day grind.

These are my Why Statements.

Hope you enjoyed my journey.

Paul Hill

The Lean Geek

#ActiveAppreciation #AppreciativeInquiry #MasterMind #SelfImprvement