After tentatively putting a toe into the water of the world of blogging a just few days ago I feel tempted again to write, but before I do I have to remind myself and you the reader that I am not a lean expert. A fact that has been made crystal clear in my first venture of facilitating a team.
One of the follow up pieces of work to our first team event is to establish visual management of our lean transformation in the form of a war room or mission control room. Now I don't know if the same laws of organizational physics apply everywhere but in my world the law that is nearly as powerful as gravity is that of what I call the Hatfields and McCoys paradox. This paradox is one in which intelligent and rational individuals who normally are cordigal and collaborative transform into two feuding families (hence the Hatfields and McCoys reference) who cannot remember what even started the fight. The main trigger of the paradox is turf, land, space....a feud I suppose that has plagued human history for centuries.
In the context of my follow up work the paradox has caused a degree of tension around the location of a simple whiteboard. It should be in my space, it should not be in yours. It should be in neutral ground, it should be easily accessible (to me at least). And so I face my first facilitation challenge!
With shaking hands I pull out my copy of Crucial Conversations and reflect on what it is I want when speaking to the nearly gun-toting Hatfield currently in my office? How do I save the relationship with the McCoy that ambushes me in the hall on the way to the bathroom?
Ah, but I exaggerate! Nothing in this world is nearly as bad as we make it out to be in our heads, or nearly as good either. So with some smiling and some well crafted dialogue the issue is settled and the whiteboard goes up. Peace is again restored and the work of continuous improvement goes on, while respect for people shines through.