Volume 1, Issue 5

June 29, 2010

The Temptation of Crisis

Crisis tempting?  Indisputably, calm is required to prevent hasty actions, reckless decisions and irreversible loss.  We know that despite the urge to act, we need to collect the right information, weigh options and proceed carefully.  We know that knee-jerk reaction decisions are as regrettable and permanent as tattoos, and everyone loves a hero.  Knowing better doesn’t always mean doing better.  We want out of pain, ambiguity, and boredom, and we want out now.  This drive manufactures crisis, leading to a downward spiral of frustration, exhaustion and regret.  
In Deming’s book, Out of the Crisis, he describes the funnel experiment, proving that a process in control delivers the best results is left alone.  For processes out of control, it is also the shortest path to getting control.  Yet when is doing nothing acceptable?  When strategic actions are chosen over tactical ones, long term vision over immediate reward and logic over human nature.

A Cycle of Balance

One of the basic tools in quality is the Plan Do Check Act (PDCA) cycle, introduced in Deming’s book.  Plans are made, executed, evaluated, and lessons learned.  Instead, human nature leads us to plan only on a yearly basis, not as a precursor to carrying out any action.  Actions are skewed toward ease, as difficult or undesirable tasks are procrastinated.  Evaluations of what went right and what went wrong are tainted from involvement, memory and perspective.  Creatures of habit, we fail to put changes in place as a result of lessons learned.  Due to these errors, a conscious intent to partake in each one of these steps is required, at a global level and to accomplish objectives.

Types of Manufactured Crises

Strategy: With so much more information and ideas, sticking to a strategy long enough for the tactics to produce results can be a challenge.
Planning: When a lack of planning is a plan to fail, Japanese spend five fold the time planning as Americans; yet complete the whole process (plan + do) in less than half the time.
Tactics:  Multi-tasking may seem like a time saver, but the brain simply cannot process information at the required rate.
Environment: Despite shows like Clean Sweep capitalizing on applying the principles of 5S in homes, mess looks busy, even if when busy adds up to the challenge of finding something when it’s needed.
Identity: Like Captain Jacob Van Zanten, KLM’s face for timeliness and safety, the impending loss of a deep identification with a hard earned reputation causes an inability to respond rationally to a situation.
Rewards: Recognizing individual experts for their unique ability to solve a problem instead of their ability to capture and transfer knowledge puts organizations at risk of sustainability and misses out on behaviour that leads to higher value results.
Acceptance: Like the automakers who continued to churn out unwanted vehicles, creating huge wastes of inventory, a failure to accept reality or responsibility prevents an ability to do anything about it, the delay eventually causing a crisis that could have been minimized or avoided altogether.
Volume: While equipment up time is scheduled at 80%, employees are usually over 100% planned utilization.  Projects fail or unnecessary time is spent influencing, chasing and managing priorities.

The Bottom Line of Manufactured Crises

While crisis mode can seem exciting and rewarding, a lack of drama leads to an ability to accomplish even loftier goals.  Shifting time into planning, be it an hour a week, or 10 minutes before making a decision can deliver less stress and better results.