Hardwiring What We Have Learned

“Hey, Julie, why do you brush your teeth every morning?”

“I guess I don’t think much about it. My mom taught me how and made me do it. Later I learned that it was necessary to prevent cavities, and I didn’t want my breath to scare away the boys. After brushing for so many years, it became a habit. I just do it without thinking. As Quint Studer would say, it became hardwired.”

“Often the environment where we live—like a little girl with her mother—forces us to retain, or hardwire, what we have learned. In school, we learned the course material to pass the final exam, to prepare for the next course in the sequence, to pass a comprehensive exam, to get through graduate school, and to be successful in our career. If we end up teaching the course we once took, that’s when we really learn the material.”

“If it’s a required course that we’ll never use, we forget the material the day after the final. And unless we have been using the subject matter each day, most everything—even the essential stuff—is gone after forty years. At least that’s what you told me.”

“Regrettably, I know about that first hand, Julie. Wiring comes in varying degrees of hardness, and in your case we’d like it to last through your professional career.”

“Okay, Curmudge, how do I hardwire Hunter’s leadership essentials that you listed in our last session? Is it a matter of practicing them over and over until they become second nature?”

“It sure is. But that won’t happen unless a person is accountable to herself or to someone else. Only about 10% of the people who take a course or read a book have the necessary inner discipline to become a servant leader by themselves. Usually people require external encouragement and sometimes even someone who will, figuratively, hold their feet to the fire.”

“I suppose that in a business or a hospital, the best ‘enforcer’ is one’s boss, right?”

“That’s a bit strong, Julie. If you are already a manager, even your direct reports will help you. Let’s look at Hunter’s three-step process: (1) Foundation: Set the standard in terms of required behavior for a leader. That comes from a book or workshop. (2)Feedback: Obtain 360-degree feedback from bosses, peers, and direct reports to identify the gaps between where you are and where you need to be as a servant leader. This will require that the leader-to-be possess a lot of humility and fortitude.”

“And guts, too, Curmudge.”

“The third step is Friction, or healthy tension. In this step we eliminate gaps and measure the results. Goals—usually based on the leadership essentials we listed last time—are established, and your 360-degree group members assess your progress. This provides accountability with a capital ‘A’. You’ll never achieve perfection, but this process should generate continuous improvement.”

“Continuous improvement! That sounds a lot like Lean.”

“The heart of servant leadership is respect for people; that also sounds like Lean. Perhaps, Julie, that’s why we are spending so much time talking about leadership.”

“After I’ve become a servant leader and go home and tell my husband about my accomplishment, do you know what he will say?”

“Congratulations, I hope.”

“He’ll say, ‘Yeah, Julie. What’s for supper?’ Then I’ll cry.”

“Me too, Julie.”

Affinity’s Kaizen Curmudgeon