Thursday, January 28, 2010

"Welcome to my (our) world."

“It’s unfortunate, Jaded Julie. Many of our best friends are at the extreme distant end of the political spectrum from my wife and me.”

“These days, that doesn’t leave very much for you to talk about.”

“That’s for sure. About all we can safely discuss are our children, mutual friends, and the weather.”

“Have you read Clark and Panther’s insights into differences of opinion (1)? Although their examples are from business situations, the talents they hope to develop in business leaders should be useful everywhere.”

“You’re correct as usual, Jaded Julie. A leader must respect the differences of opinion that exist among colleagues and resolve them into a productive path forward. In business they can’t be by-passed in favor of a discussion of the weather.”

“To begin, an expression of an opinion is a self-disclosure of a person who is deserving of our respect. Clark and Panther have stated, ‘Even when people’s opinions differ, the process of mutual self-awareness, self-disclosure and hearing builds bridges between them.’ The leader should listen carefully to each person’s opinion and then try to find common ground to serve as the basis for resolution.”

“To use Clark and Panther’s terms, ‘along with (the speakers’) disclosing their opinion (welcoming you to their world), they may be trying to convince their hearers that they ought to share the opinion (rearranging your world for you).’ The former sheds light; the latter tends to generate heat.”

“Curmudge, the concepts of sharing one’s world vs. attempting to rearrange someone else’s for them should be critical in personal affairs as well as in business.”

“Exactly, Julie. If we all adopted a ‘welcome to my world’ attitude, I’m certain that we would find beliefs we could share. Then we and our friends wouldn’t be limited to talking about our children.”

“It’s good that you and Mrs. Curmudgeon are in accord.”

“That’s for sure. If we weren’t, our 51 years of wedded bliss would have been 51 years (maybe fewer) of wedded stress.”

Affinity’s Kaizen Curmudgeon

(1) Clark, Keith and Panther, Mike Leadership: The Art of Empowering (Monte Alverno Retreat & Spirituality Center, 2009)

Check out the latest posting in Curmudge and Jaded Julie’s personal blog, Curmudgeon’s Wastebasket.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Father Clark's Sequence

“In an old Charlie Chaplin silent movie, Charlie was standing next to a woman, and they both were looking away from the audience. A person riding a bicycle and carrying a large package passed behind Charlie and the woman. As he did, the package brushed against the woman. She concluded that Charlie had touched her and began hitting the astonished Charlie on the head with her purse. So here, Jaded Julie, is the test: During this event, what processes did the woman experience?”

“I’ve got it Curmudge. The woman perceived something, felt that she had been improperly touched, and behaved as a Chaplin fan might expect by hitting Charlie over the head. So the three things that occurred were perception, feeling, and behavior. I guess one would say that she jumped to a conclusion.”

“It was funny in the movie but not a good idea in real life. Jumping to a conclusion is only a small part of a larger lesson: ‘A manager must be successful at managing himself before he can hope to manage others.’”

“Sounds like it’s important. I trust you’ll provide more details.”

“Of course, Julie. The details, as well as the quoted statements below, are from Clark and Panther’s book (1). The authors feel that there must be three mental steps—not one—between perception and behavior. The whole process is Perception → Interpretation → Feeling → Decision → Behavior.”

“I’ll bet, Curmudge, that this is one of those things that leaders have to hardwire.”

“Right, Julie. Let’s consider what the steps really mean. To have meaning, what is perceived must be interpreted. ‘I never feel as I do because of what somebody else did; I feel as I do because of how I interpret what I perceived of another’s behavior.’ ‘My feelings tell me that I have interpreted something as having meaning for me.’ ‘Between my feeling which prompts me toward some behavior and the behavior itself, there is a decision about what action I will choose.’ ‘My perceptions, interpretations, feelings, and decisions affect no one but myself…but my behavior has consequences beyond myself.’”

“That’s quite a mouthful, Curmudge. I’d better think through it again slowly. The steps in the process make clear what one must do to manage himself. They are a good way to avoid jumping to a conclusion or ‘going off half-cocked.’”

“Well, Julie, if the woman in the movie had known what we know now, what should she have done?”

“In interpreting her perception, she should have tried to discern whether the touch was a hand (Charlie’s, but it was holding an umbrella) or the package on the bicycle. That would have determined her feeling about the event. A better decision could have been to strike up a conversation with Charlie, and their behavior might have been walking away together, arm-in-arm. But no one watching the movie would have laughed.”

“So here’s the lesson. Taking the wrong action on the basis of a perception can cause a physical hurt, as Charlie experienced. Saying words that hurt is more likely in the non-movie world, but that shouldn’t occur with leaders who properly manage themselves. As Father Clark has stated, this process ‘can almost assure that our conversations will allow us to connect with each other rather than collide.’”

“That must be a pretty good book, Curmudge. Would you lend it to me before you forget where you put it?”

Affinity’s Kaizen Curmudgeon

(1) Clark, Keith and Panther, Mike Leadership: The Art of Empowering (Monte Alverno Retreat & Spirituality Center, 2009)

Check out the latest posting in Curmudge and Jaded Julie’s personal blog, Curmudgeon’s Wastebasket.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Curmudgeon's Wastebasket

“It’s a new year, Jaded Julie, and change is in the air.”

“I thought it was just a breeze blowing in from a farm outside of town. So what’s the change, Curmudge?”

“Do you recall our holiday greeting last month? To say the least, it was not all sweetness and light. I was concerned that we might offend someone by referring to Orwell’s book, 1984. There are over 4,000 employees at Affinity, and we dare not offend any of them in a corporate blog like Kaizen Curmudgeon.”

“It sounds as if you are saying that the content of Kaizen Curmudgeon must be plain vanilla, pristine pure, and squeaky clean. But a totally noncontroversial curmudgeon is an oxymoron. I suppose you’ll change your name to Santa Claus and mine to Snow White.”

“No way, Julie. Kaizen Curmudgeon will be unchanged. We’re going to start a personal blog to be a companion to the Kaizen Curmudgeon corporate blog. Let’s call the new blog Curmudgeon’s Wastebasket.”

“Might as well. That’s where the Kaizen Curmudgeon rejects go when we deep-six them, especially if they contain something controversial.”

“What is controversial, Julie, depends on the reader’s outlook. Nevertheless, our intent for Curmudgeon’s Wastebasket is just like that for Kaizen Curmudgeon—to share information with readers that they might not otherwise encounter. Our focus will continue to be Lean, health care, and leadership, but we’ll leave room for other topics—stuff that is so compelling that it demands to be shared.”

“I’m concerned, Curmudge. How will readers know about Curmudgeon’s Wastebasket? Should we publicize it by shouting from the top of the parking ramp? Maybe we could establish a ‘Code Curmudgeon’ to be announced whenever there is a new posting.”

“It shouldn’t be hard. We’ll just put a link in Kaizen Curmudgeon to direct readers to each new posting in Curmudgeon’s Wastebasket.”

“With all of these changes, I hope you are not forgetting about Lean.”

“This is Lean, Julie. We are respecting our readers’ sensitivities and continuously improving our blogging.”

“I’m with you, Curmudge. See you in Curmudgeon’s Wastebasket.”

Affinity’s Kaizen Curmudgeon

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Volunteering: the Seniors’ Raison D’être

“You can’t snow me with your French, Curmudge. You taught me months ago that raison d’être means ‘reason for being’ or ‘sense of purpose.’ It’s like my cat’s raison d’être is sleeping.”

“We’re going to talk about people, Jaded Julie, not lazy cats. So instead of raison d’être, we’ll use a somewhat comparable Japanese word, ikigai (pronounced ee-ki-guy). It refers to people’s feeling that their lives are valuable (1), and anyway, everything sounds more dignified spoken in Japanese.”

“I always have to ask, ‘What does this subject have to do with Lean in health care?’“

“The only connection with Lean is that ikigai is Japanese. But our subject is gerontology, which deals with the health and well-being of older people. The link is tenuous, but it’ll do until something better comes along. So let’s begin our discussion with a question: What’s an easy way to bring about the premature demise of an older, dedicated worker?”

“That’s a simple one, Curmudge. Unless the guy is an avid golfer, all you have to do is take away his job. For many people their profession is their identity. When their profession goes, their reason for being goes too. I guess the Japanese would say that their ikigai is in the tank.”

“That’s a good example, Julie, but it’s a mighty sad story anywhere in the world. To address that and other problems of aging, the Japanese have established their Silver Human Resource Center (SHRC) program which provides part-time, paid employment to retirement-aged men and women. In studies of the program’s effectiveness, Weiss et al. found that actively working at an SHRC job was associated with greater well-being (ikigai); the response was enhanced with men who had previous volunteering experience (2). Shirai et al. concluded that ‘recognition of life change through obtaining work may enhance ikigai among people who wish to engage in productive activities in the later stages of life’ (3).”

“That sounds pretty good. Perhaps the Japanese can teach us something other than the Toyota Production System. What can be done in the U.S.?”

“I read someplace that the U.S. leads the world in charitable giving. Maybe we are also as generous with our time as volunteers. Teaching children to read, feeding the homeless, serving as host parents for Rotary international exchange students; the opportunities to serve in the Valley are almost limitless. And of course, here in the hospital there are over 250 volunteers serving in 57 different assignments.”


“I get it, Curmudge. When we focus on helping others, we subconsciously raise our own ikigai. Of course it’s not subconscious with you because you just wrote it.”

“I doesn’t matter, Julie, as long as one enjoys what he or she is doing and does it with enthusiasm.”

“Ultimately each of you senior-citizen volunteers will have to face the Grim Reaper who will bring your service to an end.”

“Jaded Julie, when that happens to me I’ll just say, ‘Wait a minute, old Guy with Scythe, I have just a few more words to write.’”

Affinity’s Kaizen Curmudgeon

(1) Nakanishi, N. ‘Ikigai’ in older Japanese people. (1999)
http://ageing.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/28/3/323.pdf
(2) Weiss, R.S., et al. Japan’s silver human resource centers and participant well-being. (2005)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15870967?ordinalpos=1&itool=PPMCLayout.PPMCAppController.PPMCArticlePage.PPMCPubmedRA&linkpos=1
(3) Shirai, K. Factors associated with "Ikigai" among members of a public temporary employment agency for seniors. (2006) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1450260/