Rapidinnovation -- A case study in Organizational Development & Change

The Backdrop:

A ductile iron pipe factory operates in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India. It is a joint venture between the famous Tatas and Kobutu Pipes of Japan. This factory is run by Japanese managers and supervisors and even some Japanese operators. They provided the technology, set up the plant, run the operations on a day to day basis and guide the Indian workers, supervisors and managers too.

The problem:

Ever since the Japanese installed their plant, 3.5 years ago, productivity never went beyond 50% of the rated capacity and quality rejections hovered around 10%, which they wanted to bring down below 5% level.

The approach taken by the Japanese managers:

They took their usual approach to analyze problems one by one. For that they employed all of their famous quality tools plus a mix of TPM and TQM approach. Huge amount of data were collected, to which one executive jokingly commented that data collection has generated so much paper that it could possibly cover the whole of Kharagpur

They tried their methods for the last 3.5 years without any success. Neither productivity nor quality improved by even 1%.

That is when the Chairman of the company invited me over to show him some 'magic' (he always jokingly refers to me as a 'magician', since he experienced my method 7 years back as a MD of another company)

Application of Rapidinnovation

My approach to the issue, that is application of Rapidinnovation, ran something like this:

Step 1: create an internal team focused on improving reliability and resilience of the organization to face this challenge. The team was a mix of junior, middle and high level executives. Fortunately I found this combination has an advantage of accelerating change.

Step 2: was to initiate them in the new thinking process and solving problems. Taught them my all time favorite method of Improvement through design, named Rapidinnovation -- a) make them see the connection between all problems. Obviously, not all problems are to be tackled one by one. Only the critical nodes are to be address to resolve the issue holistically b) Show them the unity of the opposites to take the "creative middle" c) Minimal invasion or change based on the principle that a small change creates the desired change in the system both quantitatively and qualitatively. d) How all processes and phenomena would naturally negate their present existence to go back to the previous one hence developing a method of spotting changes and adapting quickly in a given situation. The focus was to creatively strike a balance between 'reliability' and 'resilience'.

Two significant ideas of the approach were.

a) The design changes appeared seemingly insignificant. Extremely small changes (pivot points or lever points -- a lesson I learned from Judo). Now I call this Minimalist invasion surgery.

b) No specific attention was given either to improve productivity or quality. In fact not a single quality problem was addressed in the entire engagement. The changes had a holistic effect -- i.e. small changes had their effect on the whole (principle of interdependence)

Step 3: was to work out a few problems directly for them to believe that the method of problem solving and improvement works. That is what I term as the Non-Process in problem solving i.e. -- Examine things in isolation and then see them in their own environment (interdependence, interactions and the 'struggle'). Objective is to help things continue their 'struggle' to be in the 'creative middle' of everything.

Step 4: was to encourage them to apply the method themselves and gain internal confidence and esteem. Here my role was that of a facilitator and a critic.

Step 5: make them think about quickly spotting changes to quickly adapt to improve resilience within the organization.

Step 6: walk the creative middle.

The Results

The results were astounding: Productivity increased by 100% to reach the 100% of rated capacity and quality rejections reduced and came down below the 5% level (i.e. by 100% from former levels) in just under 5 months and the results are consistent over the past 4 months at the time of writing this event. This innovative intervention left the organization with on going benefits for possibly years (that has been my intention in all my previous engagements, which were so far successfully achieved barring a negligible few, 2 out of 50 to be precise).

Appreciation & Comments

a) This is what the Chairman of the company commented:

"Thanks Dibyendu;

I am keeping track of the developments – and the results a lot of confidence that TMKPL would be ranked as one of the best performing cos. in DIP business in the world.

Thanks for accepting the challenge and carrying it forward well.

I had asked Somenath to get across to you about BF opn. ; did he get across to you?

Harsh"

(now he wants the magic for another plant focusing on operation)

b) This is what a senior team member had to comment. I loved it since they see the approach as something that changes 'culture'. (His reference to Reliability Management is the name of my consulting firm RMCPL, solely engaged in problem solving.)

Quote

...RELIABILITY MANAGEMENT is not a problem solving tool, its more of OBSERVING THE PROBLEMS IN A DIFFERENT FASHION AND TOTALLY A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO SOLVE THESE PROBLEMS. It has changed the mind set and APPROACH towards solving problems amongst the team members. RELIABILITY MANAGEMENT IS A TOOL FOR CULTURAL CHANGE throughout the organization which is reflected not only in availability increase of the equipment but also in reduction in the percentage of Rejection and other improvements.

More success will come if we can deploy and involve more people across the organization into this approach.

G Dhar, Manager, TMKPL, Kharagpur

Unquote.

Lesson learned:

Organizational Development and Change Management must always be centred around the reality of problems, challenges and threats an organization suffers from. Then only changes to the way people work happen. Similarly, innovation is also centred around unexpected events that happen in an organization.

A Vision -- The Creative Middle - A life of Non-Fear

On the evening of 10th of December 2011, I was suddenly presented with a rather unusual vision just after my regular meditative session that slowly and carefully unfolded before me.

At first it presented me with pictures of the present reality where a human being controls and captures another and everything he/she has by manipulation of minds. Once the captive's mind is confused and muddled the captor constantly sucks out the life force from the generally helpless captives turned into willing slaves surrendering all they have to offer to serve the ulterior motives of their captors.

The usual attitude that helps such manipulative captors are any of the following:

'I am holier than thou'

'I can have you because of who I am and what I can pay'

'I know more than you do'

'What I am telling or asking you to do is for your good'

'God wants this to happen to you'

And many more of such...

Though the words change, the underlying attitude of 'captors' remains the same. In some way a captor feels superior enough in some way compared to the captive and therefore reserves the unquestioned right to dominate, control, exploit and manipulate their captives forcing them to live a life of real and imagined 'fears'.

We are also constantly confronted by theories of all kinds framed not only to inform us but guide and rule us even through moments of personal crisis. It happens all the time. Whether it is a decision on where to park your money or your car or what to do after marriage or what to eat or how to work, play, live or die or what to study, take care of one's health or how to treat women in our society.

We are surrounded by theories, opinions, ideas of someone or a group of people forcing us to join this group or the other or forcing us to believe in this theory or that or forcing us to become capitalist or socialist or forcing us to be this or that. It is as if we have just surrendered our spirit and will to a conqueror. We have no time to feel, reason and experiment with what we are offered with before we accept it to be helpful or good to us. In most cases we are not presented with alternatives. It appears that we aren't left with any choice of our own. And the truth is nothing has worked well for the majority so far. 

In brief, this is the age where a small set of people take on the responsibility to decide for the majority through their usually deft and disguised manipulative moves. People must be free to decide their own lives and how they want to live it in the way they like to live it owning the consequences of their actions themselves.

Why can't we stay right in the middle of opposing tendencies and opposing currents of thoughts where possibilities of all creative movements unfold?

The vision had more on offer.

It revealed to me that the new age would be the age of the 'personal educator'. Learning anything from practical situations would be a matter of personal choice where deep learning that moves from essence to deeper essence would emerge to inform our mindful actions shaping our way of life.

If this is to be so, the teacher and the student would be the same. It means everyone must invoke the spirit of the 'teacher' and the 'student' in oneself. While such a journey might be helped by other educators or teachers who have walked the path authentically, their help and support would be restricted to sharing the learning process illustrated by their real live examples that incents and initiates similar feeling-thinking-learning process in others.

Understanding and imbibing the process of feeling-thinking-learning and using the process recursively to reach deeper and deeper essence of the interconnected but changing whole in order to find solutions for oneself would be more important than relying on the understanding and wisdom of others however lucrative or brilliant they might seem to be.

Soon this turns into a movement that leverages ones strength, which liberates oneself and others to live a live free of fear. How? The personal power of such 'self educated' men and women would attract similar men and women to walk the same path or make the same personal journey. And the process can be passed on from one to the other. 

Other than the process no more principles are to shared or information need to be passed on. Everything has to be learned 'just in time', 'in its own environment' and 'holistically'. No generalizations. No old formulae. No blazing ideals. No constant guidance of enlightened gurus. That is what a liberated fearless self educator would do. Once done, a liberated non-fearing self educator would not hold anyone captive in his/her influence by any means. No domination by any physical/psychic/sub-conscious devices. Each live by his/her own perceptions along with the responsibility of facing the consequences such perceptions bring about. 

It would be a age of infinite collaboration based on mutual respect and trust, self organizing in nature where means of living are self designed based on learning and understanding of one's own 'moment to moment' experience thus enriching the ever changing, connected and interdependent whole of humanity.

However, this would also need a disease free body, a trained mind and a healthy self esteem born out of mindful actions and helped by a learning process to discern the changing reality and acting upon it to live and enjoy a life of 'non-fear'.

What a life that would be -- a life contextually designed (life centric design) by an individual's learning helping him/her to lead a life free of fears.

This is what the splendid vision was....The Creative Middle -- A Life of Non-Fear!!

Is it time for action????

 

The Monkey's Paw

“Your father is in the hospital”. He was playing caroms with his friends. Bappa was trying hard to put the “queen” into the pocket. His fingers became numb. He eased the fingers. The striker ricocheted at the corner rather directionless. He rushed to the hospital. He was late. He is only twenty years. He saw his mother sobbing. His sister was still in her school uniform.

 

Bappa got twenty lakhs rupees as life insurance coverage of his father. How to run the family? He sat at the locality roadside tea shop --- wandering what to do. Some construction workers asked him the way to a particular construction site. Bappa murmured something incoherent. They laughed. One of his friends joined. “I won’t stay in the house.  My mother has made my life miserable. Is it my fault if I do not get a decent job?’

 

Bappa and four of his friends pooled in all their resources. They decided to become builders. They started looking for joint families who on  the verge of breaking; dilapidated old buildings – crumbling due to lack of maintenance; land owners – tenants ever sour relationship; Novo rich trying to sell off their ancestral property and settling at a “posh” locality. Bappa had his hands full. He found a lot of people wanting to sell of their property. In other words handing over the old building and building a new one for them with some extra flats.

 

“Paramount Constructions” in which Bappa is one of the partners has constructed ten projects so far. Bappa has earned an epithet for him--- “building shark”. He has amassed a lot of money but still he buys his jeans from pavement shopkeepers at Esplanade. He does not own a car and prefers the public transport. His wife feels like a piece of furniture in the home. Bappa comes late. Eats quietly and retires to bed. Sometimes wakes up, scribbles something in the pad and goes off to sleep. Wakes up early before other members get up, rushes to the construction site to oversee the work. 

 

Those who had purchased flats from Paramount Constructions have a lot of complaints. Bappa has promised the moon to the prospective flat owners but did not keep his ever flowing promises. Bappa intentionally forgets simple things like fixing a letter box, an extra circuit breaker, installing outside lights; gates in the entrance of the building. These small things irritate the flat owners. Many a time people are seen quarreling with him. No one recommends his name. Once bitten “thrice” shy.

 

Bappa works on a ‘forward integration plan’. He had teamed up with a furniture making shop, an electrician, a painter and an interior decorator. People buying flats often look for these things to complete their “decoration “of the flat. He supplies the men and materials on an agreed commission from them. Bappa is quite popular among his peers. He gives business to them and they are happy.

 

Bappa’s excellence in work has diminished over the projects. The materials, workmanship, architectural style has all nose dived but still his flats are being sold. Other builders are more than willing to create a market for themselves in the upcoming middle class locality but couldn’t find success. The recession did not have an impact on Paramount Construction. They trudged on. It is a riddle which remained unsolved.

 

Note:

This is really an intriguing case so wonderfully told by Mr. Sitendu De. Thanks, Sitendu, for your your contribution of this lovely story. Hugs!

Be the Hen -- A Metaphor for Mentors

For quite sometime I was trying to find an appropriate 'metaphor' for 'mentoring' till I found the cock, hen and a chick foraging for food at the backyard of a common marketplace.

The picture immediately struck me as the perfect 'metaphor' I was in search of.

The cock is busy pecking the ground for his own food and is quite unmindful of what is going around him; much less others.

But then I see the hen feeding herself in a very mindful manner. She is not only finds food for herself but also periodically scratches the ground to turn up food for her chick to feed on. Thereby she is busy creating opportunities for herself and others.

She was acting like all mentors do. Mentors are busy with their work in such a manner that it creates opportunities for others under their wings to learn, feed upon and grow.

Bosses are like the cock -- always busy with themselves.

Mentors are like the hen -- also very busy with themselves but with an eye for others too!

Counting Money or Contributions?

The task of an owner of any 'robust' business is to simply count money at the end of each working day.

This is because the resource that primarily fuels such businesses is 'money'.

Therefore, the health of such businesses is measured by 'grades' or 'rankings within peer group' and hard financial numbers and quarterly profits.

However the owners of 'resilient' business and entrepreneurs count on a different resource.

Their primary resource is humans.

When the resource is 'human' the currency involved is made up of a basket of stories, narratives, ideas, dialogs, engagements.

Therefore, they count human 'participation' and 'contributions' and at times they count the money gained from such human 'contributions' for a more equitable distribution. 

The health of such enterprises is measured by 'comments' users make about their experiences with owners of resilient businesses and entrepreneurial firms.

 

Education - Social Innovation in CSR

This is a story of social innovation that became a part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of Tega Industries, Kolkata, India.

Workers' Training is the theme of the story, which started out as an experiment, maturing into a full grown CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activity.

What prompted the Experiment?

For years we have been led to believe that workers are to be trained in the work they do in the factories. The concept is based on the inaccurate understanding that both work and workers are something similar to machines since a factory tends to work like a machine day in and out. Therefore, their work can be reduced to some simple steps and techniques that are teachable through standardized methods.

Therefore, the courses and training so far imparted to workers have been very dry, technical and often boring in nature, for instance, how to operate a lathe or a press or how to weld and cut etc.

No doubt it is important for a worker to learn the basic tricks of the trade. But somehow on the way we forgot that a worker belongs to the human kind and is not a robot designed to perform boring and repetitive work hours on end. The worker like most humans would want to know the why, what and how of most things and thereby derived the necessary self esteem to live, respect others and understand the interdependent connections they have with others. 

We also forgot that with the growth of technology and innovation humans have become appendages to the machines they work with. That is the design of the machines slowly and surely over time evolved to be free of human interferences operating with some sort of machine 'intelligence'. Examples abound. Humble lathes have transformed into CNC machines. Welding is no longer dependent on human skills of weaving, moving and lifting but on fine controls of welding pugs and automated machines, and so on...

What does that mean?

It means that the tedium of repetitive work has now been taken over by machines liberating the human spirit in search of something beyond themselves. They can now create value through various interactions and dialogs created in the context, employ technology in more skillful ways and understand the why, what and how of things to improve further.

It also means that never before in the past 200 years of our industrial age society, workers got opportunities to raise their real self esteem, respect the skill and contributions of others and realize that they and their work are all interdependent part of something much bigger than what they can individually produce.

Issues considered in design of Social Innovation

There were four more issues that informed our design of the new approach to educating workers in the context of of present reality. These were:

a) People learn best from each other and through their own work than they ever learn through teachers. In this process only skillful 'facilitation' helps. For example, in the initial years of computer literacy in India, people learned from each other not from established institutions and officially designated teachers. This is the single most important factor that helped fuel the computer revolution in India till the "burden" of making people literate has now been hijacked by mushrooming technical colleges imparting computer education.

b) At no point of time in the last 20 years has foreign investment – direct and portfolio – exceeded 10 percent of our domestic investment. Our growth is due to our domestic savings which is again predominately household savings. Our housewives require awards for our growth not any western fund manager. It means that if the earning capacity of the workers can be increased in real terms then a company actually contributes to the national growth in ways apparently unseen. To my mind this is the real cost benefit of conducting a CSR activity where for a very small cost both the company and the nation benefit multi-fold.

c) In India, families are organized while governments disorganized. Organized family has been the mainstay of Indian civilization, culture and national wealth. So, can our course be designed to strengthen familial bonds to strengthen the economic base of the nation.

d) As a civilization, Indian culture places a lot of importance on 'learning' to the point of reverence and considered as a prime component of life and living.

With these in mind we set about designing an appropriate course for the workers with an eye to life long learning supported by the company.

The Practical Solution

The structure as it evolved centered around 4 main subjects, which were the following:

a) The practical applications of Science and Maths with an aim for self discovery by the participants in their daily work.

b) The practical application and use of English language with the objective of enhancing self esteem and understanding issues involved in their environment much of which were built on the use of English.

c) Skill enhancement to not only apply computer applications in a practical manner in their field of work but also to assist their supervisors in computer related work.

d) Personality and attitude improvement through understanding and discovering the self and eliminating weakness in personality and attitude through self rewiring of the brain. For this the method of 'graphology' was introduced and applied. 

Anyone willing to undergo the course was registered for the course. The company provided the necessary space and resources. However, each worker invested two hours of their own time for five days a week to undergo the program. The program has three levels of difficulty to master where a year for mastering each level was given to the workers. 

Four skilled facilitators leading 'authentic' lives took up the challenge to engage in movement.

Results

This pilot course is now two years old and the results have been more than astounding. Some of which are the following:

a) The workers self organized themselves to install a new machine in three days time before the engineers of the manufacturer could arrive at site for installation. When the service engineers arrived on the scene they were taken aback by the accuracy of the installation, which would have normally taken them five days to achieve.

b) All the workers showed marked improvement in their performance and quality as evidenced in structured surveys conducted by the company to monitor the progress and effectiveness of the training.

c) Many were found to operate computer applications to keep track of their own work and assist their supervisors in creating and maintaining production records.

d) Many found themselves in the permanent role of the company thus enhancing their pay and benefits that largely contributed to enhanced savings for their families. For some workers the average household 'savings' have doubled in two years time.

e) Large number of small innovations were done by these workers in a self organizing manner.

f) Many reported improved marital and family relationships that enhanced their internal motivation at work and living. There were many specific cases where participants were able to come out of emotional confusion, depressions, emotional distress and stress, migranes, effects of traumatic childhood expriences and personal limitations thereby leading more happier and productive lives.

g) Over 60% of the participants reported increase in household savings in real terms as compared to previous years without any real increase in wages compounded to an average inflationary rate of around 10%. 

h) And 100% wanted to continue the education for more years and even thought of converting it into a personal life long effort.

The moral:

Traditional workers’ training is 'physical' in its form and function. This new program addresses the issues of learning and improvement of work, life and living from the 'mental' and the 'spiritual' planes of human existence. If the results are any indicators, the way it has unfolded; the approach of addressing human issues and problems from the human spirit holds promises to redesign for the better many of our human activities in the future.

 

Case of Surja - The Entrepreneur

Surja Maity was from the family of tailors. He learnt sewing from his father. They owned a ramshackle shop. Their business grew only during the months of festivities where people came to sew their new clothes. Whatever they earned was spent in buying essential things of life. Surja grew restless. He was determined to lead a comfortable life.

 

Surja was approached by a person dealing with hosiery goods. He put up a business plan to Surja. Surja was supposed to buy a special sewing machine which sews hosiery clothing like vests, undergarments and Tees. All bulk orders from different hosiery manufacturers would be placed to Surja. 

 

Surja was worried. The special sewing machine costs around Rs. 90,000/- and also he needs special experienced craftsmen. He approached the local money lender who refused to help him. He approached many a banks who demanded huge collateral security which he unfortunately did not have. His friends, relatives all shooed him away. Surja thought his dream will always remain a dream. Lastly he approached his local councilor who arranged an interest free loan of Rs 50,000/- from a government scheme. For rest of the money Surja pawned his ramshackle shop.

 

He bought the sewing machine. Everyone in his family was eager to start their new journey from poverty to posterity. Order came in trickles. Surja’s wife garnered all the support. She taught the other women folk who were else busy quarreling among themselves in front of the road side tap the art of sewing hosiery products. Slowly Surja’s family bought two more sewing machines. Many reputed hosiery brands placed orders to him.

 

Eight years have passed by. Surja has built a new house. The locality women folk flaunt their newly found economic status. Surja has employed about fifty women who earn around three thousand rupees a month. Surja is happy. He has given something back to the community.

Living, Loving & Risk

Most earn their living by doing often boring and repetitive tasks and activities which others might be able to do just as well. They thrive on performance against time. It is risky since when either performance or time fails you lose your job or get underpaid. You might not be able to love yourself for that making evolution of your spirit difficult if not impossible. 

Some earn their living by solving problems for others. They thrive on performance. The risk is medium. That might enable you to love yourself and improve your self esteem and also create the right platform to evolution of the human spirit. 

Few earn their living by accepting challenges or by challenging themselves. They thrive on their innate skills loving applied to challenges that bolsters self esteem. The risk is low enough to bother much enabling natural evolution of the human spirit. 

Only a rare few amongst us earn their living by creating opportunities for others and themselves that stubbornly refuses to border on exploitation. They thrive on love alone. And the risk is nil. Evolution of the human spirit is almost guaranteed.

The opportunity and choice of evolving ourselves are in our hands.

 

Case of Govindo - The Entrepreneur

Govindo Chakraborty is an atheist. Many a days he went to bed hungry. There was no money. His father did not send him to school as he could not afford his education. His other three brothers passed out from reputed colleges and got jobs.  Not knowing what to do, Govindo boarded the next available train from Howrah station not even aware where it was going. The train took him to Punjab. He was fourteen years old then. He spent the night at the platform. He approached a Sardaji for a job. The Sardarji took a liking for Govindo and took him to his home.

 

 Govindo learnt that Sardarji was in sports gear manufacturing business. He had a large factory making cricket bats, hockey sticks, carom boards, cricket balls, footballs all manufactured under a reputed sports brand. Govindo was wander struck how with precision they made those cricket bats. Govindo made up his mind; it is this business which he has to do. His lack of education would not hamper the progress.

 

Govindo was a quick learner. He grasped the intricate details. The special type of wood, the seasoning, the measurements ----- Govindo learnt it all. This was the profession that kept him alive mentally and physically. On his twenty fifth birthday,  Govindo boarded a Kolkata  bound train. He was determined set up his own sports manufacturing activity in his hometown.

 

Govindo along with a handful of craftsman started making cricket bats and carom boards for local youngsters. It was fun. Soon it became a hit with the youngsters. They helped to spread the word all around. The goods were of good quality and priced moderately. His enterprise flourished. People from neighbouring districts came to buy his products in bulk. Govindo started to send his consignment to neighbouring states.

 

Govindo Chakraborty has now thirty craftsmen working under him. He has opened five shops and a warehouse. He still does not visit any place of worship.  

 

But he is still an entrepreneur at heart loving what he does best!

 

Note:

This story was contributed by Mr. Sitendu De. Grateful for his contribution.

Case of Suresh Sen -- The small entrepreneur

Suresh Sen migrated to Kolkata from Faridpur, Bangladesh immediately after independence. It was just after independence and employment was scarce. Not knowing what to do he joined a ceramic making factory as an apprentice. He got a pittance with which he was unable to maintain his family. Suresh Sen used to work throughout the day trying to learn the tricks of the trade.

 

A decade past by. Suresh was deft in handling the job. He knew well almost everything of ceramic clay pottery ---- the types of clay, the right temperature, designs, marketing of the products. Suresh had a dream of opening a ceramic factory of his own. He approached four of his friends who were also in the ceramics profession to pool in their resources. They agreed.

 

They had built their own dream factory and started by selling bone china pottery. Selling was brisk but volume was large. He had to acquire more space for keeping his finished products. Another problem arose was of different designs and the luster of the product. He had to keep pace with the designs. With Chinese one up in the race he had to compete with them. Soon he started loosing in the race. His sales figure dwindled. His friends deserted him taking away their share of profits. His workers did not desert him. They had faith in this man.

 

Suresh was crestfallen. He thought heavens had fallen. His savings were unable to sustain him for a long time. He wondered around for advice. Many consultants drove him away. Suresh was not to be cowed down for long. A reputed consultant advised him to change his product. They told him to switch over to ceramic power insulators. He quickly approached the power sector manufacturing units. There was huge shortfall of the products and they wanted more.

 

Once again the factory smoke bellowed from the chimneys. Production gained momentum. Now he made only ceramic insulators. There were no friends as partners. His grown-up sons and daughter-in-laws helped him. Within a couple of years he bought another factory at Kalyani, 15 kms from Kolkata. Many people approached him for work. But he trained them in ceramic making so that they earn their livelihood. Many people under his influence opened up shops selling ceramic products. They also earned handsomely.

 

There was a stream of mourners when Suresh Sen died. After all the people owe to him a lot.

Was he a successful businessman or did he only listen to advices? What made him successful? How did he contribute to society?

Entrepreneur King; his Pink City & the Future

Maharaja Jaisingh - 1688 - 1743 - (photo taken from the murals of the Jaipur museum).

Maharaja Jaisingh was an exceptional king. Amongst many of his great achievements in the 18th century was building of the city of Jaipur, which is still intact, vibrant and fully operational. But he built this city with a purpose. He wanted it to be a great trading center rather than a fort like city which was the prevalent style during those days.

And he hit upon a very novel idea. He thought to turn his subjects into micro entrepreneurs and traders so as to transform his desert kingdom into a wealthy and flourishing one. With this in mind he built small shops within the city with wide roads for transportation of goods. He also wanted to make it aesthetically pleasing. Therefore all buildings were made out of pink colored stones from which the city got its name the 'Pink City', where none of the buildings could be built beyond a certain height.

It was a rather exceptional idea to rent out these newly constructed shops in the heart of the city to commoners rather than to noblemen of his courts. He charged them a very small rent in exchange of letting them run their family business from these spaces for commerce. Even after 200 years of their existence the value of the rent has gone up to measly sum of Rs 30/- a month (under $1). The idea was not profiting from the rentals but letting people learn and do business and add wealth and cultural value to the princely state of Jaipur. A casual round of the place shows us the great variety of trades and professions the people were engaged in, most of which continues till this day. Businesses are passed down from one generation to the next. Artisans (read freelancers) flocked to this place from all over India not only to enrich the culture of the place but also put a permanent signature of their unique quality at affordable prices.

This had far fetching repercussions and implications on the development of the nature and structure of Indian businesses, some of which are the following:

1. Created a class of astute and die-hard business families called 'Marawaris'. They hate to do anything other than business.

2. Augmented the concept of 'family business', which is the prevalent style of doing business in India.

3. Promise and trust were the cornerstones of doing business where verbal agreements were equally honored like written agreements.

4. Promoted local crafts that pulled together designers, artisans, businessmen, freelancers, entrepreneurs, job seekers all over India especially from Bengal and Gujarat. The impressions of their fine art work of Bengal and Gujarat seem to be all over the place in Northern India, which even found a prominent place in Muslim and Mugal artifacts. Over time people from Gujarat were also sucked into becoming small and big businessmen but Bengalis stuck to their nomadic freelancer and micro entrepreneur life style. In that way they not only became the second largest community scattered all over India but also the eleventh richest community in the world.

5. Preservation of traditional crafts and professions till date, which the British wanted to obliterate with standardization of their products supported by efficient transportation connecting thousands of villages across India. It is in the desert region of Rajasthan that they miserably failed to push their concept of standardized and cheap products carried through an efficient railways system. This happened because British goods did not suit the local needs or matched the culture of the place. Their products weren't life centric as the traditional products were.

6. This brings up the unique topic of designing 'life centric products'. For instance, in these markets, one would find a blanket that weighs about 100 grams, which can be folded into a very small size. The unique life centric feature of such a blanket is that it is cool on one side and warm on the other. Such an artifact is completely life centric to the nomadic tribes of the region. It is light and small to carry and can be used both in the daytime when temperatures soar and in the night when the mercury dips too low. The brass vessels used for storing water serves as another live example of a life centric product. People in the desert have used brass vessels for storing brackish water to turn them into potable drinking water for centuries. So the traders still sell brass vessels so useful in a place used to having scanty or no rainfall during the whole year. Even today, these traders are busy selling such life centric wares, which as I saw kept evolving over time with changing contexts.

7. The business models that operate are built on three vital principles -- a) Robustness b) Resilience c) Natural cycles and rhythms linked to patterns of living. They have cleverly blended the concepts of robustness/reliability with resilience into their products and business models. The products are cheap, aesthetically pleasing and reliable over long periods of time. As opposed to concepts of robustness and reliability these businesses, which have stood the test of time, primarily evolved around the concepts of resilience and patterns of living tied to Nature. The businesses were resilient to stand the test of time since they had the innate ability to detect changes in the likes, dislikes and changing demands of the people and times (a sort of collaborative effort) to quickly adjust and adapt to those changes. It means rather than think in terms of fixed and often larger volumes, scaling up, improved infrastructure etc the businesses were in tune with the patterns of living of the masses that varied with the rhythms and cycles of nature. People needed different artifacts at different times of the year hence the supply was not tuned to a pump out a steady constant volume pushed month after month over the year based on average 'customer needs' to minimize operating costs to maximize profits but churned out in variable volumes in collaboration with the customers' patterns of living to meet variable demands at different times of the year. Hence these family businesses never felt a need to grow beyond the space their small shops provided them for the past 200 years. They persevered in adapting, maintaining and creating wealth within the constraints of their given space. I was indeed fascinated by the remarkable business model that not only obviates the need for constant capital infusion to keep one's neck above water but also creates unimaginable wealth for the families and others. (See a live success story of such operating model being used as a strategy in competitive environment here)

(A glimpse of the old shops running their family businesses in the Pink City, October 2011)

My visit to the Pink City was more than enlightening. I was rewarded by sudden but deep insights in to the business psyche of the Indians and a possibe model that would serve us in the future.

The new questions that arise in my mind now are:

1. What are we doing to preserve these principles in the present context?

2. Can start ups and new entrepreneurs take a leaf out of these old lessons to model their business?

3. How can we create a platform or network of such budding entrepreneurs and make them thrive and grow over the years just like Maharaj Jaisingh did in his Pink City?

4. What we need to do to move from the business models based on robustness and reliability to a business model that primarily focuses on resilience without sacrificing resilience.

5. How can we bring down the operating, inventory and product costs through design rather than through scale ups, speed of operation and the constant need for capital infusion to increase infrastructure to accommodate growing volumes?

6. All our notions about business models and operating our businesses would change once we adopt the resilience model over robustness model. That would throw up hundreds of new questions to be answered.

I have just grown to love entrepreneurs -- design thinkers of sorts, who operate in seemingly impossible situations, solving problems with their heart & guts.

I feel this resilient way of doing business through micro entrepreneurs, where individual capital investment need not be high, holds the key to shape and inspire the future economy of the world, which presently is collapsing to its death crying out for a major transformation.

Do you think the same?

 

Sex & Design Thinking

I loved studying this story from a Design Thinker's point of view.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15309357 (How the Joy of Sex was illustrated)

The challenge was to bring out an illustrated book on sex, which the publishers feared would not be accepted by the prevailing social consciousness of Europe.

The story has all the necessary ingredients and the intrigue that make up a thrilling story for a Design Thinker providing the necessary excitement to continue in his/her professional journey. I think it is a great story of how the publisher and the author overcame the challenges of the day to bring out something that was not only desirable but also needed to improve quality of life.

I feel this might be a good case study for Design Thinkers to ponder over and learn from.

 

Insights to be gained:

The important points on Design Thinking, well illustrated by the story, are the following:

1. Design and Design Thinking start out by challenging to change the existing reality. The manner in which it is done is 'counter-intuitive'.

2. It does so by understanding the present context and the constraints inherent in the context. It attempts to answer the question why.

3. It challenges given assumptions

4. Design Thinking feels, perceives and creates a mental construct through understanding

5. The learning takes place through prototyping and testing.

6. It then comes out with a Solution/Product and documentation

7. It constantly changes, evolves and adapts through 'becoming' matching new realities akin to Nature's cycle of creation, growth and destruction. 

 

 

A Stranger to Myself – Design Kata 3

The idea of ‘motion’ or nomadic life runs deep in our Indian culture. Our rivers travelling endlessly across the vast landscape giving life to the parched lands are personifications of goddesses (symbols of creativity), reincarnations (symbols of state transformations), the timeless whirl of bhikshus and monks wandering for alms (in exchange of advice and wisdom for better living), jhum cultivation obeying the rhythms of nature, clusters and settlements in steady flux of self organizing movements, sadhus (seers) and pilgrims, mobile fairs and haat bazzars (markets), itinerant pilgrims, performers, pastoralists, bards and tellers of myths all embody the notion of ‘motion’ all performing simultaneously on the thin veneer of our ancient but extremely flexible and adaptable ‘culture’.

No wonder South Asia is home to the world’s largest nomadic population always on ‘motion’. Nowhere else is there such a variety of people herded and ceaselessly moving in a self organizing manner giving rise to complex patterns nor can the diversity of peripatetic professions be matched.

Yet in our post modern times the sedimentary have increasingly come to represent the ‘civilized’. The mainstream (the sedentary) stands oblivious to the pull of the wanderers and the scribes and the worlds of the nomads have been circumcised’ to the odd curious enthusiasts. Little wonder, nomads are considered ‘strangers’ where ‘strangers’ in principle are ‘undesirable’ people.

And how does this ‘undesirable’ attitude surface? ‘Indifference’ is the shield used by ‘foreigners’ (the non nomads) when they meet nomads. Insensitive and aloof the foreigner seems deep down beyond the reaches of attacks and rejection that he nevertheless experiences with the vulnerability of a living and tortuous ‘medusa’.

Such a ‘medusa’ painfully brings on an ‘identity’ of ‘being’ something distinct from others with a fixed character of its own. What it fails to realize or let go is that our identity is changed in a nomadic style by the journey we undertake in life where both our ‘subjectivity’ and ‘objectivity’ towards ‘reality’ is recomposed and evolved. What we fail to realize or give up or let go is that in this transformation every step forward is a step backwards too. Without this necessary stepping back I can’t go forward. The migrant (nomad) is here and there too at the same time. The exile from the ‘nomad’ life can be deadening with the lack of ‘stretching’ and ‘folding’, which every movement entails. Such ‘stretching’ and ‘folding’ is nomadic symbolizing ‘movement’ that can be creative. It can also be an affliction but can also be a transfiguration. Whatever it might be it is a vital resource to create the necessary movement from ‘being’ to ‘becoming’.

If that is so what happens to my identity of ‘being’. My ‘being’ existence is actually non-existent. Is my identity not with ‘being’ but ‘becoming’? Do I live always on the edge of a frontier – a place for separation, transition and new articulation of a state that I haven’t seen or enjoyed before? In ‘becoming’ am I relieved of the odd task of constantly creating a boundary and jealously guarding it against attacks or rejection by constantly stepping back to cross or transgress it?   

I realize that I am stranger to my ‘becoming’ state. What would happen is not know to me. What I would do as a response is also not known to me. In the state of becoming I change myself physically, mentally and spiritually and nothing is known to me in advance or ever would.

What helps me do that? Obviously the mind which itself is ‘nomadic’. I can use it the way I would like in order to evolve, change, be creative and change the course of my destiny. I know the ‘why’ but I still remain a stranger to the ‘what’ and ‘how’ in any given moment in my movement.

This video link below shows how we integrate our right and left brains in real situations and how such integration leads to ‘becoming’ rather than ‘being’. Though I would always remain a stranger to that ‘becoming’ I refuse to remain a stranger to my present moment that informs my ‘becoming’.

http://www.ted.com/talks/iain_mcgilchrist_the_divided_brain.html

One thing I am sure of. Nomadic life – physically, mentally and spiritually – is usually the most gainful and risk free mode of survival as it allows freedom from the limitations of confined space and time created by the limitations of rational concepts, ideas and notions.

Living the life of a nomad is fun too since I would always remain a stranger to myself. It is a practice I love. Rightfully it is a Design Kata since it helps me to create what I want to. The practice is through meditation where both the right and the left are not only integrated but allowed to come into play simultaneously as a contextual response to real situations.

Would you like to join the fun of moving by being a stranger to yourself in the nomadic way?

Stop Looking for Jobs!

As the old industrial world, big companies, despots, tyrants, dictators tumble and collapse along with the old mindset the question of finding traditional 'jobs' are becoming rarer by the day. The old model simply refuses to work any longer the way it worked. Governments are bankrupt both for money and ideas. The education system is churning out certificates that are virtually not worth it since the old institutions for which these were meant for now belong to the quickly vanishing tribe of "neo dinosaurs". Nothing new can be created in the old infertile soil. The old and familiar playground of jobs is now simply turning into a desert.

So with no new jobs being created and with the older jobs vanishing what is left?

What is still left is work and lot of good and meaningful work that fulfill local needs and local skills. Recently back from my holiday trip to the wonderful land of Rajasthan this is one story of a man who started a movement called 'barefoot college' in Rajasthan. My insights weren't any different from that of his. The nomadic life that underlines the character of the place is probably the most efficient and effective way to live in this world now.

 

 

What we probably need now other than such barefoot colleges is the creation of effective and efficient net-worked economy of micro enterprises.

During my holiday trip to Rajasthan, I saw hundreds of opportunities for work and earning that are not being presently tapped into for survival, sustenance and prosperity.

That simply too much of an opportunity to pass up!

Why not Design Think Micro Enterprises created by outliers of the society and turning them into strong profitable entrepreneurs with Design Kata being a way forward to groom up such a class of entrepreneurs.

It might simply change the ways by which we live and work. It might also change the world and our societies and our whole outlook towards life to lead more sustainable and coherent lives.

What do you think?

Designing a Business is Counter Intuitive

As a child I found great fun solving the maze problems published in the Sunday edition of daily newspapers like 'The Statesman'. The task was to rescue a boy or a rat trapped in the maze. I quickly learned that it was never a clever idea to start where the 'victim' was. Stating from the 'exit' was the easiest way to solve such problems. It was counter intuitive but effective. The great mathematician Euler when he was in class 3 or 4 astounded his teachers by the way he solved the problem of adding the numbers 1 to 100 in less than a few seconds. All he did was to mentally line up the numbers 1 to 100 as in a series. Below it he placed another series in the reverse order, i.e. 100 to 1. When he added up the numbers for each pair it was exactly 101. So it was 101 repeated 100 times, which gave him a total of 10100. This he divided by 2 to gave him 5050, which was the solution. Well that was also counter intuitive. Now suppose there are 100 male tennis players who want to win the Wimbeldon men's single title then how many games must be played in the tournament? We can find the answer by working from the beginning to the end, starting with 50 first round matches followed by 25 matches and so on. As it turns out the other way is to work backwards. Since there must be 99 losers for us to obtain one winner we must then have 99 matches. Now that is also counter intuitive. It is the same with designing buildings. We dont start by designing the kitchen and then the bedrooms working our way to designing the entire building. We do just the opposite. We begin with the overall concept to formulate the vision and then work our way down to the details of each space having specific functions. This is also counter intuitive. It is exactly by a similar counter intuitive method we design businesses. We can't start with what all we are going to sell and how much we are going to sell to exceed our break even point to start making decent profits and then analyze competitive intelligence to check how the market dynamics would change over time.

Surely that is not the way a business is designed. You must have guessed it by now. We design businesses in a counter intuitive fashion. We start with the 'vision' of how the business would look and be like. Once that vision is fixed we then work backwards to fill in the details. That too is strongly counter intuitive!

What may we learn from Oxford Interview Questions?

Oxford University, considered one of the toughest universities to get into, invariably challenges potential students with interview questions that push them to think on their feet, think independently and laterally and show an ability to apply theory thereby showing their real ability and potential.

Some of the questions are:

a) Is violence always political?

b) Does 'political' means something different in different contexts?

c) Why do lions have manes?

d) Why ladybirds and strawberries have red colors?

e) In a world where English is a global language why learn French?

f) If the punishment for parking on double yellow lines were death and therefore nobody did it, would that be just and effective law?

Compare this with the Indian education system that is geared towards rote learning rather than cognitive development and imagination.

Do we need to change?

How do we practice this style of learning?

Rapidinnovation -- A Room with a View

Observing Real Life Systems

To me, observing real life systems is something like this:

“A real life System comprises of a meaningful set of objects, diverse in form, state and function but inter-related through multiple network of interdependencies through mutual feedbacks enclosed by variable space, operating far from its equilibrium conditions not only exchanging energy and matter with its environment but also generating internal entropy to undergo discrete transformation triggered by the Arrow of Time forcing it to behave in a dissipative but self organizing manner to either self destruct itself in a wide variety of ways or create new possibilities in performance and/or behaviour owing to presence of ‘attractors’ and ‘bi-furcations’; thereby making it impossible to predict the future behaviour of the system in the long term or trace the previous states of the system with any high degree of accuracy other than express it in terms of probabilities since only the present state of the system might be observable to a certain extent and only a probabilistic understanding may be formulated as to how it has arrived at its present state and what would keep it going, thus triggering creative human responses to manage, maintain and enhance the system conditions, function and purpose and create superior systems of the future for the benefit of the society at large.”

Such a represenation of an observation looks quite involved. Perhaps it might be stated in a much simpler way. Most real life systems behave in a complex manner creating multitude of problems of performance and failures. But how do we get rid of complexity and uncertainty as exhibited by systems? We may do so by deeply observing the complex behaviour of the system to improve our perception to gain insights about the essence of the system; find out the underlying ‘imperfection’ that causes the apparent complexity and uncertainty and then find ways to improve the existing system or create new system and maintain them in the simplest possible manner. We do this by applying the principles of chaos, reliability and design. Surprisingly, the same process might be used to troubleshoot and solve problems we face on a daily basis. If done, we are no longer dominated or dictated by the ‘special whims’ of the system. 

The crux of the matter is how we observe reality and understand it so as to make meaningful choices as responses to life and living. 

Rapidinnovation - See & Touch Invisible - DesignKata #2

The previous post dealt with the first Design Kata of keeping a journal in which a problem solver, innovator or design thinker keeps a record of the decisions taken and how one arrived at those decisions.

However, as we know the most important task for a problem solver or design thinker is to find a ‘why’ for an event, phenomenon or failure that takes place.

Keeping that in view Design Kata #2 deals with the practice of seeing and touching the invisible.

Why is that?

This is because answers to the ‘why’ of an event, phenomenon or failure lies in the understanding of the nature and quality of the interactions and interdependence of the elements that happen in a given space.

It is also clear that a) interdependence between things, b) the edges of interactions of such interdependent things and c) the transitions of states and relationships that take place of over time are physically invisible to the human eye.

Hence effective problem solving and design thinking is all about seeing and touching the invisible, without which cognition of a problem can’t even start. Admittedly, this is a difficult thing to practice.

And why is that?

It might be best understood by the visual representation, presented below

Diagram 1

Most of the traditional problem solving methods, techniques and processes start with viewing the top events or failures that emerge and then somehow try to drill below this level to understand the patterns that cause them, which are then attacked to solve the problem. Some methods also try to drill down one step further to understand the systemic relationships at work and try to change the relationships in an effort to solve problems.

Rapidinnovation, so to say, is an inversion of the traditional processes of finding the ‘why’ to problems.

After understand

ing the 'form' of the emergence (events and failures) it straight away views the elements and the ‘empty’ spaces in between the elements that contain the ‘undesirable’ dynamics causing ‘system imperfections’. Such ‘system imperfections’ constantly give rise to a gamut of patterns causing various possible emergences to happen over a period of time.

So the journey starts at the bottom of the diagram by viewing the elements (form), assessing their interdependence (feelings), perceiving the interactions or dynamics (perception) that helps us to form context specific concepts of the existing and other inherent ‘imperfections’ in the system that create enabling ‘patterns’ for myriad events and transition states to emerge (context specific mental constructs). Such ‘mental constructs’ then help us ‘understand’ the observed emergences and transition states. This then enables us to act and design suitable ‘balancing relationships’ that help us to eliminate a range of undesirable emergences of events and transition states. In a future post we would discuss the monitoring of transition states, which in itself would be another DesignKata.

Clearly then, seeing and touching the ‘invisible’ is an inverted way of viewing emergent phenomenon, events, failures and transition states. We don’t try to find the ‘why’ by directly drilling down. We do so by ‘inverting’ our view point, which I call as having, the ‘right view’ of things.

So, to practice this DesignKata of seeing and touching the ‘invisible’ the practitioner is advised to apply the inverted right view of things to whatever one encounters in daily life that might be a matter of interest to the practitioner.

However, it depends on the ‘signals’ one is capable of perceiving. And surely there are many interesting emergences one comes across in daily life. It is the intention of the observer that would keep him/her alive in this practice.   

 That for me is the practice of 'enlightenment' in the 'here and now' 

 

Rapidinnovation -- The Journal - DesignKata #1

I believe that all problem solvers, innovators, design thinkers need to develop a suite of practices that enable them to perform better as time progress. "Design Kata" offers such a suite of practices that would help any problem solver to move towards better contextual understanding of any situation he/she faces if not attain greater wisdom and keener insights. 

As problem solvers and design thinkers we always take decisions. Our quality of decision making determines the quality of our performance in our field of work.

So, the first "design kata" that I recommend is to have a 'decision making journal'. Whenever, we take an important decision on some problem, it helps if we take care to write down in a journal what decision we took, how we arrived at those decisions and what is expected once the decisions are implemented.

We can also make note of how we felt physically and mentally while taking the decision.

Over time, a well kept journal, written in our own handwriting, would reveal patterns in our decision making style and process, which we can then modify and develop as desired for enhanced performance. And if need be we can then develop more patterns of thinking and practice them to see the outcomes they produce. In this manner both our repertoire of techniques and our confidence in our problem solving skill increase over time.

Such journals also help us keep a tab on the decisions we took for a specific problem. It would not only remind us to take a feedback of the effectiveness of implementing our proposed solutions but also record the benefits those solutions provided over a longer period of time. It helps us enhance our understanding of problems, improve our problem solving skills and increase the depth of our thinking.

Over the last 31 years my shelves are filled with more than 100 such journals that have kept track of my thinking process, styles, approaches I took to tackle thousands of problems in my field of application including my moods on specific days and how I felt during the process.

Looking back, I can clearly see at what point of time, my own signature style of solving problems emerged, which must be the goal of any problem solver or decision maker, i.e. to develop his/her own signature tune and learning over a period of time.

To my mind this is the number 1 Design kata a problem solver must initiate and practice.

How much do you agree on this?

 

Rapidinnovation - Understanding Complexity

As Problem Solvers we sometimes misunderstand complexity and the play of complex adaptive systems. We can become so obsessed with the solutions we come up with that we forget to take notice of the interactions and interdependence between things and how our proposed solutions might affect the existing web of interactions and interdependence, creating more difficult problems for us to tackle in the future.

For instance, in the late 1800s rangers at Yellowstone National Park saw that the population of elks was dwindling. They reasoned that the elks were not getting enough food to sustain and grow. Hence they came up with the bright solution that the elks must be 'forced feed' by human beings so that their population would substantially increase avoiding a possible 'risk' of extinction.

The solution seemed viable and nothing seemed to be missing. So the rangers of Yellowstone park brought in the U.S. cavalry to implement their solution to hand-feed the elks. And as expected the solution worked wonders. The elk population swelled. 

But that is not the end of the story. As the elk population swelled the elk started eating aspen trees. But aspen trees were what the beavers were using to build their dams that caught the runoff in the spring, which allowed trout to spawn.

Now with less and less aspen trees there were less and less dams and with less and less dams there were less and less trout to spawn. So more elks equaled less trout.

Why did this happen? It happened since we did not recognize that we were dealing with an 'adaptive system' which by nature, exhibit complex and often unexplained emergent behavior.

The seemingly 'good' solution of 'force feeding' elks led to a series of cascading events that were completely unanticipated.

We most often seek to improve complex adaptive systems, sometimes with disastrous consequences.

It doesn’t take a lot of stretching of our mental awareness to make comparative understanding of complex adaptive systems of the elk ecology to the ecology of organizations and economy. Even with our best intentions in place, there seems to be really no way we can anticipate the ultimate results with 'tinkering' with complex adaptive systems. .

The important question that we must ask ourselves is, "What conditions have to be in place to actually solve these kinds of challenging problems? It does not matter whether we are attempting to solve organizational problems, or machinery problems, ecological problems, economic problems or grappling with design problems.

For some strange reason they are all complex adaptive systems exhibiting their strange behavior through 'emergence'.

Rapidinnovation: Managers -- Change or Get Kicked Around!

Right from the start of my career I never wanted to report to a manager who would only be there to keep record of what I was doing and inform me when I slipped on a self imposed deadline or schedule.

I thought that this was really funny. Why should a highly paid person (obviously higher than what I earned) kept, only monitoring me as if I were a circus animal?

I wanted something better. I wanted a boss or a manager who can guide me out of my difficulties (even personal ones), teach me the tricks of the trade and cushion the shocks of my failed experiments in my efforts to change performance and innovate.

Was it something very peculiar to my psyche? To make sure, I asked some of my peer buddies. And surprisingly they all came up with the same need that I was looking for.

If this were so, why companies would waste their valuable money keep supervisors who were just modern day versions of ancient slave drivers? As soon as I thought that I was magically transported to the vivid scenes of Cecil b deMille’s “Ten Commandments” where the Egyptian slave drivers were merrily lashing their whips around controlling thousands of slaves building pyramids and other infrastructure of Egypt.

Things haven’t changed much from those ancient days. Perhaps the form changed. The physical whip has long been replaced through industrial revolution by the ‘verbal whip’ and pens that possibly stings more emotionally than physically, leaving people more unproductive, raw and vulnerable than before – smarting and humiliated.

This triggers another vital question – Who needs whom? Do the employees need the organization? Or does the organization need employees who can think for themselves? The answer is not easy. When viewed from the principle of interdependence (one of the guiding principle of Rapidinnovation) the answer is ‘both’. Employees do need organizations as platforms to use their talents and perform as much as Organizations need employees who are willing to put up a fine performance.

How can this be achieved?

This might only be achieved if we take a ‘Human Centered View’ based on reasoned thinking on emerging situations, spontaneous creativity aided and guided by the focused will of management and managers who would be more willing to act as coaches and mentors for employees rather than take up the sick role of glorified version of slave drivers and ‘kill-joys’.

Without wasting much time I started my humble experiments in this direction (1980) since even as a Graduate Engineer Trainee I was already the boss of the Maintenance department.

So, rather than enjoying the ‘strange’ powers and ethereal joys bestowed upon me by the Top Management to grant leaves, permissions of all sorts and motivating my subordinates through regular enticements of ‘overtime pay’, ‘special increments’, ‘office parties’ I started mentoring them in my own way. It was good in a way since there were no well laid out precedents to follow so as to be trapped by rigid standards of earlier performance.

The focus of all that mentoring was simple indeed. How do we make sense of what is happening in the ‘now’? No big theories to contend with. No vague and remote scientific truths to digest. There was nothing irrelevant to what is happening in the ‘now’. We were jointly trying to make sense with me in the ‘mentor’s’ seat.  

Though I was greeted by derisions from my well healed but old fashioned managers the ridicule and jibes soon turned into amazement, recognition and awe. The result was more than I ever expected. We could complete projects before time (not on time). We cut operating costs by half (not 10% as slated in the annual budget). We increased machinery productive uptime to more than 98% (from a measly figure of 50%)… and more.

Surely, I was then bitten by the bug of coaching and mentoring which I kept repeating with great success and joy in all my subsequent jobs and professional engagements.

Today, after so many years, it is amply clear to me that mentoring and coaching are things that employees respect and live for.

That of course is all bad news to mangers who try to manage their mundane affairs in old fashioned ways of stick, carrot, numbers and prediction models. It seems to me that their time is up and they now stand ‘naked’ and vulnerable in front of their subordinates who certainly expect more mastery from them in the true sense of the word. It is already late. People are now ready to disrespect the last vestiges of the quintessential ‘slave driver’ mentality in traditional managers. How do we know? We know when performance goes much below what is expected.  

Making a successful transition from Managers to “Mentors and Coaches” appears to be the respectable choice offered to present day managers.

Managers – change or get kicked around!

Rapidinnovation - The Non-Process

If perhaps the first two posts in this series did not make it obvious, the focus and intended results of Rapidinnovation is to increase individual awareness and understanding of the conditions, circumstances and phenomenon that surround them. 

The foundation of such awareness and understanding is built upon  a few Principles, rather than relying on specific tools and techniques.

Developing an individual's awareness and understanding helps effectively bring about significant changes in prevailing situations, which is the objective of any innovation. .

However, increasing an individual’s or a group’s understanding of an existing situation or phenomenon is a tricky issue that refuses to follow well defined paths.

So, in order to have a standardized approach to understanding the traditional route is to first have a theory in place, which we then try to fit onto existing situations to identify parts that cause trouble or problems. Parts of the situation that don't match the constructs of the pre-existing theory are then considered to be problems that need to be rectified to bring about desired changes. Additionally, it also calls for labeling or classifying a given situation into some sort of problem type like 'quality', 'productivity', 'industrial', 'machinery', 'financial' reflecting the present tendency to classify or categorize problems into definitive silos..

For example, if a problem is determined as a 'quality' issue the problem is observed through some of the known quality tools and methods to arrive at an understanding about the problem. Once the abnormality or deviation from the norm is identified efforts are stepped up to correct the specific finding generally ignoring other relevant connections and interdependencies that might modulate or influence a problem. 

This general approach to problem solving has pervaded all known problem solving approaches and methods. Such approaches have its own share of problems since they see an issue either in parts or whole but not together and never see or examine the quality or nature of interdependencies of the connections that connect the parts forming the whole.

The approach in Rapidinnovation is just the reverse. Instead of looking at an issue through an existing lens provided by a theory or a pre-formed mental construct we look at an issue to examine various parts, their connections and nature of interdependencies to identify inherent 'imperfections' in such connection to construct a contextual theory so as to gain understanding of a problem in totality and then improve upon the understanding through subsequent application of the balancing solutions aimed at modifying or changing the nature or quality of the ‘imperfect’ interdependencies of connections . The focus is to see the invisible interdependent links between parts that make the whole

This method of understanding a problem through the Rapidinnovation approach may be explored as follows. However, be forewarned that it is not a step by step process to be followed in a strict sequence. It only provides a general guideline for the mind to flow into ‘understanding’.  

The understanding starts with “Form” and ends with “Maintaining Balance” for a given reality.

1. Form -- All issues have a form in space and time. So observations start with the form. It starts from a part and then gradually expands till patterns can be seen. This needs a lot of curiosity and visual skills on the part of the observer.

2. Feelings -- 'See' the invisible interconnections and nature of interdependence of the links that connect between different parts that form patterns within the issue being observed. This part needs a lot of empathy and mind stilling skills to discover such hidden connections and interdependence between the diverse parts that make up the whole issue.

3. Perceptions -- Examine and use signals to establish the interdependences as closely as possible. This I call as 'Sense making' of the patterns. This requires a lot of 'questioning' skills to make sense of the patterns being observed.

4. Mental Constructs of Reality -- Based on the 'Feelings' and the 'Perceptions' contextual theories are formed that explain how existing patterns evolve or emerge within the issue being observed. This needs the application of both synthesis and analytical skills.

5. Understanding -- Check whether the 'Mental Constructs' explain the observed patterns and the phenomenon. This calls for developing deep insights through application of principles of Rapidinnovation as outlined in the previous post.  

6. Action -- Test out the understanding physically through real life application -- pilot, prototype or  'the real deal'.  Obviously, we would need practical implementation skills and skills in human relationships.

7. Maintaining Balance -- Once more finer, firmer and in-depth Understanding of the reality formed through 'Action' strive to maintain balance till new realities emerge to change existing patterns or phenomena. This demands more of wisdom, awareness and monitoring skills than anything else.

I have consistently used this guideline to solve problems or innovate to change existing situations. The interesting thing is that it requires the development of human skills of curiosity, visual observation, empathy, synthesis, analysis, etc more than mastery of methods, tools and techniques though there is nothing that prevents the use of any tool or technique in Rapidinnovation be it from any discipline of human knowledge.

Hopefully the significance of the internal development of an individual has been made obvious since Rapidinnovation is founded on the principle that one individual has the power to change a situation both in his/her personal or professional life if not to enable them to change the world.

However, the way through which such development would take place must not be standarized. It has to be customized to individual needs and natural apptitudes. Hence the path is a Non-Process. And that squarely is a challenge to be met.

Rapidinnovation - The Principles

The fundamental or guiding principle behind Rapidinnovation is rather simple. It is the practice of 'Non-perfection'.

Given that the objective of any problem solving is to harmoniously adapt to a given set of emerging realities the way to do it elegantly is to innovate or change by modifying existing relationships.

The intent of Rapidinnovation is to help us solve problems, improve or change existing situations, help people improve their lives, deepen our understanding of the world around us and to create in us the ability to change relationships for the better in a holistic manner thereby making life meaningful and worthwhile.

How is this done?

This is done by balancing the inherent 'imperfection' in a given set of mutually interdependent relationships in the present. (Refer post on Rapidinnovation)

Hence the simplest way the fundamental principle of Rapidinnovation can be expressed is as follows:

"Balance imperfect relationships in the now to innovate and harmoniously adapt to new emerging realities"

It is not a theory. It is a practice. Expressed in a word it is the practice of 'NON-PERFECTION'; highlighting the fundamental principle of Rapidinnovation.

The rationale of this practice is logical linked and based on certain principles, which are as follows:

1. While everything seems to have an unique identity, nothing ever exists by itself. Indeed its identity is only relevant in its relationship to other things illustrating the principle of non-self. Hence, everything is in a state of connected web of multiple interdependent relationships with many other things. Such interdependences create relationships that "move" in time and space paradoxically helped by sets of opposing relationships. 

2. Every relationship has a quality to it that changes with space, time and changes in specific quantities in the elements that make up a given set of relationships.

3. All interdependent relationships are becoming, i.e. changing their states over time and space. There is no fixity about any relationship. Hence all relationships are 'interbecoming'. That is when something is 'becoming' other relationships associated with it also start 'becoming'. Change one relationship; other relationships also start to change. Such changes are triggered by constantly changing reality. This illustrates the principles of 'non-being' and 'interbecoming'.  Therefore, what was once a perfect relationship in the past can become "imperfect in the now" ('imperfections') under changing reality.

4. Such 'imperfections' pose as problems in adaptation for some, many or all. Such problems impede continuity of purpose or flow of relationships. Hence 'imperfections' in the relationship are precisely the problems to be addressed in a given context.

5. Therefore, design innovation would entail balancing out such imperfections. That would create a new set of relationships based on the paradox of opposites, thereby enabling a set of relationships to adapt to new realities.

6. Balancing out imperfections involve conscious creation of deeper level of human understanding that is contextual in nature. This might only happen in a state of "non-fear" of the mind since it is fear of many types that forces a human being to cling to previous levels of understanding and experience, which on most occasions prove fatal. The basis of new understanding is 'praxis'.

7. The product of such 'balancing' might be an artifact, system, rules, practice, method or simple change in paradigm, or change of understanding.

8. The method of creation of such balancing 'products' is called Design Innovation. It has two parts -- 'exploration' (i.e. creation) and method of 'exploitation' (i.e. how it is to be used). A proper balance of exploration and exploitation brings about the desired 'harmony' of adaptation which has three specific purposes, namely, Reliability, Availability and Performance (as discussed in the blog post Rapidinnovation).

9. The efforts needed to innovate would last or continue till new realities take shape initiating new 'imperfections' to take shape. One has to be mindful of emergence of new imperfections. The method to achieve that is viewing the web of interdependent relationships in a 'non-mind' state - a state of mind that is free of all assumptions, suppositions, presumptions, unnecessary beliefs, notions, prejudices, concepts, anxieties and fear.

 

Next Blog:--> Rapidinnovation - The Non-Process

Rapidinnovation

In my previous post I promised to introduce Rapidinnovation -- a school of practice on innovation, which exists but not made know to the world so far. I feel the time has come to reveal this school of practice.

For the last 31 years I have been solving problems in engineering and manufacturing industries. Though it wasn't exactly the profession I started out with but over time the love for solving problems snowballed into an insatiable passion. Soon the passion overflowed and spread to almost all areas of various types of manufacturing industries working on a variety of difficult, wicked and seemingly unsolvable problems.

Unique solutions were found that gave stakeholders benefits year on year. But there was something that was odd. The way the problems were solved did not match any of the existing methods and so called processes of problem solving and innovation. It did not follow BPR (Business Process Reengineering) techniques. Neither did it use Six Sigma or TQM (Total Quality Management) tools. Nor did it apply tools of TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) or TOC (Theory of Constraints). Neither did it completely resemble Systems Thinking or Design Thinking nor did it completely follow the traditional lines of CBM (Condition Based Maintenance) and RCM (Reliability Centered Maintenance) for addressing or solving machinery failures and problems. 

Soon, I understood that there was something unique in my Rapidinnovation practice, something "unnamed". It is definitely working in some way to which I could not put my finger upon for a long time. But the point was it was giving nothing less than outstanding results all the time. My teacher and mentor Prof Henry then named it Rapidinnovation, where the acronym stood for Reliability Availability and Performance Improvement through Design Innovation (Rapidinnovation).

That more or less defined the purpose and the approach in broad brush strokes. The purpose of innovation was clear. Any product of innovation, whether soft or hard must be reliable for the intended purpose (must not fail while working), must be available to perform for the desired time and also provide the desired Performance (for example, protect ecology, ensure safety, ensure value, alleviate sufferings, improve productivity etc..). And the approach to achieve the objectives would be through Design Innovation or Design Thinking. 

The area of application was also clear, which is as follows:

Innovations must be based on the 'NOW' (N). Innovation must be based on 'Present Failures' (F). Innovation must solve some 'Present Problems' (P). And NFP innovations must be guided and informed by reality. Otherwise it is mere distorted thinking or imagination to cover some unreal risks.

Looking more closely, I soon realized that it is different to all other schools of thinking on innovation. The difference was that while other schools insisted on specific tool set, techniques, processes Rapidinnovation was based on a few principles. The other important difference was stress on human understanding. While other schools of thought grossly ignore this aspect of development of human understanding which is the corner stone of Rapidinnovation approach.

To summarize, the important issues of Rapidinnovation are:

1. It is based on the basic premise of 'interconnected' and 'interdependent' whole.

2. It is based on a few principles of "becoming", "flow", "balance" and "change of states".

3. It is based on the development of human understanding rooted in 'non-fear' rather than heavy use of tools and techniques

However, it does not do away with domain knowledge expertise though at the same time it urges one to do away with firmly held notions, ideas and pet theories, which when often repeated exhibit hidden fears rather than confidence to make sense of reality, so essential to problem solving and innovation. In brief, it strongly discourages Fear Induced Innovation (FII).

There is another thing. Innovation is not only about 'exploration' that seeks new perspectives and ways. After an innovation is designed, implementing and putting it to proper use is 'exploitation'. Exploitation is doing routine things efficiently whereas 'exploration' forces us to think differently. So the two parts of innovation are 'Exploration' and 'Exploitation'. For balance, both are equally needed. One can't be separated from the other.

Since we need both Exploration and Exploitation we need both the skills of the left and the right brains. We need to think in both parts and the whole. We need explore as well as exploit. We need to be effective as well as efficient. 

Clearly we have now come to the ''inclusive'' age not the age of excluding this or that or trading this for that or insisting on 'one true way' or exhibiting 'holier than thou attitudes'. It is therefore time to get free of jargons and sound bites (efforts to create sort of myriad 'self identities') of all sorts and focus on what needs to be done to get inclusive results that help many. This is because Ideas and concepts of 'exclusion' do not resonate deep within and stir the human soul to do what it was always meant to do -- create and adapt.

And following the trends towards increasing openness and collaborative efforts Rapidinnovation conveys 'Openness' that allow people to create their own approaches, tools and techniques within the given principles of understanding the dynamics of Nature and Life. Weighing it down by any dogmas, insisting on specific tools and techniques would be not only unfortunate and counterproductive but also disastrous. It must remain open to reality and must remain contextually relevant to the time of application helping people solve their problems both personal and professional by their own 'free will' within the given contextual constraints of apparent 'determinism' aiming at balancing the dynamic paradox of the opposites.