Organizational Performance Part 36: Changing Organizational Mindset | Operational Excellence Quick Hits

Quick Hits share weekly tips and techniques on topics related to Operational Excellence. This week’s theme relates to changing organizational mindset. We hope you enjoy the information presented!

Speaker 1: (00:05)
In today’s session, we’re going to talk about reformulating your mindset, so establishing that correct mindset to get breakthrough performance within the organization. We talked about problem solving. So in order to get countermeasures that are going to stick and sustain, we need to change our mindset, so, that’s what today’s session is going to talk about.

Speaker 1: (00:29)
I want to start with some famous quotes around mindset. So one of my favorite is Henry Ford saying, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.” So if you have that mindset about, “Oh, nothing’s ever going to change,” or, “We can’t do this,” or, “We’re never going to get better,” you’re right. Next FDR said, “Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.” And lastly, Albert Einstein, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” So these are all great quotes about mindset and being able to change our mindset.

Speaker 1: (01:07)
What is mindset when we talk about that? To me, it’s defined as a set of beliefs, a way of thinking that determines someone’s behavior, outlook, and mental attitude, that impacts outcome of someone’s endeavors. So if we take that, we convert that into an organization, what’s an organizational mindset is basically the same thing, but it’s a way of thinking that determines the organization’s behavior, outlook and mental attitude that impacts the outcome of the organization’s endeavors. So when we look at this, it really reminds me of culture. If we have that at positive culture, that’s looking for better ways to always do something, then that’s a way of mindset.

Speaker 1: (01:48)
So if we look at culture, organizational culture is defined as the underlying beliefs, assumptions, values, and ways of interacting that contribute to unique social and psychological environment of an organization. So when we establish the mindset for change, the first thing we need to do is create conscious awareness.

Speaker 1: (02:08)
So what is conscious awareness? Its the state of being aware of what’s happening in your environment. So if you’re not aware of what’s happening in the organization, a lot of companies I see, people are in their own department, they’re only focused on their own departmental objectives. And they get in that mindset of optimizing their department performance, and they’re not aware of what’s happening in the overall organization.

Speaker 1: (02:34)
Next is switch from that reactive to proactive attitude. Reactive is dealing with issues after they occur, versus we want to have that attitude of preventing issues before they occur. And then a shift in perspective. So we need to think or do something different to change yourself, situation or others. So when we look at something, try looking at it from a different perspective.

Speaker 1: (03:00)
And lastly, changing a paradigm. So a paradigm is a fundamental change for approaching or underlying assumptions. A lot of times we have assumptions about reality, and a lot of times those assumptions are flawed. So next session, we’re going to talk about a lot of the flawed assumptions I see in organizations that prevent them from getting breakthrough and sustainable, overall organizational improvement, not just departmental improvement or departmental change that we think is going to result in overall company improvement, but actual organizational improvement that is going to be positive in driving the organization forward.

Speaker 1: (03:43)
What are some things that we can do to change the mindset? First is become aware of issues that you are creating for others in the organization. So take a step back and say, “What are the things that I’m doing that’s causing issues for others?” And understand who your customer is and go talk those people, and they’ll tell you what issues you’re creating for them.

Speaker 1: (04:04)
Second, move from reactive to proactive. So stop dealing with the symptoms and work on root cause. We did a whole series on root cause analysis. We need to start focusing on root cause. Shift in perspective. So when you start looking at problems, use a cross-functional team. The more cross-functional, the better, because it gives us a different perspective. Multiple people can look at the same situation, different ways, we want to get those perspectives.

Speaker 1: (04:34)
And lastly, change in paradigm, so challenge the norm. Just because everyone believes it, doesn’t mean it’s true. Learn from others. So learn about different concepts from others and then be great in cause and effect thinking. So if something doesn’t make sense to you, then challenge it. That’s how we’re going to get better, we’re going to challenge the norm.

Speaker 1: (04:58)
This session, changing the mindset, we need to have that to get sustainable breakthrough improvement, and next week we’ll talk about some of the assumptions, underlying assumptions I see in organizations, and what prevents them from getting that breakthrough improvement and on the path of continuous improvement.