What’s more rewarding — eating a piece of candy, or the sense of anticipation you feel just before you eat it? As far as your brain is concerned, it’s probably the latter. Cynergey’s Kes Sampanthar explains what dopamine reveals about the neuroscience of motivation.
The latest Lean thoughts about seeking perfection have been published by Mike Rother on the subject of the Toyota Kata: Managing People for Improvement, Adaptiveness and Superior Results.
In the book, he discusses how we need to embrace uncertainty as a natural way that we work. He explains this by using 3 circles (you can view the entire slide presentation below) that designate the areas of Apparent Certainty, Uncertainty, and Mystery. Our rate of improvement is based on how well we handle uncertainty or the learning zone.
My contention is that the sense of uncertainty can act very similar to the sense of anticipation.
The organization must develop as a whole and this can only be accomplished by developing personnel by providing the necessary resources and opportunities. Instead of teaching the way to do things, we need to step back and determine the key points that are required, as Simon Sinek says the “Why” while leaving the how alone (Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action).
Whether you call it Why or Vision, there is nothing else more instrumental to your success. Do you believe your organization has a heart? Does that mission pulsate throughout the entire organization? It’s not an iterative process. It is nothing that is cloudy or mysterious about your organization. It is Why you get up in the morning and go to work. With Vision, With Why, a unifying theme of purpose exists. All of your objectives, all the measures, all the targets, etc. become aligned. And that sense of anticipation, that handling of uncertainty becomes our motivation!
Though perfection is never achievable, does Lean bring you closer?
How is your Kanban board doing?
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