The Five Truths of Improvement

Introduction

• This is a method for animating Avanulo’s Third Belief Construct, which is that all improvement issues are, at their core, people issues.
• Belief constructs are important because culture is the greatest competitive advantage you can leverage in any organization, and we use the Belief Constructs to design and build an intentional culture.
• Some find this concept difficult to accept because they do not want to blame problems on specific people. So, to avoid blame, they express the cause in ways that do not link directly to people. This is because we are all taught that blame is toxic in a culture, but the reverse is true. In a healthy culture, accountability is used to make improvements in positive ways.
• Driving cause analysis to the lowest level of human decision or action provides a huge advantage in problem solving because it allows us fix problems much more effectively and permanently.
• Fixing things for good the first time allows us to spend more time preventing problems instead of having to correct them later.
• An effective, healthy culture is huge competitive advantage that revs up results.

What are the Five Truths of Improvement?

1. Everything is a process – everything.
2. Every process delivers exactly what it was designed to deliver – not what it was intended to deliver. So, in this way, every process is achieving “its design.”
3. Every process is the way it is because those with authority over it allow it to persist, either by intent, by acquiescence, or by a lack of awareness or concern.
4. There are usually two reasons in play – the reason given (the Stated Reason) and the real reason (The Root Cause). The reason given reflects our hopes and fears. The real reason is the truth that is made clear by the facts.
5. Find a way to work on the real reason, with the support of those who have authority over the process, and without diminishing those who give other reasons, and you will make significant and lasting improvement.

Why are the Five Truths of Improvement Important?

• The Five Truths help you to act upon Belief Construct Three – that every improvement challenge, is, at its core, is a people issue.
• Together, they act as a force magnifier that revs up your continuous improvement process.

How do you apply the Five Truths of Improvement?

1. Teach everyone in your organization about the value of culture and activate the “miracle machine.”  Teach them that you can improve results by improving your culture, and that you can use the Belief Constructs to help you do it. Also teach them that at the heart of every improvement challenge is a people issue.
2. Using work related examples, teach and animate the Five Truths of Improvement. Make them a center point of your continuous improvement message.
3. Use the Five Truths of Improvement to assess your improvement method, to make sure that it is addressing all Five Truths, or simply use the Five Truths as an approach to continuous improvement.

Key Tools

• Write us at info@tplshow.org for a free guide on how to establish and animate a Noble Purpose in your organization. Ask for the What-Why-How for The Five Truths of Improvement.

Thanks for listening.

The TPL Show is a subsidiary of Avanulo, a global consulting firm that helps its clients overcome challenges and achieve excellence with intentional culture.