Are You Aware of Conditions of Badness?

Posted on July 30, 2010 by pdncoach

Oh, how we love to be right!  People hate to be wrong, we resist admitting mistakes and have a hard time apologizing for our wrongs.  This often keeps us from making improvements. Nothing against the Strengths movement of personal development, but what we also need is a little Warusa-Kagen.

Warusa-Kagen is a Japanese term (悪さかげん) that refers to things that are not yet problems, but are still not quite right. Literally, it means “condition of badness” or “how bad things are” in the current condition. This is often expressed as the small abnormalities that are all around but unnoticed because they have not yet turned into larger problems. They can be an effective starting point for improvement activities – kaizen – because if left untended they may develop into serious problems.

I am a proponent of recognizing and developing one’s strengths, and this is true for individuals, teams and organizations.  There is a simple activity I do early in my client relationships in which I ask them to make a table with two columns.  In the left column, list qualities and characteristics that you see as strengths. Then, in the right column, list qualities and characteristics that you need to develop.  Nearly all the time, people will come up with two completely different lists.

I find this interesting. Clients then rate all qualities from both lists based on their current potential, from a scale of 1 (pitifully poor) to 10 (world-class). Five (5), of course, is considered average.  Where do you have the most to gain, I ask, moving a 3 to a 5, or moving an 8 to a 10? Most people say developing from a 3 to a 5 is more powerful. In other words, their goal is to be average!!!!  Yet, upon reflection, all my clients are striving to be world-class in some area of their lives. This becomes a powerful lesson to focus on developing your strengths. The world needs more World-Class people, or what Seth Godin would call Linchpins.

I learned about Warusa-Kagen by reading Jon Miller‘s blog on lean practices and it’s a term used mainly, but sparingly, in Lean Manufacturing and Quality circles.  Not only are lean processes severely underutilized in non-manufacturing environments, I see Warusa-Kagen as fundamental to personal development as well.

Miller shares an old rhyme:

“For the want of a nail the shoe was lost; For the want of a shoe the horse was lost; For the want of a horse the battle was lost; For the failure of battle the kingdom was lost; And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.”

I find the most successful people are often unsatisfied but seldom dissatisfied (big difference) with various aspects of their lives. In other words, they are content yet constantly pursuing more – often striving toward quite challenging goals to change, improve, grow regardless of current success.  They build on their strengths but find opportunity for growth and even greater happiness through the recognition of “conditions of bad.” Without “shoring up” their weaknesses, they can never fully realize their strengths.

Warusa-Kagen is important not only to understanding the current condition and how bad it is or where the problems are, it can be a fundamental mindset for daily planning. Even when things appear to be running very smoothly, we need a critical eye for warusa kagen. Performing daily, weekly and monthly checks of one’s assumptions, attitudes, habits, goals, values, results and even purpose help to reinforce the Warusa-Kagen mindset.

Warusa-Kagen requires a daily revolution of awareness about a more ideal condition, process or even character, and how far removed from that condition the current condition really is.  Warusa-Kagen is recognizing untapped potential remains at all times at The Intersection of Purpose and Now.
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Posted in continuous improvement, habits, kaizen, personal development, warusa-kagen | Leave a comment

Why Questions Are More Powerful Than Answers

Posted on July 29, 2010 by pdncoach

Now I am a business coach.

Then I was a career coach. And for several years my job was to help people with disabilities find employment.

So much of what I learned Then is powerfully helpful Now.

One story in particular comes to mind… I attended a 4-H club that was geared toward young people with developmental disabilities. There was a young girl who used a power chair and who had extremely limited dexterity. Her mother was there, too. The agenda for the evening was making chocolate brownies from scratch. This meant the girl had to level a cup of flour, among other things.  This small task was extremely difficult for the girl, and her mother immediately jumped to do it for her. I boldly (unwisely, to be honest, but I got away with it) interrupted mom and asked her to stop.

“Don’t help her, mom,” I might have said. “If you keep her from struggling or failing now, she may never learn her true limits, let alone how to make brownies! She might even learn to avoid the struggle.”

Somehow I got away with this intrusive interjection; in fact, the mom later thanked me for the lesson she learned.

Answers or Questions
People often confuse the role of a coach with that of a consultant. If a child asks you how to spell a word, for example, and you provide the answer, you are serving as a traditional consultant.  The child learns nothing about solving future spelling challenges.

On the other hand, if you help the child learn how to spell by asking him to speak each letter-sound and syllable, you are developing and reinforcing a skill that the child will use for a lifetime. As a coach you are developing the potential of the child, providing long-term benefits, rather than just solving short-term problems.

Good coaches resist providing answers to your questions and solutions to your problems.  They help you address current issues while learning how to address future ones.

More often than not, business professionals seek training or hire consultants when what they really need is a good coach.

As a coach, my core values include these:

  • You already have the basic skills and knowledge you need to be successful.
  • No one knows you, your work, your business better than you do.
  • You gain more from testing your own knowledge, ideas and assumptions than from anything someone could tell you.
  • The right questions will help you find your own right answers.
  • I never tell someone anything that I could ask them instead.

One final lesson from back Then. 

I worked with hundreds of people who were looking for jobs; most of them had severe disabilities. They faced physical barriers to employment. They faced discrimination. They had experience as well as access to education and vocational training.

The difference between the people who were successful and found jobs rather quickly compare to those who failed had little to do with their disabilities. Success or failure had little to do with barriers or discrimination. It had little to do with experience or credentials.

Success and failure had little to do with circumstances at all. The determining factors were the individual’s goals, daily habits and, most of all, his or her attitudes about current those circumstances. Attitude about disability. Attitude about barriers. Attitude about discrimination. Attitude about credentials or the lack of a solid vocational history.

Your success or failure has little to do with your circumstances. I’m guessing you have access to adequate training. I’m guessing you know your business and how to do your job. I’ll even bet that you face some challenging circumstances yourself. You can always benefit from learning more, but what you really need is someone to help you get more from what you already know and have.  Someone who will help you develop your right attitudes, habits and goals regardless of your circumstances.

Someone who skillfully allows you to explore the true limits of your own potential. A coach who will show you the way to The Intersection of Purpose and Now.

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Posted in attitude, circumstances, coaching, questions, solutions, success | Leave a comment

All You Possibly Can…

Posted on July 23, 2010 by pdncoach

One of my favorite college memories was a simple few moments in time on a lazy, meandering Sunday afternoon with my friend Mary Beth. We were enjoying a leisurely walk between Thompson Woods and Morris Library on the campus of my alma mater, Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. We had no plan other than to enjoy ourselves and each other, as much as we possibly could.

We came upon a parade of industrious ants marching along the expansion crack of the concrete sidewalk; there were thousands, probably millions of ants. Since our purpose was meandering anyway, we decided to split up and trace the origination and destination of the parade (we lost their trail deep in the woods and, unfortunately, at the exterior wall of the library – save the books!).

Ants have a singularity of purpose. Being college students, we didn’t, so we decided to mess with theirs. We dropped a small rock in the middle of the ant parade and watched them scatter. Such Godlike power we had!  Soon, though, the ants collected themselves, rerouted and were right back on purpose. We, of course, continued our meander, somehow delighted with our ant encounter.

Oh, to be as focused as an ant! This morning, my long-time client, Dave Drook, reminded me of this “Philosophy of Ants” originated by the late great Jim Rohn.

The Ant Philosophy
by Jim Rohn

I think everybody should study ants. They have an amazing four-part philosophy.

Here is the first part: ants never quit.

That’s a good philosophy. If they’re headed somewhere and you try to stop them, they’ll look for another way. They’ll climb over, they’ll climb under, they’ll climb around. They keep looking for another way. What a neat philosophy, to never quit looking for a way to get where you’re supposed to go.

Second, ants think winter all summer.

That’s an important perspective. You can’t be so naïve as to think summer will last forever. So ants are gathering their winter food in the middle of summer.

The third part of the ant philosophy is that ants think summer all winter.

That is so important. During the winter, ants remind themselves, “This won’t last long—we’ll soon be out of here.” And the first warm day, the ants are out. If it turns cold again, they’ll dive back down, but then they come out the first warm day. They can’t wait to get out.

And here’s the last part of the ant philosophy. “all-you-possibly-can”.

How much will an ant gather during the summer to prepare for the winter? All he possibly can. What an incredible philosophy, the “all-you-possibly-can” philosophy.

Wow,


What a great philosophy to have – the ant philosophy.


Never give up, look ahead, stay positive and do all you can.

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Posted in career planning, focus, Jim Rohn, Purpose | Leave a comment