Getting lost in imaginary problems

In a Lean transformation journey, management seeks to build a culture of problem-solving. To achieve this, people learn not to place blame on individuals, to analyze the root causes of problems before tackling them, and to use evaluation matrices… but often, no one warns us about a common pitfall: finding problems even where none exist.

From a psychological standpoint, this happens for two reasons:

• Over-reinforcement: if, within my company, those who bring up problems (and solutions) are valued, then – just to get attention – I am willing to find them even where they don’t exist. This leads to placing undue weight on results or behaviors that the company has already deemed sufficient, but that look improvable from my perspective. I have realized that this is the only way to gain visibility (and – politely – throw shade on my colleagues).
• Anchoring: The other psychological reason is a cognitive bias known as the anchoring heuristic. Let’s try to explain this with an example: we have established that all our sales reps only need to know 5 phrases in Chinese to greet clients from the Far East. Even if everyone achieves this goal, in our minds, the moment 2 colleagues learn 10 extra words, everyone else suddenly seems to fall short because our “anchor” has shifted. But they are not falling short, because we had already determined that 5 phrases were sufficient to then cultivate our relationships and negotiations in Chinese. It takes a split second to find ourselves gossiping about those who only know how to say “good morning, good evening, and 3 other little things” (a “non-problem”) and proposing a 120-hour Chinese course for everyone—which would certainly not be enough to negotiate in the language anyway (a “non-solution” to a “non-problem”).

To prevent these effects within a company, it is essential to learn how to operationally define behaviors that drive expected results (known as “pinpointing”). When leaders master this, it becomes easy for their teams to understand when an actual problem exists.
By doing so, members of the same working group begin to view reality through criteria that are, if not identical, at least very similar.
Otherwise, the risk is calling meetings – and launching projects – that are merely ending in themselves, because the problem doesn’t exist anywhere except in our own heads.

1. Identify all undesired events or outcomes within the organization that are mainly driven by wrong behaviors: defects, customer complaints, lost bids, drops in equipment efficiency or effectiveness, breakdowns, jams, workplace injuries, etc.
2. Assemble a team of top performers, ideally those who hold some leadership among their peers: they are the only ones who know the tricks of the trade that lead to the best results.
3. Have the team analyze each individual event to identify—first and foremost—the dysfunctional behavior that caused that undesirable outcome, and subsequently define the efficient, quality, safe, or sales-driven behavior functional to the desired result.
4. Include the identified functional behaviors in a checklist and test them in the field using two observers, to verify whether an action recognized by one is equally recognized by the second.

At that point, you can confidently say you have a behavioral metric that minimizes observer subjectivity; next, it will be necessary to establish a process for monitoring, feedback, and reinforcement.
It sounds simple when put this way, but these are intense days of analysis where a behavioral expert makes all the difference.

Sometimes these summary judgments about people allow us to make quick decisions. For instance, during a negotiation, we need to understand who our buyer is and identify their decision drivers based on just a few clues, labeling them as “cheap” or “prestige-seeking” to know which levers to pull for our pitch.

Because, as Stefano Massini illustrates in this humorous tale, when
we slap a label on someone, we risk making huge blunders and remembering them for the wrong thing, just like Monsieur de La Palice. He went down in history not for his bravery in battle, but for a platitude he never even said (his distorted funeral epitaph read, “If he were not dead, he would still be envied,” which was misread as “he would still be alive”).

2. Useless recommendations
Speaking of platitudes, much like parents waving their child goodbye with a vague “be good,” giving recommendations or advice to employees without first pinpointing behaviors is another mental shortcut managers often fall into.

When it comes to changing or guiding behavior, phrases like “Don’t get distracted,” “Pay attention,” “Make sure you focus,” “Be more proactive,” “Stay safe,” or “Keep your eyes on the prize” are exhortations that, due to their vagueness, have a very low probability of triggering the actual action the manager had in mind. In fact, they often become irritated by the person receiving the instruction because of their sheer banality.