The unexamined life

Years ago, I was told a story about the efforts of a small northern clothing manufacturer to increase productivity. To get the picture think of Mike Baldwin’s factory in Coronation Street, then head in a slightly dingier direction.

I imagine it’s a pressure felt by many a small and large producer, trying to get as much as you can from the workforce, to compete against imports. Production was apparently flat, and had been for many years, so what can you do? A period of brain-wracking followed, much tea was drunk and fingernails chewed. Surely there must be a well thought out, detailed plan that could be applied, a magic bullet of output that would solve the issues and improve the slightly whiffy air of desperation coming from the bottom line.

So, what was the best thing that anyone could think of, what convoluted plan was devised? Someone eventually suggested that the whole area around the machines was a bit dark, and maybe, it would help to add some more fluorescent tubes to replace the ones that no longer worked. It wasn’t the most promising of ideas, but faced with the lack of a better plan that’s what they did.

At the end of the month, astonishingly, production was up by 5%. You can guess what happened next, more bulbs were added and again at the end of the next month, production rose by another 5 %. This was repeated the following month until all the possible tubes had been fitted, and, sure enough, production rose again by 5%.The problem was, what could they do next?

The next step seems counter-intuitive but still keen to test the experiment they removed some of the bulbs to see if the corresponding fall in production matched the rise they had previously experienced. So, did they get the expected fall? No, paradoxically the output rose again. Now, this was great for the management who seemed to have found that whatever they did worked, but what was happening was a fundamental starting point in the process of improvement.

Any process of change starts with examination. To be willing to take the time to look at what you actually do, how you react to circumstances and a willingness to challenge not only what has ‘got you by’ but also the established orthodoxy of what has always worked. Just as in quantum mechanics, even the act of observance itself can change the outcome.

Career coaching starts the process of examination, and analyses, often through a combination of evaluations and discussion what you do and whether small, and sometimes large changes can improve your personal productivity, prospects, outcomes, satisfaction and even general wellbeing.

If you would like to see what the process could do to help you, contact us for a conversation.