Continuous Improvement in your DNA

Els Verkaik & Jasper Lamers

If you want to build a ship

Don’t drum up people together to collect wood

And don’t assign them tasks and work

But rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea

Continuous Improvement in your DNA

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT CULTURE

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• Now we learned how to play the game (Shu),

we are willing to bend the rules (Ha) to reach

mastery (Ri)

• Bending the rules means that we truly belief in

the Agile way of working and how we can

make it work for us.

• We act from empowering beliefs (instead of

restrictive beliefs)

• Based upon an intrinsic feeling of

responsibility and commitment we self-

organize and always strive to be better

Continuous Improvement in your DNA

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO LEARN?

Continuous Improvement

C.I.

Culture

C.I.

BehaviorConclusion

RELAXATION

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CATLIN COAST – NEW ZEALAND

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RESISTANCE

Resistance is fed by the uncomfortable feeling we get

when we try to do things differently

Comfort

Zone

Stretch Zone

Stress Zone

Continuous Improvement in your DNA

RESISTANCE AGAINST CHANGE

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3 kind of reactions during transition to Agile:

Early Adopters – “Yeah I like new things, I want to be the first one!”

Followers – “When I see others doing it, I will follow” (seeing is believing)

Resistance – “Why should we do things differently?”

Our brain is very good in coming up with reasons

why we don’t have to step out of our comfort zone.

Continuous Improvement in your DNA

WHAT IS A CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT CULTURE?

From corporate values to desirable behaviour

- You take it on and make it happen

- You help others to be succesful

- You are always a step ahead

- You ask actively for help and feedback

- You speak up and challenge

- You bring change and adapt quickly

- You learn from mistakes

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Culture is the sum of all behavior from individuals in a group

Continuous Improvement in your DNA

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EXCERCISE

What kind of undesirable behavior do you see in your team / organisation?

(Give examples, write them down)

Continuous Improvement in your DNA

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO LEARN?

Continuous Improvement

Culture

BehaviorConclusion

11

How our brain works:

What happens in case of

stress?

12 © 2010 Capgemini - Internal use only. All rights reserved.

Behavior

Physical

Dangerous

Situation

Fear

Alarm system:

Fight or flight

without

consciousness

Physiology

Fast heartbeat

Fast breathing

Paling/flushing

Sweating

Energy to muscles

SHORT CUT

The body speaksbefore it talks

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And what happens when you discover thatit is only a picture on the wall….

Behavior

External

event

Thoughts

Internal

Representation

State

(Mood)

Physiology

Fast heartbeat

Fast breathing

Paling/flushing

Sweating

Energy to

muscles

FILTERS

Categorize

Generalize

Distort

Delete

Time/space

Memories

Values &

Beliefs

Decisions

Attitudes

Experiences

THE LONG WAY

The body speaksbefore it talks

Behavior

Competences,

Skills

Values

Identity,

Mission

Culture Context,

situation

Who I am ….

My purpose in life is….

What really matters

to me …

My criteria, standards , like

freedom, safety, honesty etc.

What I’m able to …

What I’m doing….

Beliefs

My mental map,

My view of the world,

What I believe.

Expressed by frases

like “Agile helps us to

move faster” or “daily

stand-ups are a waste of

time”

EXCERCISE: WHAT IS BLOCKING US?

Something is blocking us from continuously improving. What is it?

Have a look at the iceberg, what is influencing your behavior?

Continuous Improvement in your DNA

RESTRICTIVE BELIEFS ARE IMPEDIMENTS

Restrictive beliefs“It doesn’t matter what we say, in our organization nothing will change anyway”

“Our management is responsible for solving problems”

“We just do what our management dictates us”

“You can better not give your opinion, that is not safe”

Empowering beliefs“Retrospectives are useful, because we can

develop and learn faster”

“I can learn from my colleagues”

“Failures are an opportunity to learn”

“I want to make things better”

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Reconnect with your

valuesAutonomy, Responsibility,

Freedom, Fun

Personal Development & growth

Collaboration & teamwork

Behavior will change“I’m continuously looking for improvements in our way of working”

“I do daily reflections on my behavior; Am I still effective? What can I do to become more

effective?”

“I think in results and opportunities in stead of problems”

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RECOGNIZE YOUR PATTERNS IN YOUR LANGUAGE

Thinking in problems

What didn’t work well?

This will not work because….

We can’t do it, it’s a problem for our

Management…

Yes, but…

It is hard to…

I have to…

Thinking in opportunities

What can we improve?

How can we make this work?

What do we need for a start?

How should we solve this?

Yes, and…

It is not easy yet…

I want …..

Helpfull questions:

Suppose you are a High Performance team, how should you solve this problem?

If you are the manager, what should you do?

RECOGNIZE THE PATTERN: THINKING AS A VICTIM

CIRCLE OF 8

Responsible

Mindset

Take some action!

Victim Mindset

Wait for others

to take action

Disturbed

Situation

Previous

experience

triggers the

automatic

reaction

I belief I have

no influence

Resistance

or Passive

behavior

“It is what it

is”

I belief I have

influence

Creativity

Posibilities

Alternatives

Choices

Continuous Improvement in your DNA

EXCERCISE CIRCLE OF 8

1. Define your situation/problem

2. Walk through the model with your

group

3. Describe automatics, beliefs,

behavior & effect with victim-

mindset

4. Do the same with responsible-

mindset

5. How do you look at your problem

now? What is changed?

Continuous Improvement in your DNA

THE ROAD TO A RESPONSIBILE MINDSET

Courage

Determination

Perseverance

Flexibility

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

Continuous Improvement

Culture

BehaviorConclusion

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Focus on longing for the sea

Continuous Improvement in your DNA

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Focus on early adopters

Continuous Improvement in your DNA

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Identify restrictive behavior and automatic patterns. Think in options!

Continuous Improvement in your DNA

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Reconnect with values

Continuous Improvement in your DNA

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Use positive language Yes, And…..

Continuous Improvement in your DNA

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Replace restrictive thoughts by empowering thoughts

Continuous Improvement in your DNA

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What would MacGyver Do?

Continuous Improvement in your DNA

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Failure is an option to learn

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When do you get out of your comfort zone?

THANK YOU!!!

Els@elsverkaik.nl

Jasper.lamers@capgemini.com

Continuous Improvement in your DNA