Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Withering and Choking

9/12/12..."Listen! Behold, a sower went to sow. And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced; some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred." Mark 4

I marvel at how another passage in the Bible comes to my mind, and yet why am I so surprised? Not only does the passage speak of the spiritual but it speaks of The Toil. Are the two not intertwined? Sowing is Toiling. The spiritual is in my work. As I reread this passage over and over and think about the deeper meaning, I realize why these words came to mind. And I also am humbled regarding how God keeps his promise to those who meditate on His word day and night, because He does indeed guide our paths through His word. Suddenly as I write this a thought comes to mind.

I can use this passage to convey to the leadership team what I am facing in my role and how I can best help the organization. We are getting ready for our annual Policy Deployment Kaizen next week. This event sets the strategy, tone and focus for the coming fiscal year starting in October. As I wrote in my previous blog entry, I am struggling with a plethera of objectives, all with good intentions, but generating unintended consequences. I am sure going into next year if a course correction does not occur, I will be beseiged with 29 more objectives to work on, as will many of my peers. 

Let me now tie this to the parable Jesus speaks of. In the first part of the parable, some of the seeds the sower throws end up by the wayside and devoured by the birds. How can we prevent this in our organization? In our case, using the approach called Policy Deployment or Hoshin Kanrin.  During the week long event, we will generate a whole list of potential seeds to plant next year. Then through much discussion, prioritization and reality checks, we will only pick the top 4 or 5 seeds to plant in the coming year. By using this tool, we will discard the wayside seeds and instead focus on the seeds with the most potential to yield a crop a hundredfold.

In the second part of the parable, the seeds thrown on stony ground wither because there is no depth to the roots to support the plant. A little sun, and bam, the plant is scorched. I see this potentially happening to our organization, and in my job. We are always on to the next thing, never enjoying a jubilee season nor tending to the ground. Roots are in constant danger of not taking hold, and core tools such as 5S are suspect in effectiveness. However, I think there is an answer. As I think about my job, what I need to convey is the use of a Skills Matrix lean tool. A Skills Matrix defines the skills needed to do a job. My role is to define those skills and certify those who are using the lean tools like 5S or running Kaizen events so they 1) understand the tool, 2) can explain the tool, 3) can demonstrate the use of the tool, and 4) can teach others. The Skills Matrix is the answer to the second part of the parable. Using the Skills Matrix develops the roots. Also spending more time on education by executing a training program using Gemba Academy videos will further aid root development.

In the third part of the parable, seeds thrown among the thorns are choked out and never yield any crops. This speaks directly to my previous blog entry regarding Stress Objectives. In my case I had 29 objectives to work on last year. I am choking. I literally feel like I am among the thorns and in every direction I move a ping of stress attacks my skin. There is so much on my plate, I find it hard to focus and instead skip around addressing the most pressing issue of the day or week. Tough to admit this, but today I realize the parable of the sower describes the condition I am in. What is more troubling, is this carries over into other areas of my life. My only hope here is pushing back when it comes to setting next years objectives. Maybe by relating this parable in the Bible, I can assert positive influence in this coming year.

Hmm...I have some hope now.

One final thought. Sustainment speaks of the root depth. Sustainment yields ongoing crops. Wayside seeds eaten by birds, shallow earth scorched by the sun and seeds choked by thorns do not yield crops. The parallels between my work life and the spiritual are linked. And I must always keep in mind, apart from the Vine, there is no fruit.

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