Because character matters. Dignity matters.
Author’s Note
I am a factory worker that works on the factory floor. I have a variety of skills that allow me to work, often with a large degree of autonomy, in a variety of positions from general laborer to that of level three machine operator, from tow motor driver to shipping and receiving clerk. I have shown ability to merge data from multiple databases while blending material and equipment resources with customer demands and labor availability. This skill set has allowed my supervisors to move me around inside the plant in varying capacities where I have gained a working knowledge of many of the work processes which combine to create throughput.
A couple of years or so ago or more, I might as well say once upon a time, I was fortunate enough to be included on a team commissioned to devise a plan to make our gain-sharing program more objective. At the time, I had not the slightest idea what they were talking about in regard to objectivity and subjectivity. The necessary tools were absent from my personal knowledge toolkit.
I embarked upon a course to educate myself. I bought books on all the fads and improvement ideas for improving a company’s profitability. I found text books published from as far back as the 1950’s at garage sales and I ordered the leading edge books online. I did deliberately avoid any books which were decidedly religious in nature or that extolled the virtues of existentialism and the like. I studied how the U.S. transformed itself over the course of World War II from being the world’s largest economy to being the world’s largest and greatest economy and industrial power ten fold. I studied how we taught those techniques in Asia and Europe after the war. I studied about the impact of technology on the workforce, the social fabric of the modern corporation and about motivation.
All the while during my studies, I continued to apply myself diligently to the duties I was given at work and I continued to participate in the gain-sharing task force. During that time, I came to an inescapable and unshakable conclusion about our gain-sharing program. Despite all the metrics we were being presented, our gain-sharing program did not include the tools that ordinary associates needed to create breakthrough solutions.
Today’s modern factories are not intended to advance individuals or their creativity. When I interviewed for my current job I informed the factory’s Human Resource manager for the job I was applying for that “I only wanted a place to come to work, do my work, and go home.” He replied, “Good, that’s what we’re looking for.” Today’s modern factories look no farther within their ground floor ranks than to replace existing cogs in the established hierarchy.
“The Strength of Character Stretch” gives all associates a personal tool with which they can list, monitor and evaluate their own personal objectives and roadblocks, daily. “The Strength of Character Stretch” can transform your company into a place where employment is a desire, not just a necessity. The modern company that doesn’t mine their employees’ creativity is like a gold mine that only looks for chunks of gold and doesn’t crush the quartz to get at the gold that was left in.
“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood … who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and … if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt 23 April, 1910.
I
The Dung Heap
“Let’s stop swatting flies and go after the manure pile.” (General Curtis LeMay.)
We are industrial athletes and modern pioneers in an employee oriented, high performance culture that emphasizes empowerment, continuous improvement, and goal attainment. In our world of competitive manufacturing we are increasingly required to multi-task, set priorities, manage to deadline, think beyond requests, and to create solutions that are easy to understand. Our personal identity, our character, determines the level of value which is achieved in accomplishing these tasks.
Your personal identity is what makes you – you. Your values and your character are what dictate how you perform and act. Knowing your personal identity and the desired identity of the organization of which you are a part is very important.
Our ability to interact positively with peers, support staff and management toward common goals emanates from within our character. Our ability to develop and maintain positive, professional, and service oriented working relationships with everyone encountered in the course of our work is dependent on the strength of our character. Our strength of character determines the quality of our teamwork of communication and skilled talent. The level of our strength of character from the newest employee to the most seasoned in management wholly determines the level of value we can give in our collaboration of customer and employee satisfaction. Our livelihood, health, and safety; and the livelihoods, health, and safety of those around us, are dependent on our strength of character.
With so much being dependent upon the strength of our character – our identity, how then can we determine the level of strength of our character and what can be done to continuously improve upon that strength?
“Thou art growing less doltish and more shrewd every day, Sancho,” said Don Quixote.
“Ay,” said Sancho; “it must be that some of your worship’s shrewdness sticks to me; land that, of itself, is barren and dry, will come to yield good fruit if you dung it and till it; what I mean is that your worship’s conversation has been the dung that has fallen on the barren soil of my dry wit and the time I have been in your service and society has been the tillage; and with the help of this I hope to yield fruit in abundance that will not fall away or slide from those paths of good breading that your worship has made in my parched understanding.”
The preceding dialogue from Miguel Cervantes book about Don Quixote, written over four hundred years ago, well represents the process of strengthening one's character. You can have work instructions handed to you by your supervisor or a Master’s Degree and PhD from a great school, but if you don’t voluntarily work those instructions or that advanced information into your routine, all that knowledge and information is just like dung lying on top of barren and dry land. The same effect is found with rocky soil, where apathy, obstinacy and fear undermine efforts to implement an idea or initiative. The work instructions, the Master’s Degree, the PhD, the idea and the initiative all require the tillage of persistence, diligence and commitment if you expect them to grow into a new talent.
“Innovation occurs from hard, focused, and purposeful work demanding persistence, diligence, and commitment. Innovation is about learning how to think rather than what to think.” (Six Sigma Black Belt Handbook).
II
The Character Conundrum
“Learning is not virtue but the means to bring us an acquaintance with it. Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful. Let these be your motives to action through life, the relief of the distressed, the detection of frauds, the defeat of oppression and the diffusion of happiness." Nathanael Greene, American Revolutionary War Major General, Second in Command to George Washington from Delaware to all points south.
In their book, First, Break All the Rules, What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently, Marcus Buckingham, Curt Coffman, and The Gallup Corporation give to us a four line mantra that they have gleaned from in-depth interviews of over 80,000 managers in over 400 companies. That mantra is:
“People don’t change that much.
Don’t waste time trying to put in what was left out.
Try to draw out what was left in.
That is hard enough.”
In support of this mantra they state:
A person’s talents, his mental filter, are ‘what was left in.’ A person’s mental filter is as enduring and as unique as her fingerprint. This is a radical belief, one that flies in the face of decades of self-help mythology. But over the last ten years, neuroscience has started to confirm what these great managers have long believed.
We have learned that our memories are not stored in one particular place but are scattered like clues on every highway and back alley of our brain. We have learned how the brain grows. At birth, the child’s brain contains one hundred billion neurons; more brain cells than there are stars in the Milky Way. These cells will grow and die regularly throughout the child’s life, but their number will remain roughly the same. The cells are the raw material of the mind. But they are not the mind. The mind of the child lives between these cells, in the connections between the cells, in the synapses. By the time the child reaches her third birthday the number of successful connections made is colossal – up to fifteen thousand synaptic connections for each of its one hundred billion neurons.
But this is too many. She is overloaded with the volume of information whirling around inside her head. She needs to make sense of it all; her sense. So during the next ten years or so, her brain refines and focuses its network of connections. The stronger synaptic connections become stronger still. The weaker ones wither away. Roads with the most traffic get widened. The ones that are rarely used fall into disrepair. By the time the child reaches her early teens, she has half as many synaptic connections as she did when she was three. Her brain has carved out a unique network of connections. She has some beautiful, frictionless, traffic-free, four-lane highways, where the connections are smooth and strong. And she has some barren wastelands, where no signal at all makes it across.
These mental pathways are her filter. They produce the recurring pattern of behaviors that makes her unique. They tell her which stimuli to respond to and which to ignore. They define where she will excel and where she will struggle. They create all of her enthusiasms and all of her indifferences. The carving of these pathways is the carving of her character. Neuroscience is telling us that beyond her mid-teens there is a limit to how much of her character she can re-carve.
Changing the nature of a person “takes clarity, consistency, persistence and time, but it can be done.” (Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD; Authenticity Consulting, LLC 2008; managementhelp.org.)
In the Six Sigma Black Belt Handbook published by McGraw Hill and written by Tom McCarty, Lorraine Daniel, Michael Bremer and Praveen Gupta, there is an entire chapter devoted to “Innovating Breakthrough Solutions.” In addition to explaining how to examine and question our work place with all the TRIZ and Six Sigma systematic approaches, they state:
“Cultivating an aptitude to be creative for breakthrough solutions is far more important than just inspiration for creativity, or luck. This requires identifying one’s innate or peculiar talent, and honing it for good. It has been recognized that to identify one’s particular talent in adulthood, one must go back and revisit their childhood and figure out what one loved to do or play with when their view of the world and themselves was not biased and they were not boxed into a framework. This must happen first to maximize creativity.”
One camp of experts tells us that we’re stuck with our character past puberty and the next tells us that if we want to be creative we must re-engineer our character. What a conundrum! The one says that you are just going to have to go with the talents you exhibit most and exploit them and lament those talents you’ve lost; while the other says that you have to re-discover veins of long buried and forgotten talents and breathe new life into them and nurture them to fruition.
One has words that heave and grieve and the other has words that cleave and breathe, but both camps are correct. Great character is a balancing act between strength and frailty, freedom and oppression, the past and the future, old and new. It leans into momentum without snapping the tether rope which is tied to the values that define us, keeping us safe, healthy, competitive and productive. To make greatness a continuous leap forward, to build the sustainable momentum that continually brings breakthrough solutions, we must exploit old talents, continuously build new talents which compliment and exceed them, and, we must continuously re-examine our values. In our world of competitive manufacturing, our strength of character is the quintessential element that should be at the very core of our quality philosophies and our profitability road maps.
Customer and employee satisfaction are both dependent on the strength of our character. The values listed on our profitability road maps can only be continuously utilized when they are interwoven into our character. Values such as integrity, simplicity, empowerment, collaboration, accountability, customer satisfaction and green sustainability, form in the synaptic connections of our brain. The quality philosophy of continuous improvement requires utilization of all of these values. Continuous improvement requires the ability to be creative and being creative requires “drawing out what was left in,” and, on this final statement, both camps agree.
III
The Theory
“Nothing can stop the person with the right mental attitude from achieving their goal; nothing on earth can help the person with the wrong mental attitude.” (Thomas Jefferson).
John C. Maxwell, in his book “The 21 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork” states,
“Attitude . . . It is the ‘advance man’ of our true selves. Its roots are inward but its fruit is outward. It is our best friend or our worst enemy. It is more honest and more consistent than our words. It is an outward look based on past experiences. It is a thing which draws people to us or repels them. It is never content until it is expressed. It is the librarian of our past. It is the speaker of our present. It is the prophet of our future.”
He goes on to quote Denis Waitley on attitude as follows:
“’The real leaders in business, in the professional community, in education, in government, and in the home all seem to draw upon a special cutting edge that separates them from the rest of society. The winner’s edge is not in a gifted birth, in a high IQ, or in talent. The winner’s edge is in the attitude, not aptitude.’”
Aptitude, like soil, needs to be cultivated to yield the successful harvest of breakthrough solutions. Strength of attitude is what allows us to cultivate an aptitude to be creative for breakthrough solutions.
“Attitude colors everything someone does. It determines how an individual sees the world and interacts with other people. A person’s attitude – positively if it’s good, negatively if it’s not – always impacts his performance, regardless of talent, track record, or circumstances.” (John C. Maxwell).
Albert Einstein (1879-1955), the legendary physicist that simplified the Theory of Relativity and gave us the five character formula of E = mc2 is often quoted as saying
“weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.”
Like most of Einstein’s theories that modern science continues to prove correct, the Theory of Weak Attitudes is no exception, with the flip side proving equally correct; strength of attitude becomes strength of character.
When we start each day with a positive attitude then we have a better chance of sustaining that positive attitude throughout the day. If we approach the day with a lackadaisical attitude, then, in accordance with the theory of weak attitudes propounded by the most influential physicist in modern history, that lackadaisical attitude is likely to infect each and every one of our activities throughout the rest of our day. It’s just simple biophysics. Starting the morning with a positive attitude opens the pathways for improving our character. As your character strengthens you will find that maintaining a positive attitude becomes a sustainable process and a momentum builder.
IV
Pavlov’s Bell
Arizona Advanced Medicine explains the brain’s regeneration process in a published article saying,
“More Oxygen Equals More Brain Power.”
They further state,
“The frontal lobes of the brain are where the executive functions reside. Executive functions are brain activities that have to do with paying attention to details and remembering them, organizing, strategizing and planning.
“The harder the brain cells work, just like muscle cells, the more they demand nutrition. And just like muscle cells, the nutrition they need is provided by oxygen. Blood brings oxygen and the basic nutrient, glucose, at life-sustaining levels to all parts of the brain. Without oxygen, the brain cells cannot convert glucose into the energy they need to do the work of directing our body’s functions. Our brains have an amazing ability to supply extra blood preferentially to those parts in active use.
“Extra blood supply over a period of time means you build new neural connections. And when you exercise those new connections, they become permanent, rather than being pruned out by your nervous system.
“The brain has its own method of expanding frequently used pathways, and pruning those connections that aren’t used. This happens in much the same way you prune deadwood off of a tree. Pathways that are more consistently utilized are protected from the pruning process.
Stimulation of the pathways increases oxygen to the frontal lobes, and that improves the ability of the executive functions.”
Recent studies have proven that Alzheimer’s disease can be treated, delayed for years and even prevented in many cases through the increase of oxygen to the brain through regular exercise.
“According to the Alzheimer’s Research & Prevention Foundation, physical exercise reduces your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease by 50 percent. Regular exercise can also slow further deterioration in those who have already started to develop cognitive problems.” (helpguide.org).
Most modern factory workforce stretch programs contain a half dozen or so recommended two minute warm up exercises to be performed prior to stretching; yet most of us do not take advantage with a positive attitude of the paid opportunity that our companies are providing.
John C. Maxwell, in his book “Thinking for a Change” asks the following question in regard to thinking related to the value of physical health:
“Did I exercise at my optimal heart rate for thirty-five minutes today? Have I exercised at least five times in the last seven days?”
All medical experts will tell us that a person should exercise at least twenty minutes about three times per week and some will even tell us 30 minutes, five times a week. And, the best part, the twenty minutes does not need to be in one setting during the day. If daily we do three warm up exercises, as already prescribed by the most current workforce stretch programs, of two minute duration each, then we have already accomplished half of the minimum recommended weekly exercise, a minimal compromise since half of our waking hours for five days each week is spent at work. These warm up exercises increase our heart rate which in turn increases our oxygen supply throughout our bodies, including our brains.
As neuroscience marches on, it has been proven that lactate, a substance created in our muscles during physical activity, is not the toxin it was previously believed to be. Stem cell research tells us that lactate is essential in the molecular change that occurs to produce the neural synapse for long term memory. It is nature’s super-food for mind and body, specifically formulated for the herculean needs of one unique individual, you. Dr. Gerald Weismann, editor in chief of the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, states:
“From an evolutionary perspective, this is a no-brainer. Imagine what could have or did happen to all of the organisms that lost their wits along with their glucose when running from predators. They were obviously a light snack for the animals able to use lactate. Now that we know the brain can run on lactate, so to speak, future studies should show us when to use lactate as part of a treatment.” (Medical News Today).
V
The Program
Many people hold to the theory that the main benefit of stretching is reduced risk of injury during work performance or exercise. Many people also hold to the theory that it helps to remove toxins from the muscles or increases flexibility. These theories certainly make good reasons to include a stretch and exercise program at work, at home or at play. There is however a much overlooked benefit of exercise and stretching that makes having a properly performed values oriented stretch and exercise program a must have inside any continuously improving organization. This most important benefit is found in the value of identity. Exercise and stretching can reach to the very core of an individual’s identity. Daily participation in a properly performed values oriented stretch and exercise program can help to re-shape, re-build and/or strengthen a person’s identity and the identity of the organization of which that person is a part. The Strength of Character Stretch is a daily musculoskeletal and cognitive ergonomic awareness stretch and personal goal setting/cultural alignment program.
Proper warm-up exercises, followed by proper muscle stretching, will release lactate from the stretched muscles into the bloodstream where it can be used by the brain. The organization that wants to stay ahead of its competition is wise to practice the proper harvesting of lactate, but is wiser to be mindful, of including “The Strength of Character Stretch” when releasing the lactate into the body’s blood stream because “mental pathways with the most traffic get widened and mental pathways that are rarely used get pruned.” When you automate a bad process in the factory; it only makes the delivery of bad faster. We should look to constantly improve the good character mental pathways.
VI
The Talent of Trust
“The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems, is the day you have stopped leading them.” (Retired General Colin Powell, 18 Lessons in Leadership)
A Leader is someone people will follow to help them achieve satisfaction and victory over their problems and needs. People go to the person who gives them the most value for their time or services. In the world of competitive manufacturing, leadership is the teamwork of communication and skilled talent which adds value to both sides of a problem, a collaboration of customer and employee satisfaction.
“Everything rises and falls on leadership. Trust is the foundation of leadership. When it comes to leadership, you just can’t take shortcuts, no matter how long you’ve been leading your people. To build trust, a leader must exhibit competence, connection, and character. Character makes trust possible. And trust makes leadership possible. No man can climb out beyond the limitations of his own character. Talent alone is never enough. The burden is not on others to trust you. The burden is on you to earn their trust.” From The Law of Solid Ground, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, John C. Maxwell.
Have you ever watched a snail? If so, you have probably seen the snail’s tentacles extend and retract as the snail uses its tentacles to sense the surrounding environment. That is probably one of the simplest examples of the beginning of trust, that is to say, our perception of value to be received. Trust is an essential element of strong character. We each use our senses to examine our environment. Our brain stores these sensations by connecting a neuron to the surrounding neurons. With each new sensation it makes new connections between neurons. As each sensation is recorded, it is immediately compared to previous sensations, thereby making even more neural connections. The clarity with which a child distinguishes differences in shapes, aromas, textures, flavors and tones is astounding. Even more synaptic connections are made to record those sensations that represent value received. The result is that an infant child expertly knows the unique smell of a loving parent and readily extends its trust.
We can go back and revisit our childhood. We can build new neural connections. Just as a child stretches and touches every part of her body, exploring and forming new synapses, we can strengthen and form new synapses as we daily connect our brain to the various parts of our body through a properly performed values oriented stretch and exercise program. When you stop and think about it, you can’t get much more basic to childhood than the pumping of blood and oxygen through our cardiovascular system. It is the single thing that most newborns learn to do well without needing the assistance of a parent beyond the ceremonial back side slap. It is a talent that is innate to us all.
“Among infants, correct breathing comes naturally. Observe a baby as it breathes to see its belly rise and fall with each breath.” (Joel McPherson, Municipal Risk Manager, Health and Safety Trainer, Merritt Island, Florida).
It is only in growing up that we unlearn how to properly pump blood and oxygen through our cardiovascular system, the same as we shelved the other talents that came naturally to us when we were young.
The stretch program is where we can start each day to draw out what was left in. It is a time when we can perform “The Strength of Character Stretch.” We can physiologically build a mind set that looks for and builds value for both ourselves and others. By learning how to think, by reconnecting with our memories and building new memories, we can selectively widen our mental pathways in anticipation of increased traffic. Our stretch coaches need to be aware of and well versed in the need to draw out that which was left in so that something new can be created.
VII
The Wall
Abraham Maslow, an American professor of psychology at Brandeis University, Brooklyn College, New School for Social Research and Columbia University, postulated what we know today as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Abraham Maslow is now the most quoted source in the world in regard to workplace motivation and he is considered to be the Father of Modern Management Psychology. He stressed focusing on the positive qualities of people with the idea that people possess the inner resources for growth, and healing, and that obstacles or roadblocks can be removed to help individuals in achieving them.
Maslow’s theory is that after the most pressing need is taken care of then another need will arise and become the motivating factor in a person’s life. Please note that creativity and problem solving are actual needs that arise in each of us, at birth.
By the time the child reaches her third birthday the number of successful connections made is colossal – up to fifteen thousand synaptic connections for each of its one hundred billion neurons. But this is too many. She is overloaded with the volume of information whirling around inside her head. She needs to make sense of it all; her sense.
They are also the needs that we tend to place on the back burner, often for most of our lives as we concentrate our attention on the baser needs.
In the section titled Character’s Dilemma, above, we read that the Gallup Corporation gleaned from in-depth interviews with over 80,000 managers in over 400 companies the simple fact that what was left in needs to be drawn out. Our need to be creative problem solvers is present at birth but becomes buried as we grow older and are forced to spend more personal attention to more pressing needs.
So during the next ten years or so, her brain refines and focuses its network of connections. The stronger synaptic connections become stronger still. The weaker ones wither away. Roads with the most traffic get widened. The ones that are rarely used fall into disrepair. By the time the child reaches her early teens, she has half as many synaptic connections as she did when she was three. Her brain has carved out a unique network of connections. She has some beautiful, frictionless, traffic-free, four-lane highways, where the connections are smooth and strong. And she has some barren wastelands, where no signal at all makes it across.
Maslow stressed that people possess the inner resources for growth, and healing, and that obstacles or roadblocks can be removed to help individuals in achieving them.
VIII
Dignity, The Key to Climbing the Pyramid
“Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.” General George S. Patton, Jr.
18th century philosopher Immanuel Kant held that dignity is the ability of humans to choose their own actions; that free will is an extension beyond all value. Such is the value of dignity that the forefathers of the United States cried: “Give me liberty, or give me death.” Yet, when faced with starvation, many men will forget about dignity, their sense of morality, their creativity, their spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, acceptance of facts, self-esteem, confidence, achievement, respect by others, friendship, family, sexual intimacy, health, safety and security for self, family and property, to be given one slice of bread.
During the terrible winter of 1777/78 at Valley Forge while the Continental Army suffered from disease, exposure and starvation, General Washington had the following to say to William Buchanan, Commissary General of Purchases of the Continental Army, “The spirit of desertion among the Soldiery, never before rose to such a threatening height, as at the present time.” (Fitzgerald, Vol. X, 427). “Unless some great and capital change suddenly takes place ... this Army must inevitably ... Starve, dissolve, or disperse, in order to obtain subsistence in the best manner they can.” (Wikipidia.)
Being beyond value, dignity seemingly has no value when one’s basic needs are not being met; yet dignity, the ability of humans to choose their own actions, does have a value. It determines how we think.
“One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
We’ve read above how the synapses are formed and the effects of exercise and lactate in enhancing these processes. However, Alzheimer’s researchers have further found that the physical exercise must be voluntary in order for the long term memory synapse to form. If exercise is not voluntary, then there is no long term memory synapse created. You can’t just place a patient on a treadmill, turn it on and watch them have to start running or fall. In order for the mind of the patient to repair itself, the patient must practice free will and voluntarily choose to exercise.
It is the perception of value being received that creates a sustainable habit. To improve our character, we must voluntarily choose to do so. To gain the maximum benefit of our daily stretch and exercise sessions, we must respect the dignity of those participating and provide them with the best information and knowledge available so that an informed “buy in” decision can be made. There must be trust.
A positive attitude is an essential and necessary biophysical tilling tool in the cultivation of aptitude to be creative for breakthrough solutions!
Leadership expert John C. Maxwell has for years been lecturing on his theory of the five levels of leadership with his version of Level 5 Leadership being the most successful level. It is interesting to note that each of those levels correspond directly to a corresponding level in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Using the Strength of Character Stretch can help an individual and/or organization to identify personal need levels and map out a course of action to overcome roadblocks or obstacles which stand in the way of obtaining Level Five Leadership and/or of drawing out the deepest of needs in all of us; the need to sort out our mental pathways so that the world makes sense to us, the need to be spontaneous creative problem solvers.
Can we all be leaders? Of course we can. Leadership starts with self accountability of our own character. Our strength of character determines the value that we can give to ourselves and to others.
We can adjust our strength of character when we hold ourselves accountable for our own actions. What do you want from yourself? Make a list. What are your priorities? Set some goals. What are your successes and what are your failures in being valuable to yourself? Do the work at achieving those goals. Celebrate your successes and set new goals. Be an inspiration unto yourself. Re-evaluate your failures and set incremental objectives toward achieving those goals. Celebrate new successes and set new objectives. Build a character that you can trust and follow.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others. – Marianne Williamson
Can we increase our leadership skills? We certainly can. Find out what the other people in your sphere of influence each need for you to be valuable to each of them. Ask questions. Make a list. Work together with each of them to set mutual goals and establish priorities. Do the work at achieving those goals. Celebrate your mutual successes and set new goals. Re-evaluate your failures in being valuable to each of these others and work together to set incremental objectives toward achieving those goals. Celebrate new successes and work together to set new objectives. Build a character that others can trust and follow.
Do we want to see an ever strengthening creative resolve in our workforce, a continuously improving problem solving ability? The level of our resolve is measured by our strength of character; a very personal metric that leads to success.
IX
Cognitive Ergonomics
“The most significant barrier to innovation, creativity or simply thinking, is fear of failure or punishment.” (Six Sigma Handbook).
Our stretch leaders should remind us during stretch time that our brain cells are indeed like muscle cells. It is the most used, and often the most neglected, muscle in our bodies. Just as we learn what is ergonomically beneficial for the rest of our muscular skeletal system, we need to be mindful (no pun intended) of how we are stretching ourselves mentally during the course of each day by learning how to identify the cause, effect and amount of mental stretch we incur each day.
A big mental stretch can produce positive effects – such as challenge, development and greater levels of achievement. A big mental stretch can also produce negative effects such as stress or demotivation. A small mental stretch often produces fulfillment and enthusiasm but can also lead to boredom and lack of flexibility. Depending on each individual’s circumstance, they may want more mental stretching, to provide challenge and development – or less mental stretching, to provide greater job satisfaction.
Remind us to work closely with our supervision and management staff to effect work restructuring in accordance with the big picture and vision of our company’s leadership, empowering us to change the behaviors we use in our jobs so that we receive more, or less, mental stretching, to fit with our personal objectives.
Mental ergonomics, also known as cognitive ergonomics, is concerned with mental processes, such as perception, memory, reasoning, and motor response, as they affect interactions among humans and other elements of a system. The International Organization for Standardization has adopted ISO 10075-3.2004 which establishes principles and requirements for the measurement of mental workload and specifies the requirements for measurement instruments. This standard is intended for use mainly by ergonomic experts, for example, psychologists, occupational health specialists, and/or physiologists, with appropriate training in the theoretical background and usage of such methods, as well as in the interpretation of the results.
The “Strength of Character Stretch” is our personal measurement tool that helps us each to continuously evaluate how well we perform during the day and how well we fit into our current circumstance.
X
The Leap of Faith
“And He will judge between many peoples and render decisions for mighty, distant nations. Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they train for war. Each of them will sit under his vine and under his fig tree, with no one to make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.” (Micah 4:3-4, New American Standard Bible).
Is the company with which you are associated in the business of solving world peace? If it is, and you are only out to make money, then you are probably not where you should be to provide you with the best possible fit for your own personal goals. Our strength of character is the tether which helps us to stay connected to the big picture and vision of our company’s leadership. It is the chain which links us and if the link is weak then we are in danger of losing direction both personally and professionally. We should continuously re-examine our attitude - our goals, and our values - our character. The Strength of Character Stretch will help you to evaluate the system or organization of which you are a part so that you can make informed decisions and perform to the best of your potential.
Have you ever heard the story of Sergeant Alvin York? He was the most honored and decorated American soldier of the First World War. It is the story of a man who thought his character was not a good fit to be serving in the Army. When drafted into the Army, he applied for conscientious objector status. Luckily, his commander practiced empowerment and provided then Private York with the resources necessary to re-evaluate his character and the mission of the system of which he was a part. After aligning his values with the values of the system, he was then in a position, with only 7 men under his command, to capture – alive - 132 enemy soldiers.
Robert J. Campbell, in his book Competitive, Cost-Based Pricing Systems for Modern Manufacturing, tells us about Learning Curves: The Reduction of Unit Labor Costs. Mr. Campbell gives us a history of the learning curve theory, some principles of learning and forgetting, various formulas for computing costs based on the learning curve and viewpoints for building the learning curve into production plans. His discussion on the learning curve culminates where he tells us about The Steady State: Where Learning Stops.
The Strength of Character Stretch is about continuously inspiring the leap beyond the Steady State. Whenever we reach that steady state, we’ve identified a constraint that can be exploited and eliminated. We’ve found a time and place for that big mental stretch which can produce positive effects – such as challenge, development and greater levels of achievement.
The song The Impossible Dream (The Quest), composed by Mitch Leigh with lyrics written by Joe Darion, was written for the 1965 musical Man of La Mancha (I, Don Quixote). It is the main song from the musical and became its most popular hit. This song is about the apex of character and purpose. If you have not already heard the song and know its lyrics, please go on-line and find one of the many renditions to listen to or read. It is referred to here as an example of a company’s big picture and vision as communicated through their leadership. “The Strength of Character Stretch” will help us to develop toward the apex of character and purpose while helping to keep us focused through the values of integrity, simplicity, empowerment, collaboration, accountability, customer satisfaction, safety and green sustainability.
Like Sergeant York, examine your choices which strengthen your character while in pursuit of the goals of the organization of which you are a part.
XI
Daily Results and Roadblock Log
The discipline of personal mastery starts with clarifying the things that really matter to us, of living our lives in the service of our highest aspirations. Peter M. Senge, The Fifth Discipline, The Art and Practice of the Learning Orginzation
“Reflective thinking turns experience into insight.” (Maxwell.)
John C. Maxwell, in his book “Thinking for a Change” lists as a skill the ability to “Embrace the Lessons of Reflective Thinking.” He states that reflective thinking gives you true perspective, gives emotional integrity to your thought life, increases your confidence in decision making, clarifies the big picture and takes a good experience and makes it a valuable experience.
The Daily Results and Roadblock Log (see table below) can be your personal metrics board upon which you can record your answers to the questions asked in “The Strength of Character Stretch” throughout each day. Examine and decide for yourself whether your actions and goals include the values listed in the heading. If you have reached a goal, write that success down along with how you celebrated. When you set a new goal, write it down. If you have reached a roadblock, then collaborate with co-workers, supervision and/or management to chart a course to exploit and eliminate it. Put your talents to work in a positive and professional manner. Do you need more training or advice? Write that down and treat it the same as any other roadblock! Keep a record of how you work with, help and/or celebrate the successes of others. Watch and marvel as your character grows and strengthens continually from day to day.
This is your personal log sheet. Don’t have time to use it? That’s your first roadblock. Jot this roadblock down and chart a course that gives you time. You’ve got to take that first step if you want to climb the stairs. Work with your supervisor or manager to learn how to find time, and how to utilize the log sheet in a manner that works best for you and your circumstance.
Marcus Buckingham, in his book “Go Put Your Strengths To Work, 6 Powerful Steps To Achieve Outstanding Performance,” writes:
‘On the surface, it might sound simple to say, “I want to spend more time on activities that strengthen me and less time on activities that weaken me.” (Who doesn’t?) But as you’ve no doubt experienced, there’s a chasm between saying and doing, a chasm that takes focus, self discipline, and not a little faith to cross.’
The Daily Results and Roadblock Log can show you where you are lacking in self discipline and help you keep your focus as you steer your attitude towards developing great dependable character.
XII
Evaluating Your Values
‘When you see it, you can seize it. Only people who can see the invisible can do the impossible. That is why you need all six points on your compass aligned and in the right direction; to keep an eye on those things that can’t be seen. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (King Solomon). That is the power and the critical nature of the law of the compass.’ (John C. Maxwell, The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork.)
Knowing what you value is to know along which mental pathways your character is developing. That is the mythical compass referenced in Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean,” a compass that doesn’t point north, but at the object of your desire.
What are My Successes and Failures in Performing Value Adding Activities?
This is your review of yesterday. It is the launch point for today’s new goals. Value adding activities are described as actions or jobs in any given process that can meet all defining values as perceived by the customer without wasting any resources. Remember to include yourself and your co-workers as customers.
What Will I Do to Add Value to Those Around Me?
Nothing catches the eye quicker than someone who is in demand. When you add value to others you can count on not only getting repeat business but new business as well. A reputation for working well with others places you on the fast track in regard to advancement and opportunity.
What Will I Do to Add Value to Myself?
Are you going to establish new goals for today? What are you going to do today to accomplish your goals? You are your best customer. Hold yourself accountable. What are you learning from yourself? What are you learning from those around you? Do you practice skills which add value to yourself and to those around you?
How Will I Celebrate My Successes?
This is the time to contemplate how much mental stretching you are receiving. Is your character growing and strengthening? Do you need a bigger mental stretch, a smaller mental stretch or are you right were you want to be? Be sure and record on your results and roadblock log what you liked and disliked about the activities you performed. Knowing what does and does not motivate you helps when establishing new goals to accomplish. Now, what new goals will you set?
How Will I Correct and Rise Above My Failures?
“My bad.” How many times have you heard that? It is said that true character is not about how far we fall but about how high we climb after we have fallen.
“Remember that unjust criticism is often a disguised compliment. Analyze your own mistakes and criticize yourself.” (Carnegie, Goldenbook).
What goals will I set so that I don’t repeat past mistakes?
How Will I Celebrate the Success of Others?
Are you learning from your co-workers, supervisors and management team?
It’s a choice. If we turn our minds into hard rocky soil by undermining the initiative or success of others then we limit our own ability to recognize and capture value. What goals will I be inspired to set when I see the success of others? How can I let them become my mentor?
“Criticism closes the mind, while support opens the mind.” (Carnegie).
“Innovation must be a rewarding and an enriching experience for everyone involved.” (Six Sigma Handbook).
What Are My Values in Regard to Integrity, Simplicity, Empowerment, Collaboration, Accountability, Customer Satisfaction, Safety and Green Sustainability?
These values are the instruments for your personal dashboard that help you drive and steer yourself toward great character. Without them intertwined through our hierarchy of needs we find ourselves
Integrity = Trust
Simplicity = Making Things Easier, Being a Facilitator for Yourself and Others
Reached a roadblock? Find yourself doing things that take so much of your time that you can’t do the things which you want to do or that are more important? What can be done to eliminate or exploit that roadblock? What needs to be done to make your job simpler? Although this appears on the surface to be a selfish and self-serving value, it is the basic foundation of lean manufacturing and the theory of constraints. Another way of explaining the Theory of Constraints is to quote the well worn phrase, “A dollar waiting on a dime.” Learn to examine and question your job as a whole and as sub jobs within your job. Don’t be afraid to ask the question why in regard to any part of your job and ask it often. Oftentimes the reason why we do a job a certain way doesn’t exist anymore.
Empowerment = Utilizing Character Strengthening Tools to Recognize “My Bad” and Changing My Own Behaviors (taking advantage of opportunities to strengthen your values in regard to integrity, simplicity, collaboration, accountability, customer satisfaction, safety and green sustainability.)
The results and roadblock log will help you to empower yourself. Self-improvement goal setting is giving yourself permission to do the things that need to be done, without fear of punishment or failure; constantly looking for opportunities to improve, laying out a course of action to achieve those goals and confidently taking the actions necessary to achieve those goals.
Collaboration = Asking for Help and Working Well With Others
Collaboration is a systems approach to getting the job done. Look around at your co-workers during your morning stretch session. These are the cogs with which you must groove during the day. When gears in a car start to grind, it is a good indication that the integrity of the system is out of alignment. Unlike a car’s transmission, co-workers can adapt to work together under differing circumstances. We have much greater potential for flexibility and automatic adjustment. We need to be mindful of the necessity to collaborate and compromise. Collaboration needs to be a part of our character. It should be a balance between the two questions, “What will I do to add value to those around me?” and “What will I do to add value to myself?” Collaboration encompasses the whole of the quality philosophy of achieving both customer and employee satisfaction.
Accountability = “My Bad” or perhaps “My Good” and Changing or Steering My Behavior
You have to ask yourself, “to whom am I most accountable?” You must hold yourself accountable above all others. Quality is everyone’s responsibility. You are the person you leave work with and take home every day. It is you that you must convince to wake up and come back to work the next day.
You are the custodian of your own character. The results and roadblock log will help you to hold yourself accountable. What are your successes and failures in performing value adding activities? What are you doing to add value to those around you? What are you doing to add value to yourself? How are you celebrating your successes? How are you correcting and rising above your failures? How are you celebrating the successes of others? You are the custodian of your own character.
Customer Satisfaction = On Time Delivery of Reasonably Priced High Quality Value Adding Activities. What will I do to give value to those around me? What will I do to add value to myself?
Customer service is not just about giving John Q. Public the goods and services he desires. All of us have both internal and external customers. An internal customer might be yourself or a family member. An external customer might be a neighbor or a homeless person. Depending on how internalized you yourself are, even a close family member such as a dependent child or parent could be seen by you as being an external customer. Likewise, depending on how externalized you are, that homeless beggar on the street might be seen by you as being an internal customer. A key to stretching your character is to recognize where your balance point is. It is equally important to not neglect yourself or others. In this regard, the quality philosophy of both customer and employee satisfaction is dependent on how we design and conduct surveys of all of our internal and external customers.
Use your Daily Results and Roadblock Log to make sure that serving your internal and external customers is a premier consideration in your daily interactions and is factored into the decisions you and your team make. Discuss ways you and your colleagues can improve both internal and external customer service in your work and incorporate those ideas into your policies and procedures. Establish a customer service milestone award for your department or team so that you can celebrate, put behind you and build upon successes.
Will I Select the Best Attitude Today to Improve My Character?
The biggest difference between attitude and character is choice. You can improve your character by choosing to monitor and strengthen your attitude. Will the goals that I’ve selected for today add value to my self and to others?
“When a team identifies and embraces the right set of values it will always be moving in the right direction and making good decisions.” (John C. Maxwell).
How Would I Have Answered These Questions Before I Was Ten Years Old?
The value of self reflection is inestimable. Self reflection is also very simple. What worked, what didn’t and why. If you want to make the same mistakes over and over again, then skip this one. But if you want to develop the scientific skills needed to achieve break through solutions, then this is perhaps the most important question of all in The Strength of Character Stretch.
“A basic tenet of psychoanalysis as originated by Freud is that we are restricted from realizing more than a fraction of our true potential because of the repressed, negative, “reactive” contents of the mind: negative fears, resentments, motivations and dislikes. Although much of this content may have been appropriate at the time it was formed, during childhood, it is often no longer valid from the point of view of an adult. When the content is confronted (faced up to completely and with equanimity) and made conscious by the adult mind, it dissolves and loses its power to restrain thought and action, and there is a release of positive creative energy, the energy that had been used to repress the material.” (trans4mind.com).
What did I like to do as a child? Did I do something I was ashamed of and then wasted a lot of time and energy trying to cover it over? Have I been taught to be non-accountable to myself and/or others? Have I given up my dreams? When did I give up my competitiveness? Have I given up my natural desire to please others? Did I ever enjoy doing something so much that I was or could have been the greatest at it? What natural talents do I have that have been put on hold? Do I trust myself? Do I trust others?
XIII
Implementing The Strength of Character Stretch
The same as we build mistake proofing into our production processes, we need to build into our workforce well informed employees who know from the very beginning of each day that you value their productivity and well being. What better time than during or immediately after our warm up exercises and stretches, while our blood is pumping and helping to form new neuron connections, to daily ask our selves the following questions?
“What are my successes and failures in performing value adding activities? More importantly, what will I do to give value to those around me? What will I do to add value to myself? How will I celebrate my successes? How will I correct and rise above my failures? How will I celebrate the successes of others? What are my values in regard to integrity, simplicity, empowerment, collaboration, accountability, customer satisfaction, safety and green sustainability? Will I select the best attitude today to improve my character? How would I have answered these questions before I was ten years old?”
Daily encourage associates during the stretch session to “stretch throughout the day, before we wind down; while our bodies are still warmed up.” (Kim Landman, 2007). Remind us that we are encouraged to take a minute at the end of a job and stretch those muscle groups that we’ve been working, including our brain with “The Strength of Character Stretch,” before we go on break, when those muscles tell us to, and at the end of the day so we can leave refreshed. Remind us to protect our health and appearance by learning to breathe correctly, to relax at home and at work and by taking advantage of those opportunities that present themselves to work into our schedules the minimum required daily exercise that enriches all aspects of our lives.
It is to our great advantage that we get serious on a daily basis during our stretch sessions.
Just as a coach is there to encourage his team to greater durability during practice, so is the responsibility of the stretch leader. We need to train our stretch leaders to talk associates through the stretches while performing them correctly. Ask questions during the stretches about what activities cause associates to use or abuse those muscles. Talk to associates during the stretches about being on the lookout for ergonomic ideas.
Remind us of our posture and good safety habits to be used throughout the day.
Tell us about the muscle groups we are stretching, where we should be feeling the stretch, about the release of lactate that acts as an energy bar to be taken before we get tired and the importance of proper warm up before the first stretch to get the heart rate quickened so that the lactate created in our muscles is shared from the stretched muscle group to the other parts of the body, including the brain where it helps in forming new synaptic connections.
Remind associates of the benefits of utilizing their own personal Daily Results and Roadblock Log and of daily revisiting their values. As one’s character strengthens, their personal dignity is better informed in making the right choices.
XIV
The Servomechanism
How does the talent of “trust” fit within a system that is being monitored? How far do we surrender our dignity in the workplace? These are seemingly valid questions which must be asked and answered before “buy-in” is established. We must create for ourselves a personal servomechanism. The talent of empowerment is needed here.
Most of us have had some kind of physical exercise training at home or at school and can readily sense if our stretch leaders are not leading us. The perception is that since clearly the exercise and stretching program is not lead enthusiastically for our benefit then it must be for the benefit of appearance of a stretch program. But who stands to benefit from having only the appearance of a stretch program? But when the appearance is a lie, is it clear that the company which we are working for is telling us that it is OK to perpetrate fraud?
Associates must be told prior to each stretch session that participation is entirely voluntary. Only the individual is truly qualified to monitor their own participation with that truly magical element of buy-in. The individual must know where his stretch point is and we don’t want to train individuals in the art of perpetrating fraud. A poorly led program will quickly lead to an apathetic view which infects all of our enthusiasms. Demanding that associates pay blind faith obedience to the team leader is an insult to personal dignity which hinders our ability to think.
You don’t want to start the day lackadaisically engaged in a haphazardly designed workplace practice because it subtly infects every aspect of the day, days, weeks, months and years to follow by encouraging poor character and widening those mental pathways that seek out activities which add no value to anyone. You do want to build quality into the system; therefore, regular monitoring of the system is essential. Remember how the snail monitors its environment and the essential role this plays in the development of trust?
Here is a sample survey that could be taken periodically:
Do you believe that your team’s stretch program is helpful?
Am I told that participation in the stretching program is voluntary despite my attendance being mandatory?
Am I daily informed of the physical and mental benefits of voluntary exercise and stretching?
Do we engage in at least six minutes of warm-up exercises before stretching?
Do we start with the upper muscle groups and work our way down to the lower muscle groups?
Do we hold the stretch longer for the larger muscle groups than we do for the smaller muscle groups?
Do we avoid ergonomically bad stretches such as bending over at the waist or full rotation of the neck?
Have I received a print out of the company’s prescribed stretches?
Do we include all of the prescribed stretches during our stretch session?
Am I encouraged or required by my team leader to do any stretches that are not prescribed by the company?
Does the stretch leader talk me through the program each day?
Am I reminded of practicing safe physical and mental ergonomics throughout the day?
Are we reminded of our quality philosophy?
Is my behavior safe for both myself and those around me
Do I know the importance of the Strength of Character Stretch?
Do I understand all the information that is given to me during the stretch session?
Do I understand the benefits of using the Daily Results and Roadblock Log?
Are there any aspects of the program I would like to change?
Take a lesson from W. Edwards Deming and know that these statistical controls can help to eliminate variations from the program. The combined character of one department affects the combined character of other departments. Each shift affects the other shifts. Don’t depend solely on the Team Leader’s word that “Yes, we do the stretches everyday.” The team leader might be telling you only what you want to hear because he or she sincerely believes that all you want is lip service in regard to the stretch program. Also, the stretch leader might be inclined to include in the stretch program stretches which have not been prescribed.
There are some common stretching exercises that are harmful to the musculoskeletal system.
Bending over and touching the toes is not only potentially harmful, over time, to the lower back, but it sends a mixed signal that forward bending is OK in the workplace. Full rotation of the neck can, over time, cause hyper-extension of the neck, also known as whiplash. Unbridled or uninformed stretch leaders often include stretches such as these in the routine. The Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine states:
“The physiological effects of stretches may contribute to reducing discomfort and pain. However, if other measures are not in place to remediate their causes, stretches may suppress awareness of risks, resulting in more debilitating injuries. If inadequately performed, stretches may also cause or aggravate injuries. Careful analysis and stretching program design are required before implementing stretches.” (Stretching To Reduce Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders: A Systematic Review," Journal Rehabilitation Medicine 2008; 40: 321-328.)
“The quiet words of the wise man are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools.” (Solomon, circa 970 – 931 B.C.)
Another monitoring trigger that suggests the stretch program is in need of adjustment in leadership or procedure is failing to see gains against non-Learning Curve Barrier production roadblocks. If we are constantly putting out the same fires and swatting at the same flies everyday, that’s a good indication that we are not benefiting from a continuously improving team. Per person productivity is a very good metric to consider when monitoring the stretch program. When capital improvements put forth less than their potential despite allowance for learning curves then there is a need to look into the character of the system into which the capital improvements have been integrated.
XV
Muscle Memory
These principals of examining your stretch program can be applied to all parts of the daily business and personal routines. However, as science has proven, to maximize the benefits, the Strength of Character Stretch works best incorporated into a physical stretch and exercise regimen thereby making your entire self a coordinated collection of living muscle memory geared to best improving both yourself and those around you.
XVI
Base Needs vs. Base Values
We hear a lot about a “living wage” these days. Taking a lesson from the Continental Army’s infamous winter at Valley Forge, we all can make life choices that we are ill prepared to handle. What may be a living wage for one may not be for another. We all have differing physiological and safety needs that must be addressed. Our life choices can also sometimes thrust us into unplanned family dependencies. Environment, accidents and “Acts of God” also play a role in determining what we need in the form of a “living wage.”
The Strength of Character Stretch is not limited to the workplace. The Daily Results and Roadblock Log can be tailored by each individual to meet their specific needs as they break through the barriers of the needs pyramid.
But the values we need to maximize our potential do not change. Values that are innate in our DNA from birth, our inter-dependency with others, does not change. The magic of dignity does not change.
O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! Psalm 139:1-18, KJV