Why workplaces that get stuck on "but" and "however" cannot change

What becomes visible when you break down personalization

In the previous article, I talked about how
work that has become personalized

Perception → Judgment → Execution

can be broken down into these three parts.

And,

• unless you identify exactly where the dependency on individuals lies,

• neither standardization nor manuals will function,

is what I wrote up to.

So, the next question that arises is this:

Why does "judgment" always end up concentrated in specific people?

The answer to that
was in the "conversations on the floor."

There is a moment when talk of improvement always stops

When you talk about improvement on the floor,
the atmosphere changes from a certain moment.

"But..."

"However..."

It is the moment when negative words start to increase.

In my experience working on process improvement and building systems on the floor,
I have always encountered this reaction.

"Why do you do it this way?"

"For example, wouldn't it be easier if we did it like this?"

When you have conversations like that, the reactions you get back vary.

"Is that even possible?"

"But what about this scenario?"

"This is how I was taught, so..."

Sometimes there is a positive reaction to improvement, and
sometimes reasons why it cannot be done appear one after another.

Workplace reactions generally fall into two categories

In the workplaces I have observed,
reactions generally fell into two patterns.

One is
people who are doing their best within the current constraints.

The other is
people who assume that maintaining the status quo is the premise.

However, what is important here is
the point that neither is acting out of "malice."

Workplaces are already busy,
and they are managing their work within the existing systems.

That is precisely why

"What about this scenario?"

"But..."

"However..."

reactions like these emerge.

Negative words are not all wrong

What is important here is
the point that those reactions are not all wrong.

Among them, there are also problems that truly need to be avoided.

The workplace knows about the troubles and exceptions that have actually occurred.

That is precisely why

"What about in this case?"

This perspective is inherently very important.

However, the problem starts here.

Truly necessary issues and
mere assumptions or customs
are discussed with the same weight.

And then the discussion stops.

Why discussions stop

The reason many improvements stall is
not because the workplace doesn't want to change.

The real reason discussions stop progressing is
because the "structure of judgment" is not organized.

In the workplace,

Who makes the decision

How far does workplace judgment extend

What criteria are used to decide

are all left ambiguous while work continues.

As a result,
the moment a word of negation is spoken,
the discussion becomes a clash of "personal feelings."

A structure where judgment is concentrated in individuals

In many workplaces,
people are not making decisions because they are excellent.

People with long careers
are simply in positions to make decisions
as a result of accumulated experience.

There are no criteria

Branching points are not defined

Exception handling is not structured

That is why decisions keep piling up.

And discussions about improvements also,

become a composition of
"that person's intuition"
versus "the proposer's intuition"

which causes progress to stall.

The problem is not the words of negation

"But"

"However"

These words themselves are not the problem.

The real problem is,

that those words are not being broken down as a structure.

That is,

• is it a challenge that truly needs to be avoided?

• is it merely an assumption?

• is it an exception that can be absorbed by the structure?

If you discuss without organizing these points,
improvements will continue to stall.

What to do next

What is necessary to advance improvements is not to stop the negation.

It is to identify the

• decision points

• judgment criteria

• Exception handling

is to extract and organize it as a structure.

Unless this is organized,
decisions will continue to be concentrated in individuals.

Next Episode Preview

The reason why a workplace does not change is
not about "motivation" or "awareness."

In many cases,
it is simply that
where the problem is occurring is not visible.

Next time,

I will release a
"Simple Self-Diagnosis" that allows you to check
where your workplace is getting stuck—in cognition, judgment, or execution.

"Simple Self-Diagnosis"

will be released.

First, let's start by looking at your own workplace
as a structure.