Is there a “quest” for the problem?

In my previous article, as the beginning of the chapter on Improvement and Innovation, I talked about the importance of changing (or not changing) with intention. In this article, I would like to talk about the importance of quests(questions) in improvement and innovation.

The relationship between improvement and innovation

First of all, some of you may find the words “improvement” and “innovation” side by side uncomfortable, so I will briefly discuss the relationship between the two.

To tell you the conclusion first, from the perspective of ISHIKI(consciousness) management, I see it as essentially the same thing. I will tell you more about it in a future article, but I see it as the same in terms of “making the intended change”, and the only difference is “what level of depth to go into and make the change”.

Here are my definitions of each word.

Definition of improvement (Ochiai’s idea)
Grasping the structure and background of events from a meta (multi-dimensional, multi-faceted) perspective, and at the same time grasping the true “ideal state” of things, then deriving an improvement story and making a decision.

Definition of innovation (Ochiai’s idea)
To crystallize an image that has evolved from the current situation by repeating back and forth motions of embodiment and idealization, and by making improvements at high speed in a team in order to realize the “ideal state.

Both definitions are the same when it comes to intentionally making changes from the current situation toward the “desired state (vision, etc.). In this chapter, unless there is a special distinction, improvement and innovation will be treated in the same category.

The difference between a vague awareness of a problem and a “quest(question)”

Improvement and innovation is the process of accurately recognizing the gap between the current situation and what we want to be in the future, and deliberately addressing the question, “How can we change?”

In order to make a change, we have to try to change by ourselves. If we are not conscious of what we are doing, it is easy to maintain the same mindset that we have already had.

So what exactly does it mean to try to change?

In my opinion, improvement and innovation depends on how well we can formulate the first step, the “quest(question).”

This is because the “quest(question)” is an expression of what a person sees as a challenge, what he or she perceives needs to be changed, and more importantly, what he or she wishes to do.

The pattern of not being able to successfully change is that the quest(question) is not properly formulated, or the quest(question) itself is not formulated in the first place. In other words, the perception of what needs to be solved is wrong, or what needs to be solved is not specified.

On the other hand, it is not an exaggeration to say that if the quest(question) is formulated properly, the process of improvement and innovation will start to go naturally.

I sometimes ask myself, “What questions do I have now?” By asking myself this question, I am able to shed light on my vague awareness of problems and convert it into a quest(question).

In addition, I have regular 1-on-1 meetings with our executives and managers, and one of the questions I often ask is, “What quests(questions) do you have right now?” This question helps the executives and managers to share their awareness of problems and to convert them into clear quests(questions.)

Can we formulate a question for “the King of Problems?”

I will explain how difficult it is to formulate quests(questions), using our company’s challenges as an example.

Our company provides employee training services for corporations, and in the wake of the spread of infectious diseases, it became difficult to implement these services offline, so we quickly moved our services online. Although the speed of the move was good, the increase in workload and the complexity of the business process brought out various problems such as exhaustion of the frontline and difficulty in onboarding new employees.

As we explored the background of the problem, we found out that it was a complex combination of various factors. The following diagram summarizes this.
(You do not need to look at the contents in detail. (You don’t need to look at the contents in detail, just understanding the complexity is fine.)

In this kind of analysis, it is important to find the “king of issues,” namely the fundamental issue. If the “king of issues” is not solved, the same problems will occur again and again.

In this diagram, the “kings of issues” are marked in red. The “kings of issues” are those related to the fundamentals of corporate culture, such as “ consciousness of the management team.

In this case, for example, if we have quests(questions) about issues that are close to the result in the cause and effect relationship, for example, “How can we improve the declining engagement?,” we will only be able to come up with coping superficial problems.

Increasing opportunities for meetings between supervisors and subordinates, or holding events that stimulate interaction between employees, may increase the engagement score.

However, this is not approaching the “king of issues” at all and does not solve the problem at its root. Moreover, there is a risk of missing the opportunity to discover the “king of issues” if the results of the engagement score increase.

It is important to note that we are not talking about engagement being a consequential issue in any case, nor are we talking about it not being important just because it is a consequential issue. (In fact, engagement is one of the key issues for our company.) We are only talking about which is closer to the root cause and which is closer to the result in terms of causality.

In this case, the question to approach the king of problems is: “How should we change the mindset of the management team?” (and there are other questions). Since there is a cause-and-effect relationship between the mindset of the management team and the various decisions they make, which in turn produce the results, I have listed the mindset of the management team as one of the kings of issues.

Depending on how we formulate the “quest(question),” the content and impact of the solution will be completely different.

A quest(question) is a way of looking at things

More importantly, quests(questions) will vary depending on the person’s perspective of how far and how deep they can see.

If one can only see the surface of things, the questions will be superficial, and if one can see to the depths, the questions will be more fundamental. If we don’t see that the fundamental issue may be in the mindset of the management team in the first place, we will not be able to ask “how to change the mindset of the management team.”

In other words, in improvement and innovation, the way of looking at things of those who are involved in it is being challenged.

And this way of looking at things is not just about whether or not we have seen the issue in concrete terms, but also whether or not we are trying to recognize the structure and cause-and-effect relationships that form the background to the issue, which are not necessarily visible, or whether or not we are trying to capture the thinking and values of the people involved in creating such structures and cause-and-effect relationships, which are not necessarily visible either.

In this sense, I think it is meaningful to ask ourselves what kind of quests(questions) we have and to share them with the team we belong to. This is because it allows us to look at our own (our) way of looking at things objectively.

In this article, I talked about the beginning of improvement and innovation is to have a quest(question), and the quest(question) refers to the way we look at things. In the next article, we will deepen our understanding of improvement and innovation from the perspective of how we see things.

Here are the quests of the day. (If you’d like, please share your thoughts in the comments.)

・What kind of quests(questions) do you have now? (More than one is fine)

・In the background of the above quests(questions), what kind of wishes do you have?

Bunshiro Ochiai