In our increasingly competitive world, perfectionism is on the rise. At a time when winning creates so much social value and attention, the desire to attain perfection is a natural consequence. Perfection, by definition, requires a hyper-focus on eliminating mistakes and errors. To compete without flaws is perceived as a means to ensure victory.
When I took over my current department six years ago, I implemented three things immediately: 1) Process Excellence (better, faster, cheaper), 2) Kanban boards (Little's Law), and 3) The quote, "Don't let perfect be the enemy of good enough." It took about six months to get everyone to understand the principles behind them and to get onboard, but once they did, productivity and employee engagement increased considerably.
"Turn this ship around" is another nuclear Navy turn-around story and it discusses the cultural difference between avoiding errors and pursuing excellence. "Avoiding errors" actually causes problems because meet the regs and stop there - they don't try to get better because that risks making a mistake. On the other hand, pursuing excellence is always looking for ways to do better and as a result it prevents mistakes from happening in the first place.
When I took over my current department six years ago, I implemented three things immediately: 1) Process Excellence (better, faster, cheaper), 2) Kanban boards (Little's Law), and 3) The quote, "Don't let perfect be the enemy of good enough." It took about six months to get everyone to understand the principles behind them and to get onboard, but once they did, productivity and employee engagement increased considerably.
Seek perfection and accept excellence.
"Turn this ship around" is another nuclear Navy turn-around story and it discusses the cultural difference between avoiding errors and pursuing excellence. "Avoiding errors" actually causes problems because meet the regs and stop there - they don't try to get better because that risks making a mistake. On the other hand, pursuing excellence is always looking for ways to do better and as a result it prevents mistakes from happening in the first place.
True in 4th quarter defense as well.
Consistently allows comeback because suddenly you switch to playing to hang on to a lead.