Lean Quote: Don't Point Fingers, Focus on Problem Solving

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"Concern yourself more with accepting responsibility than with assigning blame. Let the possibilities inspire you more than the obstacles discourage you."   —  Ralph Marston

Problems are the natural offspring of change, so you'll see plenty of them in the years to come. Build a name for yourself as a problem solver, and you'll be a valuable person to have around.

Organizations need people who can take care of problems, not merely point them out. Too many employees get this confused. They seem to think complaining is a constructive act. Their keen on identifying all of the problems - often in an accusing, blaming fashion - but contribute little towards improving things. Their attitude is "Upper Management is supposed to make it all work. We'll sit back, watch them struggle and second guess their solutions."

As employees, in fact, as an entire society, we've gotten unbelievably good at the blame game. We're experts at dodging personal responsibility and using our energy to criticize and complain instead. This carries a terrific cost. So long as we search beyond ourselves for solutions, we disempower ourselves. You might say that even as we commit the crime and blame someone else. We also become the victim.

Even when we find someone else to blame for our circumstances, we win a hollow victory. It may feel good for the moment to get ourselves off the hook, but it perpetuates the problem.

Finger-pointing does not position us to do our part - that only we can do - toward workable solutions.

We've come to expect too much from our institutions, and too |e of ourselves as individuals. In the long haul, it simply doesn't work. The organization's values grow out of individual employees values. The organization's results are merely the accumulation of singular people's results.

So instead of being a finger-pointer, and rather than trying to single out somebody to blame, assume ownership of problems. Let the solutions start with you. You'll increase your odds of career success.