The Door of Change and "A Factory of One"

One aspect of process improvement efforts that’s long bothered me is the focus on telling other people how to do their jobs better. It troubles me because my own experience is that you cannot change other people.

As Terry Neil said, “change is a door that can only be opened from the inside.” As hard as you knock or beat on someone else’s door, you cannot force it open. Often, just trying has the opposite effect: the person bolts his door so that it's even more securely shut.

Even when someone asks me for advice, which is rare, they usually don’t follow it. What more if I offer advice that wasn’t solicited?

The only door of change you can open is your own. And as I’ve also discovered, even that is hard – but not impossible.

And as so many Saints throughout the ages have discovered, you must lead by example: “Preach the Gospel always,” St. Francis of Assisi used to say. “If necessary use words.”

Even secular songs, sucha as "The Man in the Mirror" express this truth:

I'm starting with the man in the mirror

I'm asking him to change his ways

And no message could have been any clearer

If you want to make the world a better place

Take a look at yourself and then make that

Change!

This is why I like “A Factory of One” so much (which I hope to cover in greater detail in a future post): It teaches you how to start a lean transformation with the only person you can truly transform: yourself.

Once you've begun, those around you will take notice. If they like what they see, they will follow; whether they formally report to you or not.