So then, where do we go from this title…? Basically, my family and I were on holiday last weekend and I managed to get out on the MTB (that’s MounTainBike for those unfamiliar), with my brother in law – he’s the one on the right, I’m the Leeds United fan… We were in Cornwall and went to do the ‘Bodmin Beast’ Blue trail at Cardinham Woods which was a really good hour and a half covering 12kms…
Now a Blue trail is moderate and a Red trail is difficult and on the Bodmin Beast there are two Red trail sections (my favourite!) and the second of these was named Hells Teeth, see the video of someone else doing this section from YouTube bit.ly/i4b_HellsTeeth. Whilst climbing the hill (on the bike in the saddle, not walking by the way) I got to thinking of its name and then remembered the tallest Mountain in Ireland, Carrauntoohill and it has a section called Devil’s Ladder – it’s a steep rocky scramble getting you around 200m from the summit.
So, I had the Hell’s teeth and Devil’s ladder descriptions in my head, both synonymous with difficulty, but which I found fun… and then it hit me… thankfully not a low branch or the trail, but how we attach negative connotations to things we find difficult, quite wisely to draw attention to something that is dangerous perhaps. However, and here is my point, teams or businesses who have had a difficult or bad experience with Lean, 6Sigma and Continuous Improvement are probably likely to do the same. Thus, due to a bad or difficult experience in the past, it is very difficult to get back into trusting these approaches.
If you have had a bad or difficult experience with Lean, 6Sigma or Continuous Improvement please do get in touch as I guarantee it has not been used or implemented correctly – if it is done correctly, it is a truly straightforward and rewarding journey for your processes and employees, your business and your customers!
Get back on the bike, horse, trail or however you would wish to position it and get in touch with us at www.insight4business.co.uk and we can have a simple discussion about moving you forward, upskilling your teams, increasing your capacity and changing your margins for the better.