Common nonsense - part 2

There is a book I have read to each of my children.  It's called "Where's Elmer?"  In the book a bird, called Bird, goes through the jungle looking for a multi-coloured elephant, called Elmer, with whom she is playing hide and seek.  As each page turns the bird apologises to every animal she meets realising that she has mistaken some other multi-coloured thing for her patchwork friend.  "I'm sorry lion (or other jungly creature), I thought you were Elmer".  Each time Bird is reassured.  "That's OK Bird.  Elmer is over there".  At which point you turn the page only to find that what you thought might be Elmer is, in fact, a football, or a sail, or some washing that the monkeys have put out.  The kids love it.

In the end she finds her friend.  "There you are Elmer" she says.  "I've been looking everywhere for you".  "That's funny Bird", Elmer replies "I haven't found anywhere to hide".

I was reminded of this book when I reflected on the recent Kings Fund publication calling for a radical reform of the Health and Social Care system.  It turns out that the NHS has had its fair share of radical reform.  In the last 15 years alone there has been 26 Green and White Papers, 14 Acts and countless initiatives.  A sort of institutional "Where's Elmer?"

But instead of looking for a patchwork elephant the object being sought is "the answer".  I imagine going through a book listing all the changes over the last 15 years.  With each page Bird says "I'm sorry, internal market - I thought you where the answer".  "Don't be silly Bird, there's the answer..."  Turn the page.  "I'm sorry GPFH - I thought you were the answer".  "Don't worry Bird, the answer is over there..."  Turn the page.  "I'm sorry Health and Social Care Act.  I thought you were the answer".  "That's OK Bird.  Look the answer is just through there..."

Unfortunately, in this imaginary book we never find the answer.  And the kids don't love it.  We never find Elmer.

This is not an accident.  Something is wrong.  What we think works doesn't.  The things we commonly believe to be common sense approaches most commonly fail to deliver "the answer".

So I thought I would share with you a 4 minute clip from a private sector client of ours.  An organisation that stopped looking for answers and started asking questions instead.  More importantly the right sorts of questions like, "what's the purpose of what we do from a users perspective", or "what matters, from a users point of view".  It was a change that revealed a number of counter-intuitive truths. Revelations that made them wonder if the "common sense" of convention was, in fact, nonsense.

The common (non)sense of scale thinking told them to offshore work.  They realised that they had created an expensive way for another part of the business to eat their waste.  They stopped it and saved millions.

The common (non)sense approaches behind how to motivate people told them that targets and incentives work.  They removed them and focussed on solving peoples problems instead.  Although they didn't focus on increasing sales or customer satisfaction, both went up as a result.  They didn't focus on their Net Promoter Score either but it didn't stop it increasing by 26 points.

The common (non)sense of functionalising services and developing specialist expertise created 3000 channels customers could choose from.  They gave staff the ability to solve peoples problems on the phone, taking as long as it took to do this.  Call volumes reduced by 20,000 a month.  They didn't focus on managing demand but their demand dropped.

The common (non)sense of implementing industry best practice told them they couldn't deal with claims in full when customers called.  By enabling staff to reach agreements over the phone customers get what they want and the business stands to save hundreds of millions of pounds over many years.

They changed their thinking and transformed their business.  They didn't implement the latest good idea, or best practice.  Instead by taking the time to understand the "what" and "why" of their current performance they now have industry leading performance.

They moved from managing people to managing the system.  From obsessing about cost and how to manage it, to obsessing about how to solve peoples problems.  From seeing customers as transactions to be processed to people they can build relationships with.  From the common (non)sense of convention to the common sense of understanding what matters to people.  They applied a method, not plans, not targets; just responses that solved peoples problems based on knowledge.

They stopped looking for the answer and started asking questions.  They applied the right principles rather than impose the "best" structure" or "service model".  They ditched command and control thinking and the common (non)sense that produced.  

They realised that the answer to "where's Elmer" is that he is hiding in plain sight.  Although they may never really find him, at least they aren't surprised every time they turn the page.  And it's a good read.