How to Solve a MESS With a MESS: Creative Problem Solving for Less Creative People Who Like Mumbai
A true qllaborator should be capable of influencing people across the organization and moving large teams to follow and comply with whatever needs to be done to improve quality at the level that is right for the organization. However, becoming a qllaborator requires certain skills that you need to learn and practice. Up to that point, the commitment to quality, process, and guidelines in your organization may look and feel like a mess. Nonetheless, you’ll know how to fix that mess in less than 5 minutes (the length of the video below).
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Here is the infographic. You can find video transcript below.
Video Transcript:
Welcome. In this video, we will talk about creative problem-solving. We will learn how to solve a mess with a mess, a skill that will move you one step closer to becoming a qllaborator, a leader who fosters a culture of collaborative quality through engagement. By the end of this video, you will know how to influence the employees in your organization and drive better compliance with the quality system, which is a challenge for every quality leader today. You must know how to solve a problem, that’s a given, but do we need the creative part too? Well, it depends on how long you plan to stay relevant in the workplace. Creative thinking will be one of the most valuable and needed skills in the near future since it is a cognitive ability that cannot be automated. Additionally, many of the problems in the world today demand unconventional, out-of-the-box thinking. So let’s start working on your creativity muscle.
I bet you are wondering, “Why Mumbai?” The city is colorful and fascinating, but it has a major problem. Traffic in this area is chaotic not only because of the number of cars on the road, which is already overwhelming but because of the noise created by honking drivers. When honking is very loud, it can be very dangerous, especially during rush hour. You are about to experience this sound pollution for yourself. This is what it sounds like. Imagine now that you are the Mumbai traffic police chief. What would you do to minimize this noise pollution? In many ways, the traffic situation in Mumbai is similar to what you are facing as a leader. Think of each employee in your company as an Indian driver, and every time they honk, they are breaking an established process or procedure. Get the idea?
Mumbai’s traffic police came up with this super creative way to deal with noise pollution. After reverse-engineering their thinking process, I developed a four-step blueprint you can follow, forming the acronym MESS. At first, decibel meters are mounted on traffic light poles to measure the noise levels. Then they establish criteria for what success looks like, which in our case is the level of noise should not exceed 85 decibels. Next, they set visual controls: Decibel level measurement is visible to the drivers in real-time. Drivers can see the level of noise at any given moment. After that, they set up incentive mechanisms. Whenever the decibel meters registered a noise level above 85 decibels, the lights remained red for longer periods.
Honk more, wait for more. That’s the role of this game. When vehicles honk too loudly, they will have to wait longer for the lights to turn green. Drivers are motivated to get the green light as quickly as possible to avoid further delays. This is the MESS method and you can use it whenever you need to influence a large group of people to follow a particular path. Measure, Establish criteria, Set visual controls, and then set up the incentive, so people will be motivated to comply. Now you know what to do, the question is, what are you going to do about it? That’s entirely up to you.
Congratulations, now you know how to solve a mess with a mess. The question is, what are you going to do about it? It’s entirely up to you. If you find this video valuable, you are welcome to join the community, the Linkedin or the Facebook group, whatever works for you. You can also take the quiz, for an insightful assessment on what holding you back from getting management commitment for quality. All links are below. See you soon and bon voyage.
