Day 81: The Harada Method and Goal Setting

It was a beautiful day for some learning at Lean Sensei's office - check out that view! How inspiring!

Wouldn't if be great to see that view every day (when not raining of course, this is Vancouver after all)? Wouldn't it be great if we could afford a big house in this area of Vancouver? What would it take to achieve that goal?

Now, that actually isn't a goal I am interested in pursuing, but it leads me back to the topic du jour: goal setting. The Harada Method is a way to break down large and distant or difficult goals into smaller steps, many of which could be converted to habits. The sum cumulative effect of all these small habits would bring one closer to the goal; even if the goal itself wasn't achieved, the progress would be noticeable.

So if I were to think of a goal that I would like to achieve, a big goal, let's pick a fun one: I would like to podium (place 1st thru 3rd) at the 2015 National long track masters championship, next February in Calgary. The Harada Method would have me list eight steps I can take to help me achieve that goal. For example: Target an opening 400m lap time of 35sec or better. Or: complete a Cooper test (12 min skate) with 50 or more laps on a 111m track.

Now my speed skating obsession aside, I want to try to apply this to some work-related goal. Our EXCEL team has a goal of $2M in documented savings for the year (2014). I think this is totally achievable but some of my teammates aren't so sure. If I were to write down the 8 steps I can take to help the team achieve that goal, what might those steps look like? Maybe something like:

- check in weekly with black belts and help them with cost-savings analyses

- publicize the current savings YTD total and the current gap

- find and offer opportunities to team members to work on kaizen to contribute to the total

I will try to develop the rest of the model, and see what my teammates think... Stay tuned!

AMac