I happened to read a book called Atomic Habits by James Clear. The tagline of the book says – ” Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones.”
One of the core ideas discussed in the book is that, in order to make a habit sustainable, the actions required has to be the easiest. It’s a no brainer. We human beings tend to fall in love with the easiest way to a goal. We practice the most convenient habits, be out good or not. Most of the time, convenient habits turn out to be efficient too.
But just as these thoughts were flashing through my mind, I was reminded of the many times, when as a Shift Officer, I tried to make workmen alter their way of doing things. Of course, the intention was to achieve higher efficiency. But in all such endeavors, convenience of the intended practitioner became the second parameter to analyse potential alternatives. We often gets too focussed on the intended outcome that, the process is blurred and ends up in a second quality process design.
We hear a lot about the height of efficiency in Japanese industries. One may argue that the level of automation is the key driving force behind Japanese efficiency. While it is very true, it is hard to turn a blind eye towards the fact that even before the automation boom, Japanese industries adopted systems to ensure that they got the best productivity out of their workforce. Ergonomics was given paramount importance in design of workplace. I wonder, even decades later, how many industries in India attempts to make workplaces ergonomic and systems convenient for workforce.
A year ago, when I started handling HSE at HPCL Kochi LPG Plant, I realised the need to transform into a “Systems Person” from an old-school “Outcomes Person”. These ideas of sustainable systems have began to take center stage in my plannings at work. It is not just about machines or workplaces, for any system to pass the test of time, it has to be convenient. Convenient systems gets easily accepted and more importantly gets continuously practiced without much effort. Such systems deliver surprisingly better results in the longer run.
