Walk A Mile In My Shoes

Over the last several months I have had a greater appreciation for the saying “walk a mile in my shoes”.  It is important to put oneself in other people’s shoes because it can help one to better understand their perspective or situation.

In the world of continuous improvement it is very important to find root causes and develop action plans off of those findings.  We tend to assume we know the situation and have all the answers, myself included.  The realization came to me over the last few projects I have worked on where I have sat down with individuals to better understand or most importantly observing the challenges.  We get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the business and want to make quick decisions instead of taking time.  Making it better and making it stick is the key and if we often make assumptions and don’t slow down to better understand we are no better off.  Finding the root cause and making changes piece by piece is right in the words of Continuous Improvement.

Improvement never stops, it is continuous.

Having these realizations for myself has taught me to listen to understand, observe to understand, take time to digest, and do not judge or assume.  I have a better appreciation for all my wonderful co-workers here at Storey Kenworthy from walking in their shoes to understand improvement opportunity.