The most interesting things I've learned about improvement

Be clear on what you really want first.  Also known as the Spice Girls Question, Miracle Question, or Ideal State.  The problem is the gap between what you really want and where you are now.  Without being clear about the problem, you will be unable to assess the effectiveness of any interventions.

Reference: Solution Focus, Toyota Kata, Test First Development

Understand the reality on the ground before moving to the big picture.  Without directly understanding the reality on the ground first, you will pollute the big picture with bad assumptions and misconceptions.

Reference: Toyota / Lean, Contextual Design, Customer Development

Focus on the next step, not big jumps. Smaller steps help with sense of progress and ongoing validation of your theories of what will cause improvement. Big jumps require more investment and are therefore more likely to succumb to sunk cost fallacy. Note also that the size of the intervention, is not necessarily correlated with the size of the effect.  Choosing the right, small next step can have large, significant positive effects.

Reference: Solution Focus, Toyota Kata, PDSA/PDCA

Improvement does not occur until the driving forces (survival anxiety) are greater than the restraining forces (learning anxiety).  Survival anxiety is the feeling that something bad will happen unless the change occurs.  Learning anxiety is the feeling that something bad will happen if the change occurs.  If learning anxiety is greater, you will be motivated to question the validity of your survival anxiety.

Learning anxiety is typically caused by things like:

• Fear of loss of position or status
• Fear of incompetence and associated punishment
• Fear of loss of identity
• Fear of loss of group membership

Reference: The Corporate Culture Survival Guide

It's generally better to focus on reducing learning anxiety (aka increasing safety) than increasing survival anxiety (aka increasing urgency). Increasing survival anxiety can lead to people just shutting down while increasing safety leads to people being more curious and open.  Increasing safety means things like:

• A clear and compelling vision
• Formal training
• Involvement of the people needing to learn the change
• Informal training for peer groups
• Coaching and practise opportunities
• Role modelling, especially by influencers and leaders
• Support groups
• Systems and structures consistent with the change

Reference: The Corporate Culture Survival Guide

No problem is perfect.  Even in the worse circumstances there are always examples of exceptions that are performing better.  Finding and understanding these positive deviants is an effective way of improving when facing the most difficult, persistent problems.

Reference: Solution Focus, Positive Deviance