John Shook 捎來電子郵件，說明他將第三度與組織發展（Organizational Development）先驅Prof Edgar Schein在10月舉行的Lean Healthcare Academic Conference at Stanford上對談。
下文摘錄自2017年對談，其情境常見於我們的工作之中。與流傳中「小王子」作者的名言也有異曲同工之效，頗有參考價值。
“On Coaching”
John Shook September 28, 2017
Focusing on Task Compliance or Outcome?
“We want individuals to own outcomes not just the tasks. And that way they can truly own the tasks and how they are combined to then create outcomes that they want. So, as opposed to accountability for task, which leads to compliance mentality, we seek responsibility for outcomes.
“So, Toyota again. Even on something that is as repetitive and task oriented as working on an assembly line, it is possible to change focus from task compliance to outcome. The fact that you can take work of that sort, which is usually considered to be among the most disrespectful to humans in the history of work, and you make it work that is respectful for people. The key thing is to give people responsibility not just for the task that’s been given them, but the outcome they produce. The definition of that outcome, then, best begins with quality and safety. So you are responsible for an outcome that is perfect. In the case of an auto assembly line, you have 60 seconds to do your work. I’m going to hold you accountable not just for doing the tasks as quickly as you can. I’m going to ask you to be responsible for the perfect outcome of zero defects, of zero safety concerns. Then a person can actually own how, over time, how to make improvements—not just random improvements of apparent efficiencies, but rather improvement of the process that leads to the perfect outcome. I think this confusion, the confusion between doing a task for compliance versus understanding its purpose or reason why, gets in the way of almost everything we do in organizational improvement programs.”
專注於對工作的承諾或成果？
「我們希望每個人為『工作的成果』負責而不只是把工作『完成』而已，這樣他們才能真正對工作負責任，探究工作是如何連結起來運作的，然後創造他們想要的成果。因此，相對於對工作負責的心理，我們尋求對成果負責。」
「所以，再以豐田為例，即使在裝配線上的工作是重複性和工作導向，但也可能將其焦點從對工作的承諾轉變為成果導向。事實上，你可能認為那種工作是史上對人類最不尊重的工作之一，但你卻可讓它成為受人尊重的工作。關鍵是要讓人們不僅承擔所給予他們工作的責任，而且要讓他們承擔所產生的成果。成果的定義，最好從品質和安全開始，意味著你要對完美的成果負責任。在汽車生產線上，你有60秒鐘的時間來完成你的工作，我要你不僅是儘快完成任務，我還要求你對零品質缺陷和零安全問題的完美成果負責，於是隨著時間的推移，作業員可以真正地掌握改善，不只是隨機地改進表面的效率，而是改善製程来保證完美的成果。我認為「僅是把工作完成，和理解工作的目的或為什麼要做好它的理由之間的困惑，幾乎阻礙了我們在組織改善計劃中要做的所有事情。」
「小王子，The Litter Prince」作者Antoine de Saint-Exupéry的名言：
If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rathe teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.
「當你建造一艘大船的時候，不要只是鼓勵大家去伐木、忙著分配工作、發號施令。更應該先清楚地為大家描述造船的目的，是為了幫助廣大群眾去探尋神秘的，寬廣無際的大海的神聖使命。」
