Deviation

I read a quote this morning that supports this article by Kevin Eikenberry:  Only dead fish swim with the stream (Anonymous). 

Vote for Deviation

by Kevin Eikenberry on November 2, 2012

 

 

I love thinking (and quotations) that come from unexpected sources. Sometimes the power of the idea seems stronger or more profound when we know the source.
Frank Zappa certainly meets this criteria. Zappa was a free thinker, talented musician and much more (I encourage you to read a bit of his Wikipedia entry if you don’t know much about this complex rock star).
Add to the mix that today’s quotation takes a word most people probably have negative thoughts attached to and puts it in a new light. All those elements lead to a very useful and intriguing thought (and I hope, post).

“Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.”
–Frank Zappa, singer-songwriter

Questions to Ponder
- When was the last time I looked at deviation as a good thing?
- How can I put the word deviation in a better light in my life?
- What progress am I missing by dismissing things “different from the norm”?
Action Steps
1. Look for the abnormal and unusual today.
2. Look at mistakes, not just as something to be fixed, but something to be learned from.
3. Look for ways to promote deviation from the norm, as a strategy for innovation.


My Thoughts
In the workplace, deviation often refers to the statistical idea of a result different from what is intended. Starting with the work of Joseph Juran and W. Edwards Deming, organizations have tried to manage and reduce variation to produce higher quality outputs. All of this is the precursor to the Lean and Six Sigma processes widely used today. In these worlds deviation is to be reduced and eliminated.
Look at the dictionary definitions of this word and you will find many of them skewing to negative ideas (the word “abnormal” is used – rarely considered a good thing). And I’m sure the idea of a social deviant or deviant behavior comes to your mind when you think about this word.
And yet, Zappa is right.
If nothing ever changes, nothing will change – and no progress will even been seen as possible.
Are you stifling the out of the box thoughts? Is your team hiding the deviations (read mistakes) in their work processes? Now that you have read these thoughts, I challenge you to read the quotation again, ask yourself the questions and take the action described above.