{"id":1398,"date":"2009-08-04T14:37:03","date_gmt":"2009-08-04T21:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/?p=1398"},"modified":"2013-07-10T00:56:34","modified_gmt":"2013-07-10T05:56:34","slug":"business-is-like-a-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/business-is-like-a-garden\/1398\/","title":{"rendered":"Business and Garden-Variety Defects"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"a296a24fa2fc69ef5487857f02f111e8\" data-index=\"9\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Single Post readerboard -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8207522353004717\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1144967431\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>Working in the garden can teach us a lot about the natural course of plants, trees, and weeds.\u00a0 Indeed, there are many corollaries between weeds in the garden and defects in a business setting.\u00a0 What can we learn from the natural world that are applicable in business?<\/p>\n<h2>The Garden is the Gemba<\/h2>\n<p>To properly care for a garden requires that you are in the garden, watering, nurturing, planting, cleaning, and enjoying.\u00a0 You can&#8217;t garden from your couch.<\/p>\n<p>In business, you must go to where the value is added or where the work is done.\u00a0 You cannot do this from an office alone, but you must be where the work is done &#8212; wherever that might be in the context you&#8217;re in &#8212; go to where the work is at, for that is what it means to be a responsible steward.<\/p>\n<h2>Tiny Seeds become Big Plants<\/h2>\n<p>All plants and trees start as a simple seed, planted into fertile soil.<\/p>\n<p>In business, most defects, cultural challenges, or financial problems all started out as small acts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>letting a defective part pass through to the next process<\/li>\n<li>a habit of throwing money at problems instead of solving them creatively<\/li>\n<li>a habit of finger-pointing and blaming started with one pointed finger and one blame, then it becomes infused in the culture<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You can think of more, but the corollary between seeds and business are hard to ignore.<\/p>\n<h2>Dormancy is not Inactivity<\/h2>\n<p>Plants grow when it may not be visible to the naked eye.\u00a0 For example, we have a tree in the backyard that appeared to not grow at all for several seasons.\u00a0 Then, this summer, it grew in a major way.\u00a0 What was it doing all that time?\u00a0 The roots were going deeper, broader, and the foundation was growing while the part of the tree above the ground appeared not to be growing.\u00a0 But, in truth, it was growing the entire time.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" style=\"margin: 3px 8px;\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/gallery\/blog-pictures\/shmula-weed.jpg\" alt=\"life is like a garden, lean thinking and gardening, root cause analysis, six sigma\" width=\"381\" height=\"121\" align=\"right\" hspace=\"3\" vspace=\"3\" \/>Transformation in business follows the same natural course.\u00a0 Changing the worldview, thoughts, and behaviors of people, companies, and a culture takes time.\u00a0 While the change might not be visible, it is sometimes the case that the change is happening in people&#8217;s hearts and in people&#8217;s minds.<\/p>\n<p>Be patient; have hope; nurture and demonstrate the behaviors you want others to emulate.\u00a0 You will see the change soon enough.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Weeds Are Hard to Find<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Weeds often masks themselves to appear like a non-weed or its surroundings.\u00a0 This makes it difficult to spot or tell between weed and plant.\u00a0 Weeds know, full well, that the gardner will try to pluck it out when it&#8217;s discovered, so it does its best to hide by hiding in the layers.<\/p>\n<p>In business, defects act just like weeds.\u00a0 As most of us know, most defects and complexities are hidden or become hidden over time.\u00a0 For example, if a defect is known or a process is difficult to accomplish, then human behavior will find the easiest course of action by creating a workaround.\u00a0 This workaround, then, becomes the process.\u00a0 In business, this is often called a &#8220;Hidden Factory&#8221;, or a factory within a factory.\u00a0 Turning a blind eye to problems causes defects and business problems to be hidden &#8212; hidden by an act of commission or omission.<\/p>\n<h2>When You Water the Plant, You also Water the Weeds<\/h2>\n<p>Weeds and trees consume the same resources.\u00a0 In other words, if weeds are thriving amongst plants and trees, then when you water your plants and trees, you are also watering the weeds.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">When defects and business problems aren&#8217;t completely solved, they continue to burden the company and its people.\u00a0 Most insidious of all, these defects become &#8220;accepted&#8221; in a way as the company compensates for their costs.\u00a0 For example, suppose you know that suppliers are providing unreliable parts or products to you, but you see that as a live-with business challenge &#8212; you have to put-up with it.\u00a0 You might compensate for this by providing higher-than-normal warantees, customer service, or failure costs<strong>. <\/strong>This costs is then baked-into the budget, year over year, until something is done about it. <\/span><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<h2>If It&#8217;s Barren, the Weeds will Thrive<\/h2>\n<p>We have a spot in our front yard where the sprinkler doesn&#8217;t quite reach.\u00a0 Guess where most of the weeds are?\u00a0 Indeed, if you give weeds room to grow, they will.\u00a0 The good cannot choke-out the bad.<\/p>\n<p>If leadership stops paying attention to certain parts of the company or is overweight on some parts of the company but underweight on others, then that provides conditions for complexity, defects, and problems to grow.\u00a0 Attention and awareness are critical for a healthy operation.<\/p>\n<p>You must visit the <a title=\"gemba, lean thinking\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/the-gemba-is-the-dojo\/422\/\">Gemba<\/a>, otherwise defects will continue to go unseen and continue to thrive.<\/p>\n<h2>Kill the Weed and Collateral Damage<\/h2>\n<p>Sometimes to kill the weed, a gardner also kills some of the plant.\u00a0 For example, in our grass are holes where some grass died in my attempt to remove the weeds.\u00a0 This is not always the case.<\/p>\n<p>When we let problems, defects, etc. continue in business, they will eventually catch-up to us.\u00a0 But by then, it is sometimes too late and the company has to take drastic measures to make things right again.\u00a0 Most layoff&#8217;s are because of this &#8212; if the company had been prudent in how they operate, then layoff&#8217;s are likely avoidable.\u00a0 Only when it&#8217;s too late, then the company has to take dramatic measures to stop the financial bleeding by cutting the easy costs &#8212; unfortunately, that is often people.<\/p>\n<h2>Find the Root<\/h2>\n<p>If you do not pull the roots, then the weeds will come back.\u00a0 If we hack at the branches and do not attack the root, then the weeds will grow back and will continue to be a problem for your garden.\u00a0 Start with what you can see &#8212; the branches.\u00a0 Then follow them to the roots of the weeds, then pluck the weed out from the root.<\/p>\n<p>In business, when we attack the symptoms and not the root causes, then the problems will reappear and the employees and the company and the company&#8217;s finances will continue to be burdened.<\/p>\n<p>Asking the <a title=\"5 whys\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/ask-why-five-times-about-every-matter\/382\/\">5-Whys<\/a> is not difficult to do, but the simplicity and effectiveness of it is a stumbling block to many people.\u00a0 Start with what you can see and what you know, but don&#8217;t stop there.\u00a0 Continue until you arrive at the root causes of your problems.<\/p>\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Working in the garden can teach us a lot about the natural course of plants, trees, and weeds.\u00a0 Indeed, there are many corollaries between weeds in the garden and defects in a business setting.\u00a0 What can we learn from the natural world that are applicable in business? The Garden is the Gemba To properly care [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12327,"featured_media":9729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Business is like a Garden and other Garden-Variety Defects<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"article is compares and contrasts the lessons-learned from gardening to a business setting, including thoughts on lean thinking\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Business is like a Garden and other Garden-Variety Defects\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"article is compares and contrasts the lessons-learned from gardening to a business setting, including thoughts on lean thinking\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/business-is-like-a-garden\/1398\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OpEx Learning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/get.shmula\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-08-04T21:37:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-07-10T05:56:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/garden-weeds.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"649\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Uday Kawar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@shmula\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@shmula\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Uday Kawar\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/business-is-like-a-garden\/1398\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/business-is-like-a-garden\/1398\/\",\"name\":\"Business is like a Garden and other Garden-Variety Defects\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/business-is-like-a-garden\/1398\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/business-is-like-a-garden\/1398\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/garden-weeds.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-08-04T21:37:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-07-10T05:56:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/9335b5223b67189b35bda7d6be11c3fd\"},\"description\":\"article is compares and contrasts the lessons-learned from gardening to a business setting, including thoughts on lean thinking\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/business-is-like-a-garden\/1398\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/business-is-like-a-garden\/1398\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/business-is-like-a-garden\/1398\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/garden-weeds.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/garden-weeds.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":649,\"caption\":\"how to get rid of weeds\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/business-is-like-a-garden\/1398\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Six Sigma\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/six-sigma\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Business and Garden-Variety Defects\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/\",\"name\":\"OpEx Learning\",\"description\":\"Lean Six Sigma. Simplified.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/9335b5223b67189b35bda7d6be11c3fd\",\"name\":\"Uday Kawar\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Business is like a Garden and other Garden-Variety Defects","description":"article is compares and contrasts the lessons-learned from gardening to a business setting, including thoughts on lean thinking","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Business is like a Garden and other Garden-Variety Defects","og_description":"article is compares and contrasts the lessons-learned from gardening to a business setting, including thoughts on lean thinking","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/business-is-like-a-garden\/1398\/","og_site_name":"OpEx Learning","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/get.shmula","article_published_time":"2009-08-04T21:37:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-07-10T05:56:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":649,"url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/garden-weeds.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Uday Kawar","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@shmula","twitter_site":"@shmula","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Uday Kawar","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/business-is-like-a-garden\/1398\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/business-is-like-a-garden\/1398\/","name":"Business is like a Garden and other Garden-Variety Defects","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/business-is-like-a-garden\/1398\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/business-is-like-a-garden\/1398\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/garden-weeds.jpg","datePublished":"2009-08-04T21:37:03+00:00","dateModified":"2013-07-10T05:56:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/9335b5223b67189b35bda7d6be11c3fd"},"description":"article is compares and contrasts the lessons-learned from gardening to a business setting, including thoughts on lean thinking","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/business-is-like-a-garden\/1398\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/business-is-like-a-garden\/1398\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/business-is-like-a-garden\/1398\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/garden-weeds.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/garden-weeds.jpg","width":800,"height":649,"caption":"how to get rid of weeds"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/business-is-like-a-garden\/1398\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Six Sigma","item":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/six-sigma\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Business and Garden-Variety Defects"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/","name":"OpEx Learning","description":"Lean Six Sigma. Simplified.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/9335b5223b67189b35bda7d6be11c3fd","name":"Uday Kawar"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1398"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12327"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}