Are you on the journey to world-class?

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Are you on the journey to world-class? Do you want some short-cuts or perhaps some easy wins? – Read on…

Recently I heard someone say that the analysis required for the continuous improvement process was so boring that they just didn’t want to be part of it.

In fact, it’s not the first time I’ve heard people complaining about that; far from it.

The same individual was complimentary about being involved in the fun bits (designing and installing Visual Management systems and rolling his sleeves up to be part of a Workplace Organisation initiative) but did not want to be involved in any detailed analysis of data or root cause “that’s really not what I’m here to do”.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), world-class is a combination of some fun parts and some hard work. If you skimp on the detail you skimp on the results. The trick is to do the hard work only in the areas that matter. The other trick is to make sure everyone shares the same burning platform.

Intrigued by this attitude, I thought I’d research the opinions of several who can truly say they have achieved word class – see if you have gold in you and match the quotes with the photos.

Who said that?
1.A. "You think that there must be something wrong, that it shouldn't feel that bad, that it feels awful, that you're going to die"
2.B. "Because I could practice for three to five hours without looking at my watch. I could go for six or seven hours and I would eventually be like, “I’m going in now.” Why? Because I can’t see the ball any more. Not because I’m tired, not because I don’t want to. And I was happy with that."
3.C. "What would happen if I lost the gold by one thousandth of a second, because there was a training session I skipped or didn't give my all to?"
4.D. “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'”
5.E. "Remember that guy that gave up? Neither does anyone else."
6.F. "Don’t dream of winning train for it."
7.G. "You have to work out every single thing that could go wrong and deal with it beforehand."
8.H. “Two to six hours a day, Seven days a week. A day off once every three weeks, for forty-nine weeks a year.”
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