The KindExcellence Blog

• Receptiveness– learning to listen, process ideas and speak from an open, non judgmental or neutral place
• Seeing things as they truly are– staying aware of one’s limitations, staying aware of the system’s limitation, avoiding generalizations, getting feedback etc. (seeing things as they truly are depends on receptiveness)
• Core analysis– identifying the root cause of challenges to resolve problems at the core instead of addressing symptoms and in building effective change effectively and efficiently.
• Locating the operational codex of the system– identifying the basic assumptions and the “guidelines” that lead the system to prefer one choice over another.
• Local optimization vs. global optimization– examining the priorities of resolving the urgent needs of here and now vs. developing growth and putting in place structures that will eliminate the needs of the here and now later in the future
• Analysis vs. Synthesis – analysis, a linear thinking process based in the conscious mind and synthesis, an intuitive, holistic thinking process based in the subconscious mind are two very different thinking skills. There are techniques to enhance either one and there are situations in which one is more effective than the other. Here the focus is on learning to master both and identify when you use one or the other.
• Moving from giving instructions to providing core skills– in effect learning how to provide one or more of the above principles instead of giving directions.
• The eighth skill is kindness– associated with: honesty, respect, self esteem, warmth, humility, forgiveness, patience, joy and generosity. It is a balanced state of caring for others and caring for oneself with actions and choices stemming from the best of intentions for the wellbeing of everyone involved. Kindness does not come from negative feelings like anger or fear; it is a quality of being genuine and it resonates with authentic giving.     

Note that many mangers that practice a version of KindExcellence intuitively do not practice all the components of the model. Most often the component that is left out is the ability to teach skills—in that case autonomy is replaced with higher dependency on the manager which slows the learning curve but otherwise leads to the same desired results.  

Defining Kindness

By Kindness we don’t mean being nice - sometimes being kind requires saying some pretty harsh things, at times even at an unpleasant way. The most important aspect of kindness is the intent - it is not done to please others or please oneself but to be a system wide effort to promote well being.Some of the values that follow kindness are: honesty, respect, self esteem, warmth, humility, forgiveness, empathy, patience, loyalty, joy, and generosity.

Defining Excellence  By KindExcellence definitions Excellence is the endless pursuit to master business skills. Some business skills are: planning, prioritizing, strategizing, marketing, sales, communication, feedback, interviewing, problem solving, innovation and creativity and so on.When the eight skills and principles below are applied excellence is achieved and business results follow.