Applied Excellence

As we know that Natural / Pure / Basic sciences define principles / develop information to predict or understand a specific phenomenon occurring in the world and applied science is the discipline of science that applies this existing scientific knowledge to develop more practical applications, like technology or inventions. Physics is a pure science; however Applied Mechanics is the science which uses laws of physics for the applications to design structures and appliances. Multiple Applied sciences emerge based on the nature and area of application of principles of pure science. Continuing with example of Physics; the disciplines of optics, quantum physics, materials science, applied mechanics, nanotechnology, micro-fabrication, mechanical engineering, biophysics,  electrical engineering,  control theory, aerodynamics, energy, solid-state physics, etc. are all applied sciences emerging by applying specific principles of Physics in different areas.

Excellence is also kind of basic science, which can be applied to various aspects and provide us process or methodologies to be adopted in the specific areas. E.g. Baldrige Excellence Framework has been created by applying excellence principles to overall business performance. This framework coupled with methodologies, processes, measurement KPIs, etc. has emerged as one of the Applied Excellence Science called “Business Excellence”. Several corporations have taken cue from this and built their own global excellence frameworks to be followed creating a number of flavors of this.  Deming applied principles of excellence to product quality and defined 14 principles to be followed for achieving excellence in Product Quality which ultimately became a TQM movement still in practice. This is another example of Applied Excellence. Henry Ford applied the principles of excellence to assembly style of manufacturing giving rise to Manufacturing Excellence stream of thinking. There are several such examples of application of excellence principles to build a new science altogether.

I have made an attempt to apply some of the key principles and aspects of excellence to an Individual and define certain signs to identify if one is progressing on the path of excellence or not. The idea is to keep them simple to understand, simple to apply and simple to measure. Ideally one should be able to do it in “self-service” mode without any external intervention or help.  

First and foremost thing about excellence is, that it has a start point, which is when one realizes and takes up this journey consciously, but no end point. It is a continuous process of going to a better state / stage of performance level from where you are today in any aspect of life. When this aspect is applied to an individual, it means one needs to learn something new every day, one needs to do things better and better as the days pass, one needs to move forward in the achievement of current goal of excellence on daily basis. If one asks three simple questions to self before sleeping and answers them with honesty to oneself; one can provide a clue as to if he/she is on the journey of excellence or not; these are  

Have I done anything today to improve myself?

When we talk about an individual, it could be relationship with spouse / Children on personal side or Boss / Subordinate / Customer at work. or it could be reading a new technical article to improve your knowledge about specific technology or it could be doing some experiment to learn or it could be something as simple as complimenting someone for good work. The key here is to identify proactive actions which we have initiated and executed to seek an improvement in the desired area/s during the day. We might face a little trouble in the beginning to differentiate between proactive and reactive/ suggested actions but once we start getting hang of this, each action identified creates a positive feedback to us and pushes automatically to do more of these actions driving us ahead in the excellence journey.   

Have I done anything NEW today to improve myself?

This question is different than the first question. One word “NEW” differentiates both. We can do things which we have done in past again and again to improve the situation and we would be achieving some results. But it is important if we are trying something NEW which can give us different results and with a possibility of better / faster improvements. A person trying new things is positioned better to receive better and differentiated results than a person using the things which he / she has been using for many years. If you are taking certain actions again and again, you expect the similar results again and again and after a while the effectiveness of the actions and results starts diminishing. So, one needs to ask this question separately.

What I am going to do tomorrow to improve myself?

This question provokes oneself to do something new, different for improvement. It also allows oneself time to think about it in advance and assess if there is anything different one can try the next day for areas where one wants improvements or one has to continue what one is doing currently to ensure results. It also helps one to plan for the next day which is a key in getting things accomplished.

What is my SAY-DO ratio?

Last and most important question one needs to ask is what is their SAY-DO ratio? Many a times we make plans when we are thinking but are not able to act on the same as planed and do not realize that we are really not acting as we desired. Our SAY-DO ratio is poor. We realize this when some external source points out that results are not changing. Normally it is too late for any correction and we might have missed the bus. So it is important to consciously assess one self using this question which will help us to ensure that we do what we plan.

When we ask these 4 questions to oneself before sleeping, we apply some of the basic principles of Excellence and create a Applied version for improving Personal Excellence.