Five S for the mind

8/17/2019 Five S for the mind

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Five S for the mind

Prof. AjanthaDharmasiri

delivering the key note

speech at the Annual Five S

Conference

It was a meaningful occasion when I had to deliver the keynote address at the Annual Five S

Conference, organised by the Sri Lanka Association of Quality and Productivity, held

recently

I s!oke on the "Five S for the #ind$ highlighting the need to focus on mind over matter

%oday$s column contains the essence of what I shared

Overview

&etter housekee!ing, greater orderliness and enhanced !roductivity are 'ust some of the benefits of the !o!ular a!!roach known as the "Five S$ system It is no stranger to the Sri

Lankan work!lace I think it has much more de!th and breadth than that %he "Five S$ system

originated in (a!an, and stands for five (a!anese words that start with the letter S) Seiri,

Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu and Shitsuke An e*uivalent set of five "S$ words in +nglish have

likewise been ado!ted by many, to !reserve the Five S acronym in +nglish usage %hese are)

Sort, Set, Shine, Standardise and Sustain

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%he Five S system offers a systematic a!!roach to kee!ing things in order It

is a visual techni*ue of ensuring !ro!er housekee!ing as well As iroyuki

irano -.//01 stated in "Five Pillars of the 2isual 3ork!lace$, the Five S

forms the bedrock for !roductivity

Furthermore, %akashi 4sada, -.//01 highlights in "%he Fiv0S$s) Five keys to

a %otal Quality +nvironment$, it offers a !athway for *uality and !roductivity

im!rovements

nderstanding the mind

As the first stan5a of the revered te6t the 7hamma!ada states)

8#ano !ubbaagma dhamma, mano setta manomaya9 %his

essentially means that the mind is the forerunner for all things

3hilst its su!remacy has always been undis!utedly acce!ted,

what is mind has been a !erennial *uestion Philoso!hers

strived to describe it while !sychologists struggled to define

it

As one relatively sim!ler definition says, the mind is the

human consciousness that originates in the brain and is

manifested es!ecially in thought, !erce!tion, emotion, will,

memory and imagination Psychologists such as Sigmund

Freud and 3illiam (ames have develo!ed influential theories

about the nature of the human mind In the late :;th and early

:.st centuries the field of cognitive science emerged and

develo!ed many varied a!!roaches to the descri!tion of the mind and its related !henomenaIn Sigmund Freud$s !sychoanalytic theory of !ersonality, the conscious mind consists of

everything inside of our awareness %his is the as!ect of our mental !rocessing that we can

think and talk about in a rational way %he conscious mind includes such things as sensations,

!erce!tions, memories, feelings and fantasies inside of our current awareness

!hy and how

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3hy does the mind need Five S< %his has been a *uestion in my mind for a while =emoving

clutter from the work!lace is fine but more clutter remains in the mind, in the forms of

negative emotions, inaccurate !erce!tions and false o!inions +ven though Five S has been

successfully im!lemented in many Sri Lankan work!laces, the de!th it contains in making

the !artici!ants disci!lined has not been ade*uately ca!tured Let$s discuss each S in detail

Seiri "Sort#

%his is the starting !oint %y!ical work!lace activities include going through all tools,

materials and so forth in the !lant and work area >ee!ing only essential items and

eliminating what is not re*uired, !rioritising things !er re*uirements and kee!ing them in

easily?accessible !laces are other key actions +verything else is stored or discardedIt refers to the act of throwing away all unwanted, unnecessary and unrelated materials in the

work!lace Peo!le involved in Seiri must not feel sorry about having to throw away things

%he idea is to ensure that everything left in the work!lace is related to work +ven the number

of necessary items in the work!lace must be ke!t to their absolute minimum &ecause of

seiri, the sim!lification of tasks, the effective use of s!ace and the careful !urchase of items

take !lace %he way I think, the dee! relevance of Seiri to the mind is !ur!osefulness In

order to ensure clarity over clutter with 8right seeing9 -Samma 7hitti1, one needs to identify

!ositive thoughts, constructive emotions and unbiased !erce!tions with a clear !ur!ose in

mind %his is much more difficult than sorting things in a work!lace

Seiton "Set#

%his ty!ically means arranging the work!lace, e*ui!ment, !arts, and instructions in such a

way that the work flows free of waste through value?added tasks with a division of labour

necessary to meet demand It follows the !ractice of 8everything has a !ro!er !lace9 It is allabout efficiency 3hen a!!lied correctly with flow established this ste! eliminates the

ma'ority of the non?value?added time and allows the rest of the 5ero defect !hiloso!hy to be

enabled In essence, until there is an orderly flow, you cannot avoid flaws in tackling

!roblems and the notion of 5ero defects is not !ossible at all

As I observe, the dee! relevance of Seiton to the mind is !rioritising It re*uires focusing on

value creation Connecting thoughts in a logical manner with !ro!er analysis is the need It in

fact hel!s oneself to focus on tasks linked to targets in the conte6t of overall !ur!ose 3hat is

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connected to the !ur!ose has to be a !riority %he rest have to be set aside to be done only

when time !ermits

Seiso "Shine#

%his involves cleaning the works!ace and all e*ui!ment and kee!ing them organised In a

ty!ical factory, at the end of each shift, clean the work area and be sure everything is restored

to its !lace %his ste! ensures that the workstation is ready for the ne6t user and that order is

sustained

In fact, Seiso invites us to become our own 'anitors As the (a!anese advocate, cleaning must

be done by everyone in the organisation, from the directors to drivers +veryone should see

the work!lace through the eyes of a visitor ? always thinking if it is clean enough to make agood im!ression %he way I see it, the dee! relevance of Seiso to the mind is !urity %his is

where the s!iritual dimension looms large Pure thoughts devoid of malice, 'ealously and

other negativities are what are re*uired A shining mind is a s!iritual mind em!athising with

others com!assionately

Seiketsu "Sustain#

%his is all about uniformity and consistency In a ty!ical work!lace, uniform !rocedures need

to be ensured throughout an o!eration to !romote inter?changeability

Seiketsu can also be viewed as 8conformance to consistent clean?u!9 It consists of defining

the standards by which !eo!le must measure and maintain "cleanliness$ Seiketsu

encom!asses both !eo!le and environmental cleanliness Personal tidiness can be a good

starting !oint

I think the dee! relevance of Seiketsu to the mind is !erseverance So many start?u!s might

end u! halfway through without !ro!er com!letion A mind that is geared towards

!erseverance will ensure continuity of a recommended habit, !referred value or a best

!ractice 4ne needs determination and dedication in order to sustain noteworthy initiatives

Shitsuke "Standardise#

%his refers to ensuring the disci!lined adherence to the !revious four Ss It assists in

!reventing a !ossible backsliding to where thing were !rior to the im!lementation of the Five

S system %he key word here is disci!line It denotes !racticing the Five S as a way of life

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As the (a!anese say, the em!hasis of Shitsuke is the elimination of bad habits and the

constant !ractise of good ones 4nce true Shitsuke is achieved, !eo!le will kee! things

naturally, without reminders and warnings

%he way I see it, the dee! relevance of Shitsuke to the mind is !roactiveness 3ith a

!roactive mind, !ur!oseful, !rioritised, !ure actions can be continued with !erseverance In

essence, it sums u! the overall a!!lication of the Five S to the mind

From Five S to Five Ps

As we saw clearly so far, the Five S for the work!lace can be a!!licable in a dee! way as the

Five S for the mind In such an a!!roach, it can even be called Five Ps %hey are

!ur!osefulness, !rioritising, !urity, !erseverance and !roactiveness %able . ca!tures this

com!arison of Five S for matter and Five P for the mind Sri Lankan managers can embrace

the above Five Ps and then engage in the Five Ss so that the mind and matter can be both

organised in a better way %he sad thing I have observed in some Sri Lankan work!laces is

that the Five S has become an award?winning e6ercise overly focused on the work!lace

leaving aside the dee!er as!ect of the mind I would argue that the Five S should begin with

the mind and then be a!!lied to matter

Let me revisit the first stan5a of the 7hamma!ada as !er the "%reasury of %ruth$ -www

&uddhanetnet1 to conclude #ind !recedes all knowables, mind$s their chief, mind?made are

they If with a corru!ted mind one should either s!eak or act dukkha follows caused by that,

as does the wheel the o6$s hoof

"Prof. Ajantha Dharmasiri can $e reached through director%pim.lk or

www.ajanthadharmasiri.info#

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Five S for the mind