The Shu-Ha-Ri Cycle
I was introduced to the Shu-Ha-Ri concept few years ago as one of the Agile adoption tool to access a team’s agile maturity and guide /help them to become a highly performing team.
I was attracted to the concept and apart from using it with the team, I realized I have been using it unknowingly in our day to day activities especially in our learning.
Shu-Ha-Ri is a Japanese martial concept and describes the various stages of learning to mastery.
Aikido master Seishiro Endo Shihan has given us a below explanation on how Shu-Ha-Ri can be applied in our learnings:
“It is known that, when we learn or train in something, we pass through the stages of shu, ha, and ri. These stages are explained as follows. In shu, we repeat the forms and discipline ourselves so that our bodies absorb the forms that our forebears created. We remain faithful to these forms with no deviation. Next, in the stage of ha, once we have disciplined ourselves to acquire the forms and movements, we make innovations. In this process the forms may be broken and discarded. Finally, in ri, we completely depart from the forms, open the door to creative technique, and arrive in a place where we act in accordance with what our heart/mind desires, unhindered while not overstepping laws.”
When I am in Shu stage, I follow the leaders and their training exactly as prescribed. Once I have gained confidence, I move to the Ha stage where I tend to bend the rules and start innovating. Using the inspect and adapt policy, I tend to retrospect and accordingly adapt. During my self-retrospection, I tend to ask myself:
Am I going in the right path?
Is there a gap in my knowledge?
Did I achieve the goal I planned to achieve?
In my daily life and learning, I have always find myself in various stages of Shu-Ha-Ri and going back and forth between them and the cycle continues.
This has helped me to follow a lean approach in my life where I tend to run the PDCA cycle continuously to improve my learning while try to eliminate things which doesn't work for me.
Shu-Ha-Ri is worth a tool to help continuously improve and break the barrier in our daily learning.
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