Here’s my key to getting improvement buy-in. What’s yours?
OK, so now you have put up these fancy (or so you think fancy) check sheets and charts for standard work, expecting the improvements to happen. Things go good for the first couple of days or weeks – if you are lucky. Everyone is abuzz with this focus of action. But then, it begins to degrade. What is happening?
I wrote briefly (very briefly) about diligence and discipline of execution as an underlying detail of your awareness to root cause analysis. I may have downplayed the importance of this small detail a bit by previously giving it only a highlight role in the standard work blog post. I find that these new methods are oftentimes person dependent rather than process dependent. So, we find that the owner maintaining this new system goes on vacation and the team finds itself quickly back where they started – frustrated and not knowing where to head next. These new methods fall to the side and are sometimes even removed in shame.
The important aspect of this improvement process is applying consistent performance through discipline. The team members must be able to apply the techniques in order to achieve the performance levels and results expected. How many of you have ever heard the team mention that we start these new things, expect their input for solving the issues, and then there is no follow-through? I am sure I am not alone, or at least hope I am not. If so, then we have not done our due diligence in really creating the importance of our improvement activities and have not committed to training our folks on the discipline of what is expected and holding the team to it.
We all have a responsibility to upholding our commitment of training our folks on what is expected (when we are there or away). It is this key element which will secure the buy-in needed to really drive our improvement process.
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Filed Under: Featured, Lean Manufacturing | Tags: continuous improvement, Lean Manufacturing, root cause analysis, standard work
Comments
By Greg Perry on January 29th, 2009 at 6:11 am
Mark,
I know exactly where you are coming from. Not having much experience but currently running with an improvement program in a large organisation, here is what I think is required to succeed.
1. Top management support. Top management must want to improve and must support the initiative. This means taking a keep interest on progress and results and challenging their team were required. If top management does not take an interest middle management will focus on their own priorities and shelve the initiative.
2. A detailed plan. You need to have a good idea of what you want to achieve, how you are going to do it, how long it will take and how much it will cost.
3. Specific coaching on improvement tools. It is easy to draw up new worksheets and new processes but these must be shown to work in practice. The guy on the ground must be coached on their use and understand the benefits. If not you will get what he thinks is required which is normally a far cry from what you had in mind.
4. Discipline. The initiative will definitely fail if discipline is not maintained. Middle management or supervisors must make sure that new tools or processes are maintained. This is where top management support is critical as discipline comes from the top down.
5. Well thought out KPI’s. You need high level KPI’s to show top management that the initiative is working but you also need process KPI’s so that middle managers can see where they need to take action to keep the initiative on track.
6. Take it one step at a time. Focusing on too many issues at once overwhelms employees and you tend to get a little bit of everything done but nothing finished. Prioritise the most critical areas and focus on them first, once they are under control move on.