How do you get employees excited about continuous improvement? One question that causes many plant managers, department heads, and directors to scratch their heads.
Managers expect enthusiastic, self-managing employees to solve problems that contribute to operational objectives in addition to their daily work. That's great! But why is this so difficult to organise? These are the most common reasons for this:
Continuous improvement is portrayed as a bottom-up approach, but it is experienced as a top-down one. People are dissatisfied with previous projects. They either failed or were never completed (often something with "LEAN"). It lacks ownership.
How are we going to make this work? Allow team leaders and employees to resolve their own issues first. We can create ownership and success if the method and structure are organised for them but the content is not. They are aware of the inefficiencies that are bothering them!
And it turns out that the bottlenecks that are discovered and resolved have a significant impact on daily operational performance. It makes perfect sense; waste results in frustration.
And by reducing waste, you can achieve better results. Of course, not all bottlenecks that are resolved have a direct impact on financial results. They all, however, contribute to ownership, job satisfaction, and pride.
Six Sigma versus common sense
There is a lot of talk about how to improve. Okay, to be honest, we're in on it as well.
However, let us keep it practical and applicable! We see entire management layers being rushed through Six Sigma Green Belt training, despite the fact that many of them have nothing to do with statistics. As a result, they will never apply their newly acquired knowledge in their own practise.
Don't get us wrong: measurement is critical for progress. And you must carefully consider how frequently you measure, what you measure, and when you measure in order for your measurement to be accurate. However, statistics are not required for this; instead, common sense is required! Complex problems necessitate more analysis and computing power, which must be performed by a specialist who applies this knowledge on a daily basis. Someone who does not have to balance this work with processes, schedules, and responsibility for people.
Use your team leaders' common sense and energy to solve non-complex bottlenecks.
Let them pick the low hanging fruit.
What are the requirements?
Managers should make improvement a priority and assist in:
1) method => consistent and practicable
2) structure => a clear step-by-step plan that leads to results
3) support = assistance, attention, and appreciation
4) time => part of the daily routine But don't bother them with unnecessary statistical complexity, this is an outright waste and this is exactly what we want to eliminate.
The power of repetition
Ready-to-improve focuses on implementing continuous improvement on the shop floor.
For this, we created an improvement formula that can be used in any company or organisation.
People have bad memories, as we all know.
We forget 40 percent of what we learn in 20 minutes, 65 percent in 24 hours, and 80 percent after a month!
There goes your training's effect...
Thankfully, more research has been conducted.
It has been demonstrated that remembering is made easier when people:
• get more context • repeat the training content • do something practical with the newly acquired knowledge In fact, by doing all of the above at the same time, memorization becomes almost self-evident. So, if you want to teach people something new, make sure they need it in their daily work; otherwise, training is fun but has no lasting impact. Team Leaders go through the DMAGIC® improvement method three times in one year by implementing a real improvement in their own department in Ready-to-Improve. They identify the bottlenecks they are addressing themselves.
Context => apply => practice => repeat.
The power of micro-innovations
The word "innovation" is wonderful. Everything seems to be new and improved.
As a result, many businesses invest in separate innovation departments with separate managers. However, innovation can also be done on a 'smaller' scale, closer to daily work in the workplace. A good example is the STIR programme in India, where in 2013, where a group of teachers compiled a list of 25 'free' micro-innovations to improve educational quality, all of which were selected by the government for implementation across the country.
Another advantage was that the programme had a significant impact on teacher motivation.
In addition to their responsibilities as teachers, they find the role of 'change-maker' to be very instructive and enriching.
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