The most valuable asset in your shop

If you're a devotee of lean principles in your business (like we are here at DCR Systems), you're no doubt familiar with the seven key forms of waste that are commonly found in a process-centered environment. That list focuses on issues pertaining to transportation, inventory, motion, waiting, over-production, over-processing and defects. (You'll find a superb article on this topic in the May 2016 issue of ABRN or at ABRN.com/eliminatewaste.

Recently, an eighth form of waste was added to the list that deals with skill sets, or being able to take advantage of what's arguably the most important part of your business: The untapped potential of your people.

As part of a management team that is constantly striving for success, one of the struggles I sometimes deal with is taking it upon myself to develop solutions to the everyday challenges in the shop. Our management team often finds itself huddled around a conference table, spending hours in heated discussion on a certain issue, hoping that we can come up with a workable solution. And many times we fail to realize that the most effective solution is sitting right outside the conference room door...in the creative minds of our team members.

How often do you go to your entire team for assistance in shop-related challenges?  How often do you engage and listen to the folks doing the work, who are intently involved in the process on a daily basis?

If you're not utilizing the inherent creativity of those who work on the floor, you're missing out on opportunities that could potentially make significant improvements to the business, and could save you a boatload of time and resources.

Here's an example: Some time ago, our team was struggling with the idea of standardizing the set-up of our front-office customer service desks. The intent was to make it easy to pick up a phone at any desk and have all of the tools necessary at the point of use and in the same place at each desk. After hours of discussion and testing out new ideas, which included a laminated layout map to stick on each desk, we were about to scrap the entire project because of costs constraints associated with what we wanted to do. 

That was until one of our team members got involved and simply took a digital photo of the desired desk set-up and converted the photo into a screensaver, which was installed on the monitor at every front office workstation.

After literally a year of debate at the highest level over this issue, the solution was so beautifully simple.  Furthermore, it cost absolutely nothing to implement and came from the creative mind of one of our team members. 

In his insightful book, The People Principle, Ron Willingham discusses how much productivity is left on the table because of the lack of engagement with staff outside the main management team. When workers are being directed without being allowed to contribute to the process, they limit their output or even worse, simply shut down. When team members aren't recognized for their input or feedback, they tend to become just employees and drop out of the engagement in the process. 

The key is to engage your people and to allow them to make a difference. Challenge them on a regular basis and listen to what they have to say. The skilled craftsmen who repair vehicles aren't limited to performing magic solely under the hood. Since they touch the product all day long, shouldn't they be looked upon as the most qualified resource for problem-solving and driving continuous improvement? Let those team members in on your process discussions about the business issues, and watch how they respond. 

You can do this through a variety of methods.  Lunch-and-learns, team focus groups and roundtable discussions are fantastic venues to talk through what you're trying to accomplish. Since they're part of the process, they have the right and responsibility to make that process better not only for themselves but for the customer and the organization as a whole.  And when you regularly make those team members feel part of the organization (as they should), you'll start to nurture great ideas on an increasingly more frequent basis.