In today’s challenging business climate, there is ongoing pressure to find employees, build a strong team and generate results like lower waste, greater efficiency and increased profitability. Often team building and results are thought of and managed as two separate objectives. Human resource or operations focused. What if there was a proven approach to combine the two and achieve both objectives at the same time? Let me show you how.
What if we shift our focus slightly from the desired outcome or result to the inputs that ultimately drive the outcome? Many of the issues that hold us back from achieving the results we have targeted are hidden in plain “sight”. They often are veiled in the frustrations of our teams coming from circumstances or processes that make it hard for them to do the job we ask of them. What if we took on an initiative to seek feedback from the team on issues they face that cause frustration or lead to feeling overwhelmed? This can set the stage for how we go about achieving results. Let me share a real-life example.
I was recently approached by two clients to facilitate Kaizens on front-end processes. One was focused on reducing errors and the other was focused on creating capacity. As we worked our way through the process, we trained in new tools, observed processes, captured 75-100 issues that were opportunities to improve, worked as a team to generate solutions and created new standardized processes (standard work). Through working together, team members who work in these processes ultimately felt heard. Team members from other departments gained an understanding, and appreciation, for the complexity of other team member’s processes.
As we summarized each event, many participants in the Kaizen shared their thoughts on the process. A number of them are below:
- “I felt validated that our process was broken and was the real cause for a lot of our issues”
- “Team members who will utilize the new standard work are doing backflips they’re so excited about how it will improve their work life!”
- “I knew there would be waste opportunities but was shocked by the amount of opportunities we found!”
- “It brought us all together as a team”
- One CEO shared the impact after numerous events, “This was the best team building exercise we have ever done. Employees who never talked to each other before have ongoing relationships now”
As evidenced by feelings shared by participants, their takeaways captured the personal impact on them as a team and as individuals. But let’s not forget the results. These two events resulted in a combined 4,426 hours of capacity created and a reduction of over 96,000 touches! SPL’s approach helped the teams identify front-end process changes that also greatly reduced and even eliminated the potential for errors (Poka-yoke ポカヨケ).
To summarize, Lean Processes properly applied, not only generate bottom line improvement but become one of the best team building and morale-boosting actions you can take for your team. So, let’s put the horse before the cart and hear our team’s needs. When we do this, Team Building and Achieving Results become one in the same.
Brian Van de Water
CEO
SPL Consulting, LLC.
brian@splconsultingllc.com
splconsultingllc.com
