Ask your team

In 2006, my division was puking cash on material costs. Team members were directly responsible for every dollar spent. For months, our leadership team spent countless hours coming up with ways to save. After enough failing quarters, I proposed something different: lets include the front-line team in finding the solutions.  

The problem – Against a goal of 16%, material costs were at 21% of incoming revenue.

Over three weeks and three separate meetings, we met with the entire front-line team. We presented the problem and asked them to tell us what needed to be done. We assured them we would try anything unless it went against our company values.  

I recall some of my peers in other divisions and senior leaders criticizing the approach. However, for me, I knew we had to do something different.  

Their solutions – 

1. Messaging – They agreed, as did we, our team message needed to shift from “sales, sales, sales” to include “spend it like it is yours.” 
2. Scorecard - While we had a team scorecard, we didn’t have individual daily scorecards to measure each team member. They wanted to see real-time and daily individual results, not just weekly team results. As a result, we partnered with them to create one for each.
3. Day to day – They agreed to implement new grading standards for upgrading garments THEY came up with in our meetings.
4. Incentive – They asked us to share some of the savings with them. We agreed to in quarterly payouts.

It took more than 9 months to see the results, but our team surpassed expectations by 2%. Why? Because the solutions they suggested where THEIRS! After all, “they” were the ones spending the money in their work.  

Key points to consider – 

1. Solving problems is a team effort: Leaders do not need to know everything. They just need to know “who” has the answer(s).
2. If leaders follow #1, the solutions are often simplified or obvious. As you can see, “they” didn’t crack any “codes” with their solutions. Rather, INVOLVING them was the real value of solving the problem.
3. By taking pride in their work, team members are more apt to implement and sustain solutions they author.
4. Leaders will reduce the workload in their work life by genuine empowerment.
5. Asking for help – By asking for help, we humanized the leadership team. In a culture of “us vs. them” or “us and them,” asking for help goes a long way to temporarily removing titles from the narrative and validating “we are all in it together.”

I will say it again: Leaders don’t have to know everything or in some cases any one thing but WHO on the team knows "the thing."  

Thanks for your time!

#michaeldavid