Can you measure human talent wasted at work?

Can you measure human talent wasted at work?

1.????Unused talent:

People are either unaware of their potential or not willing to use it. The business environment generally does not provide enough trial-error opportunities, which makes it difficult for us to recognize and unleash our talents

2.????Talent wasted by rowing in different directions:

Everyone is aware of this waste, but no one can measure it and define an acceptable level. Therefore, this waste is considered to be entirely normal,

Capacity:

..and accordingly, the capacity is defined as: “the best that can be achieved by using the talent at hand”. This definition is self-limiting as it is based on previous experience.

3.????Inefficiency:

Once the capacity is defined, any inefficiency becomes a waste. Many people believe that they can live a successful working life by continuously eliminating waste here, using Lean, 6Sigma or Opex tools.


I had a similar life until I joined an automotive OEM that had a huge product diversity (more than 100.000 parts from nearly 1.000 suppliers). We were facing more than 100 problems that can not be solved by frontline employees, every day.

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Every month, hundreds of drawing changes were causing problems passing over design, purchasing, logistics, quality, production and sales divisions, like tsunamis.


I set up a team to record every problem and the time it takes to solve them. Six months later, we got enough data to analyze. The results were astonishing. 47% of the problems were the ones that were solved before.

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When we analysed the data further, we noticed another fact. We were creating some of these ‘new’ problems. Solving a problem was causing another problem to occur.

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We were wasting 70% of our time and effort.. In other words, 70% of our talent.

You can imagine how demotivating it was for the employees.



But why do problems repeat?

The first thing that comes to mind is employees’ poor problem-solving skills. But it was not that simple. With complex jobs where product diversity is high, it is not individual problem-solving competence, but group problem-solving ability that affects the result. So, the roots of the problem again extend to disengagement and misalignment.

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Within one year, we reduced the mean time to solve problems from 48 to 6 hours, which means the pile of problems office people find on their desks every morning dropped by nearly 87%.

?The problem repeat ratio dropped from 70 to 45%, which created 25% more time for the employees for the same amount of work.

?

How?

Simple… We engaged with frontline employees. Tried to understand their BTFA (Beliefs, Thoughts, Feelings and Actions).

  • ?They believe that having to solve the same problems is ridiculous.
  • They think that they know the solutions, and have already suggested solutions before.
  • They feel resented because their suggestions weren’t taken into account.
  • They feel angry because they must solve the same problem again and again.
  • They act as someone who gave up and resented.

?

You see, although they seem disengaged, they would prefer not to be in this situation. They would support you if you engage with them to reduce repeat problems.

Most of the repeat problems can be eliminated by developing collaboration and accountability, which requires management’s engagement.

The right question is, are your managers engaged with their employees?

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BTFA Online Course helps leaders to engage with their teams and create conditions in which brains perform at their best.

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Prem Nath

People First -Unconventional Change Maker, Motivator, Team Builder, CEO(Chief Empathy Officer) ,CIO( Chief Inspiration Officer), CHO( Chief Happiness Officer), Creative Safety Culture Change Maker, Public Speaker

1 年

Entertainment is not employee engagement. Many companies HR and leaders mistakenly think entertainment is engagement. People may go for a team outing, indulge in team events, jam sessions. It connects people , but doesn't engage. They go as strangers and return as strangers. Employee engagement has 360 dimension Employee engagement is not a HR job Employee engagement is driven and owned by leaders. Many factors to consider . But companies need to understand the true meaning of employee engagement first Levent Türk .

1/ Excellent article and here are my reactions. 1. I would say that most people don’t want to use any potential talent they have because all they are interested is being paid at the end of the month. This probably don’t apply to those involved in creative work. Trial error opportunities is a tricky one. Who wants to suffer as a result of someone else’s mistakes? Reminds me of the old saying “Wise men learn from other peoples’ mistakes, fools learn from their own.” The way around this might be to create a sandbox (virtual or otherwise) where people can play without the consequences of their play affecting the organisation. 2. On one project my Project Manager (PM) let me work on activities that were separate from the project “as long as the project didn’t suffer.” He like the “golden nuggets” I unearthed some which were applied to the project.

Dr. Baransel AT?I

Y?netici, Kurumsal Strateji Dan??man?, MBA ??retim G?revlisi,

1 年

Excellent conclusions from the survey and daily business life, thank you?Dear Levent Türk. Of course there is various reasons under this?"talent capital wasting" situation.? But practical solution in the operational level to overcome the?"wasting talent problem"- such as?"repeat" and "solution-caused" reasons-?I recommend to initiate?System Thinking culture with concepts, methodology and tools in the work place. It wil help?to understand whatever?the problem on hand to solve and find the leverage points of it in workplace creating a learning culture with every one's contribution.

David Bovis, M. npn

Keynote Speaker | Future of Corporate Transformation & Leadership Development | Sustainable Culture Change | BTFA Creator | Masters - Applied Neuroscience

1 年

Excellent! Recommended reading. Imagine what that waterfall chart would look like if the disengagement piece was shown at 70%!!! This really highlights why addressing No.3. while ignoring 1 &2, is a fools errand. ????????????

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