Are Methods and Processes Being Improved?

As a young production supervisor on second shift, I was walking the production floor when an employee waved me over. It was my first week at this company and I was still introducing myself to everyone.

She said, "I'd like to make a change."

I said, "Ok, tell me what the problem is."

"I am walking back and forth between these two assembly tables and I want to turn the table to reduce my steps and increase my output."

I was excited for her enthusiasm and immediately responded, "Absolutely. Let me help you move the table."

She quickly stopped me, "We have to put in a change request."

"Seriously?" I was confused because it seemed like such a simple change and to experiment with a new process here would be very easy. I asked her to walk me through the change request process and she went on to show me a process that looked similar to this:

Can you relate? Maybe this is a bit of a stretch from reality, but it is exactly how I remember it. Maybe the change request process isn't as bad at your place of business, but either way, it should not be so difficult to promote change in any organization.

Here are three ways to ensure people are improving methods and processes inside your organization:

SIMPLIFY CHANGE EFFORTS.

How many simple changes and improvements do you think were happening at the above organization with this level of complexity? Not very many. As leaders, we must eliminate the need for complex algorithms to allow for team members to experiment with change. If its too difficult to try a new method or process, then your team members will simply not do it.

Do not let complexity cripple your improvement efforts.

PROMOTE IMPROVEMENT THROUGH EXPERIMENTATION.

Team members need to know they have the right to try – and sometimes fail – in their efforts to improve and innovate methods and processes. Be intentional. Invest in simplifying change processes and process communication to empower your teams to drive change, simplify their work, and find better, faster ways of doing things.

Reminder: Do not promote change for change sake. The change efforts must be the right change. Communicate your true north and aligned goals so the team can be sure their efforts are getting us closer to our goals.

MODEL AND SHARE CHANGE EFFORTS.

We shouldn't need to look far to find processes being improved. Are leaders modeling the improvement efforts they wish to see within their team members? Do you display your personal development plan and model change efforts whenever possible?

The departments on either side of us are also a great place to start looking for, and sharing of, best practices. Perhaps improvements to our processes are right under our nose but we haven’t taken the time to find them.

Creating healthy competition internally can spark a good dissatisfaction with the status quo. We can create this incentive to improve if we adopt this practice thought the organization. If we take the time to branch out of our piece of the organization, we can challenge others. We can challenge other departments, other shifts, and other locations if we have them. ?I have seen football themes, trophies, awards, and even pizza lunches for the “winners” of whatever competition you choose. While we may have different winners amongst ourselves, we are all winners through the strength and stability of our organization.?

Finally, give time for stability within your change efforts. Once changes to methods and process are proven out, update standard work, train the entire team to the new standard, and give time for stability before moving to the next improvement.