Red Flag Statements: A Great Place To Dig For Improvements

“We’ve always done it this way,” the Supervisor said when asked about a process by the new Plant Manager.

This led to looks of disapproval by some of the more experienced Supervisors. They knew better than to utter this phrase and they would have come up with a better answer if they had been asked the same question.

I’ve seen this scene play out many times, but usually with with the results above – the person uttering the forbidden phrase feels ashamed and learns to come up with a better answer next time, even if the answer needs to be made up.

“We’ve always done it this way,” has come to be an obvious red flag. An inappropriate answer worthy of ridicule.

This red flag statement is not necessarily one to avoid, but instead deserves education and guidance. Whenever someone points out that a “thing” is done that way “because it’s always been done that way,” it’s a great opportunity to make a rapid improvement.

The improvement could be elimination of unnecessary paperwork, a change in product flow for greater efficiency, a change of supplier, or any number of other improvements. So the red flag is actually more like the “X” on a treasure map telling you to “Dig Here!” The improvement may be a simple decision that can be made on the spot or it may require a small team to map out and redesign a process. In any case, investigating further and making a change should be considered a win.

Here are some “red flag” statements I’ve heard in my career. Each one deserves further evaluation to look for the nugget of gold buried there.

• We’ve always done it this way.
• We tried that before. It didn’t work.
• This process is more art than science.
• I generate this report every day, but I’m not sure if anybody does anything with it.
• I stopped giving my suggestions because nobody listens.
• Our corrective action for that (common) mistake is to retrain employees.
• Each shift (& each operator) has their ‘own’ settings to make the equipment run well.
• We can’t do ‘home’ settings because each machine is different & requires different settings.
• Only one person really knows that system. They train a backup every time they need to go on vacation. If they’re out sick we find a workaround.
• We’re a pretty lean organization already, there’s not much opportunity here.

Do you have red flags that have helped you find gold? Please share yours.