Return on Investment

Yesterday my wife went to visit her parents. She planned to stay the night. So what is a 52 year old to do with his wife gone for the night and kids have all moved away? That's right. I changed the oil in my 2009 Triumph Bonneville. I mean, what else would I do?

There is something about changing the oil myself that I enjoy. I like looking at the old oil flow out of the drain. I check the engine drain plug for any signs of metal wear particles. I sniff the drain plug...come on, don't leave me hanging here. Doesn't everyone sniff the drain plug when changing oil? I want that smooth smell of clean, un-burnt petroleum indicating good engine wear. Yes, I could send the oil off for a full diagnostic chemical and particulate evaluation, but come on, what kind of weirdo do you think I am? Don't answer that!

When I change the oil myself, I get to personally torque the engine drain plug bolt to 25 newton meters (yes, you are right that is 18.43905 foot pounds) using my un-calibrated Craftsman torque wrench. The thrill of hearing and feeling that "click" when i reach the proper pre-set torque. These fancy new torque wrenches are the bomb. I still have my first ever torque wrench which was totally a manual deal with the small steel bar showing the torque on a very un-calibrated gauge. But it has served me well for 25 years and is now a great back up. But I digress...a lot.

With the old oil drained and the filter replaced with a new one, I can then gently pour in the fresh new oil. Ah, the smell and sight of that virgin hydrocarbon liquid in its pre-used golden brown state is wonderful. Being careful not to overfill it and also careful not to spill any with the prices of motor oil these days, I fill until it reaches the site glass in the engine oil sump and stop. I then put on the engine oil cap and we are good to go. Procedure complete.

I fire the bike up not revving it as I gently allow the lubricant to fill all the voids that may have formed in the oil pump volute or oil filter area (yes, I did fill the oil filter with fresh new oil before putting it on just like my Dad taught me with a quick dab of oil around the new oil ring to make sure for a good seal. I am no rookie oil change man here. I am kind of a big deal in the oil change world.)

When the starter turns over the engine and she fires to life, the engine oil pressure light goes off and stays off. Good sign. There is no oil pressure gauge on these newer bikes unfortunately, but the light off means pressure is adequate (or the light bulb is out - a latent failure mechanism - damn my nuke training!) I check for leaks. None. Great. Shut her off. Check the level again after it settles out. Good to go. Let's take it for a spin with all this fresh new oil...she should run terrific.

So even though it is a bit cool and wet in the Chicago suburbs in September, I take off for a quick test. With all the work I have put into the oil change, fresh oil, proper new quality filter, proper torqued bolts, lovingly wiping off any excess oil, one would expect the bike to run great...and it did. But then I thought, it ran this good with the old oil just last week. All that work and no immediate improvement? All that work and I cannot tell one difference in how it runs. So what is the point of changing the oil and filter routinely if I don't see an immediate improvement in performance? I could save a few bucks...

Everyone at this point is saying to themselves "Duh, Bob, we all know regularly changing the oil prolongs engine life and will reduce engine wear and performance degradation in the long term." Some of you gear heads are thinking about the dirt and sludge build up in the oil over time reducing the lubricating properties of the oil. We could get into all the friction wear points in bearings, cylinder walls and piston rings, blah, blah. What we all agree to is that changing oil in an internal combustion on regular intervals is good for engine life. You may not see immediate improvement, but you will get a return on your investment over time.

So what is the point of this silly motorcycle story? Well, I could not help but think about some of our potential clients at High Reliability Group. When we explain the work we do coaching, teaching, helping build systems that work, sometimes they want to know what the Return on Investment will be. And they should. ROI is important and should be positive. We agree. So, we work with them to identify metrics of performance or safety and ways to measure the improvement. But the challenge comes when we get to the time horizon for this ROI. Like doing preventive maintenance on a vehicle, you don't get any immediate improvement.

Because our work helps the client shape culture through development of systems and leadership, it takes time to see the results. Typically, several months to a year is needed depending on the situation to see the changes. But, when those changes are manifested in the change in leadership and culture, the changes are lasting. The new culture is sustainable.

But, we can't promise this overnight. So sadly, many potential clients who can't see past the next monthly or quarterly numbers, never engage in an effort for lasting improvement. Sometimes, during early project development talks we recognize client leaders who just can't "see it". (The project is in "The Dip" as Seth Godin would say). So we professionally and courteously walk away from pursuing the project. There is no point. The project will fail as the client leadership lacks the vision and trust to see it through the dip. If we continued our consultants and their team get bogged down in metrics, meetings reviewing metrics, etc. and the good work that could be done is replaced by frustration and a lack of trust that is needed to shape a culture together.

However, for those clients (and we fortunately have many) who can see past the immediate payoff to the sustainable High Reliability Culture and Leadership, we see fantastic performance, safety and morale improvements. Perhaps that explains why we still work with a majority of the very first clients we started with four years ago. They continue to benefit from the return on investment that they were able to trust would come so many years ago.

I write this article while sitting in my garage staring at my beautiful 2009 50th Anniversary model Triumph Bonneville (she is #196 of only 650 made worldwide). I think about the many years and miles to come enjoying this machine. Were the cost of my time and the oil and filter worth it? Heck yeah. I trust it will pay off even if I don't see it immediately.

Well, time to wrap this silly story up. My wife gets home soon. Crap, I better get the dishes done before she gets here...she doesn't quite appreciate the finer points of engine lubrication, but she does appreciate a clean kitchen and I am still working on my ROI as a husband. She trusted me 29 years ago and is still waiting for the pay off I think! ;)

Bob Koonce served for over 20 years in the U.S. Submarine Force and retired from active duty in 2011 after commanding USS KEY WEST (SSN 722), a nuclear submarine based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Bob frequently speaks and writes on Operational Excellence and High Reliability Organizations based on the leadership and culture of the U.S. Nuclear Navy. He is co-author of Extreme Operational Excellence: Applying the US Nuclear Submarine Culture to Your Organization available here. You can learn more about High Reliability Group by visiting www.highrelgroup.com.