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Aug

2011

How to Sustain Front Line Process Improvement Activities

"Even though it's what keeps companies operationally in shape, front-line process improvement is hard to sustain. Why? Consider the story of Technicolor."

blogs.hbr.org/...ven_though_its_what_keeps.html

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process casestudies technicolor improvement lean attrition engagement

each Technicolor employee had a target of suggesting two process improvements per month. That sounded like a great way to keep a process improvement program going
But there wasn't much activity until six months later when Mike Karol, vice president of operations, told his managers to make it their responsibility.
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- In addition, the firm's new employee orientation program incorporated Lean and the Technicolor Improvement Process, the moniker of the suggestion system.
- Three years later, the number was 20,000. Clearly, the Technicolor Improvement Process was critical to getting employees engaged in improving their work.
- It made their jobs better, reduced costs, and improved customer satisfaction. Two deeper benefits were even more important: The organization got in the habit of improvement and employee satisfaction went way up. Technicolor had followed the proven path to highly committed, motivated, and productive employees who loved to come to work. Attrition declined, saving on retraining.
- After 2006 it reduced its attention and energy on the front-line improvement. It might have been due to getting over the hump of the technology transition from VHS to DVD. Or perhaps it was because key advocates like Chuck Yorke left
- The front line always has lots of ideas for improving their work. The critical ingredient for sustaining attention on improvement is managers. A firm depends on managers taking the time to ask front-line employees for their ideas and helping them make the changes they sugges
- And managers need to wander around the workplace and ask workers what they can do for them to make their job better. At Technicolor the front-line people loved it, but only a few of the managers felt it was theirs. Many of the managers did it because Mike Kolar had them do it and felt it was extra work.
- Therefore, whether front-line improvement sticks depends on what else is competing for managers' scarce time
- Managers were raised as individual contributors, where they added value by solving problems themselves. Most stood out by doing things better and faster than their peers, commanding and controlling, not by coaching and helping others to solve problems.
- The natural tendency in the long term is for improvement activities to lose out to the day-to-day pressure for delivering work. To maintain their attention, managers must see the savings and efficiencies that the improvements provide

Jun

2009

KM and HR: Siamese Twins?

I've previously pondered over how we could possibly work with HR to ensure success for KM and can perhaps summarize some of the key points as follows: (I am assuming that the points below represent key components in HR strategies)

nirmala-km.blogspot.com/...km-and-hr-siamese-twins.html

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km humanresources training hiring appraisals incentive motivation satisfaction attrition retention talentmanagement humancapital rotation jobrotation competences

Hire people with at least an average KM quotient
Encourage informal learning mechanisms
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- including the employee's KM quotient as one of the objectives/competencies in the appraisal process
- visibility/recognition/appreciation being more important than monetary gestures
- I firmly believe that one of the critical aspects that contribute to employee satisfaction, delight and engagement is an environment that enables and celebrates knowledge sharing and collaboration.
- We need to understand the links between various roles and how rotation of employees (knowledge) would help the organization get more efficient/innovative.