Diagnostics
Using Suggestions of Employees,
Customers and Suppliers for Performance Improvement
You may remember the last time you heard about the billions saved by a Fortune 100 company and thought to yourself (or aloud!) "I wish we could do that". Yet, many executives and managers LISTEN only when he or she is asking the questions. They conduct surveys and focus groups, while ignoring the wealth of unsolicited suggestions that flows across their desks daily.
Give it a shot…………run a trial implementing a low-risk suggestion received form from a supplier, customer, or employee. Consider and record the cost of implementation and possible benefits. If the suggestion is inexpensive to implement, put it into action. That is all it really takes. Once you start actively, quickly handling all the suggestions you get informally, and communicating the outcomes, there is an opportunity right around the corner. Select a few people and ask them for their input, what they like, dislike, etc. Then use that information as well, following the trial process.
Use the Messenger
Contact Mercury Management to find out how you can implement a process that will keep the ideas flowing and the two-way communication alive! Continue on to learn how successful firms have managed successful diagnostics campaigns!
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At NUMMI, the joint venture between Toyota and General Motors where many American Toyotas and Geos are produced, an employee is given the authority to implement approved suggestions that have scope that are small and manageable. This action effectively changes the managers' jobs, because the staff takes on the extra workload of implementation. The empowerment increases the staff's morale and stake in the system because they have a direct hand in the actual operations and the change brought about through the implementation of their ideas.
When employees feel that they are respected, they are buoyed with a wave of rising morale. When people are respected they often reciprocate the feeling to the sender and others. These same employees that have the power to immediately fix problems will likely increase their commitment to your business because the employees have a personal investment in the operation through their actions and involvement. The “dialogue door” remains open. The motivated and high-value employees who are generally the most valuable in the marketplace tend to remain with the operation that treats them well, and continue to offer constructive feedback that can be used to improve business performance.
Although managers may reluctant to give up control of the process, there are alternatives to wrestling with the dreaded control issue. Set up a cross-functional team to evaluate and approve suggestions. In any case, the emphasis should be on action and target results, not internal processes. If there is little risk and little time and money investment, run with it (or, rather, let the idea's proponent run with it). If there is a risk or sizable investment, consider alternative ways to test the idea and see whether it is worth the risk.
Run with the low-risk, low-cost ideas. Evaluate the higher risk and higher cost ideas more thoroughly; consider running a trial.
Customers are often willing and eager to offer feedback about products or services. Start by speaking informally, in conversation. Try one of the methods of a master. Sam Walton often asked customers to share their opinions on a particular product, why the customer prefers one product over another and how the store may improve to better meet their needs. In general, try to avoid getting more suggestions than you are willing and able to handle. Be prepared to justify not implementing an idea if you turn it down, using the same logical standards you would use to support making a change.
Create a “Customer Club”, an idea box with plenty of pens and paper (or if you have an intranet, create one on-line-----even better!) Each time an employee receives a customer’s request, have them record it and drop it in the box (or intranet file folder). Periodically rotate the responsibility for sorting, summarizing and communicating them. If you can't complete a suggestion, explain why not! - but make sure there are other suggestions on which you are acting.
Suppliers can offer valuable information. Suppliers have a vested interest in your success, a market-based point of view and an outsider's perspective combined with some knowledge of your business. Though it may not be possible to get views of competitors' practices through common suppliers, there should be little problem in obtaining views of your own practices and how they can be made better.
Chrysler has focused on suppliers in their SCORE program, which has saved $1.2 billion so far. Suppliers who cut costs, either internally (e.g. by figuring out a way to cut the price of seats they sell to Chrysler) or externally (e.g., by advising on a way to save time when installing seats) share in the savings. The key to success in a program like this is honesty and speedy follow-through.
M² Offerings:
Interviewing Employees
Lean Operations
Diagnostics
Continuous Improvement
Activity-based costing
Process Mapping
Waste Minimization & P2
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