4. Engaging Employees
When the Ford plant at Halewood progressed from being the worst to best Ford plant the shop floor environment progressed from one where strangers were viewed with suspicion to one where workers speak to visitors with pride about what they are making. This open proactive culture is one of the distinguishing features of industry leading organisations.
What does it take to achieve that?
When Jaguar production was transferred to Halewood the plant was refurbished to migrate production of the Jaguar X Type. Robust operating processes and continuous improvement schemes were introduced, and a complete culture change undertaken. The programme of change took two years. It took a further 5 years to achieve the accolade of best Ford plant.
This sets out the typical 2 stage road map followed by organisations on their improvement journey involving:
Stabilise
- Engage all personnel in the improvement process and establish basic disciplines and management processes
- Formalise and refine best practices and release management and specialist time to support the optimisation process.
Optimise
- Learn how to optimise current operations, increase performance measurement precision and raise standards to systematically reduce defects
- Stabilise operations at the new level of performance, release specialist and management time to raise standards further.
The engagement process takes time. It is a simple not easy task which has clear milestones but where the detailed path between the milestones is unclear in advance. To manage this use a project stage gate approach such as the one below. Set the plan in terms of outcomes to deliver the goals defined within the direction setting process. Prioritise practical project to address gaps in the fabric of management and use these to reinforce the capability development process and to challenge weak management practices. As each milestone is passed, provide recognition to reinforce those who have delivered the change and send a message to those who are yet to come on board. Engage all levels in making plans to deliver the next milestone. Use this process to develop your leadership capability and reinforce the pressure for change.