“Waste Walk” Adds Up to Big Savings
My dad’s prize possession was a 1965 Ford Fairlane that he meticulously restored. Everything on the car worked great, except it had one small oil leak that he just could not fix. He didn’t worry about it too much. He just added a quart of oil every once in awhile and kept on driving it. Years went by. He never really added up the amount of oil that he had to put into that old car. If he had, he might have been surprised. The quarts soon became gallons, and the cumulative cost over the years would have been extremely high. Over all, it would have been cheaper to pay someone to repair the car than to keep pouring in the oil. This illustration reminds me of how simple, small issues can actually add up to be extremely costly for an organization — because it’s so easy to overlook them. For example, last year staff at University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas noticed that the hand sanitizer containers throughout the facility would occasionally leak a little. By simply changing the containers to ones that waste less hand sanitizer, they were able to save approximately $12,000 per year. Staff members discovered this improvement opportunity through a “waste walk.” A waste walk is a planned visit to where work is being performed to observe what’s happening and to note the waste. The UMC team looked at relatively small items (often less than $5,000) that were easily ignored, but also easily corrected. In evaluating these issues, the hospital found approximately $3.7 million in hard dollar savings that year. The staff utilized the waste walk not only to look for good improvement ideas, but also to foster good stewardship of scarce resources. In 2017, the health center is participating in a second waste walk. They anticipate saving up to $8 million, and increasing revenue by $2 million. By paying attention to little things, savings can really add up. The longer you have worked at an organization, the harder it is to see the waste around you. Taking a “waste walk” is one way to make the waste visible again. If you’d like to try a waste walk at your organization, here’s a sample tool you can use. Let me know how it goes! How are you helping your employees to work smarter by reducing the amount of time they spend on non-productive activities and correcting errors? If your business processes need a “check-up,” please email me at michael@leadingchangeforgood.com! I’d love to help you get back to a healthy, productive...
Read MoreThe Butterfly Effect
Have you ever worked several weeks or months putting together a large project that would affect your entire company, then felt the overwhelming disappointment when it failed? Often the most intricate plans go awry and a lot of effort is spent on something that is not useful for the organization. There are many expressions to describe starting something, including, “the longest trip begins with a single step,” or, “the entire ocean is affected by a single pebble.” In chaos theory, the term “butterfly effect” was coined by Edward Lorenz to describe a small effect in one area that ends up having significant impact in other, seemingly unrelated, areas. This is often described in weather prediction as a butterfly flapping its wings in South America, leading to a tornado occurring in China. This concept can be applied to process improvement initiatives. Many companies go into process improvement with a “big bang” approach, dedicating a lot of resources to initially roll out a Continuous Improvement (CI) plan across the company. Unfortunately, this type of approach often fails because the underlying support that is necessary to maintain the initiative hasn’t been developed. I worked for a company that actually did not have a continuous improvement program, but instead identified one individual who had training in Lean Six Sigma (LSS). Through small but steady efforts, he completed a project that provided success in multiple areas of this global company. Often, it’s not the big broad strokes that are required, but much more the small strategic steps, building one upon the other. By building support and successes one step at a time, a company can nurture a CI program that becomes truly a part of the company’s culture. What first step can you take to help your company on its journey to CI? How are you helping your employees to work smarter by reducing the amount of time they spend on non-productive activities and correcting errors? If your business processes need a “check-up,” please email me at michael@leadingchangeforgood.com! I’d love to help you get back to a healthy, productive...
Read MoreTime to Put On Your Six Thinking Hats
Several years ago while visiting with my dad, I heard a recitation by radio broadcaster Paul Harvey. My dad was a big Paul Harvey fan, and thus I heard a lot of Paul Harvey recitations. This particular recitation was at Christmas time. It was about a farmer who was trying to get a bunch of birds out of the snow and cold into a nice warm barn. The farmer thought to himself, “If only I could think like a bird, I could help them understand where to go for warmth and shelter.” Often we are like the farmer as we sit in a meeting, trying to get our coworkers to understand our point of view. It can be very difficult, especially in trying to be creative while problem-solving. To help address this issue, particularly in developing solutions for Continuous Improvement programs, one can use a system designed by Edward de Bono, which he referred to as the “Six Thinking Hats.” Using this technique, team members are coached to consider ideas the way that other team members may see them. The six hats — managing, information, emotions, discernment, optimistic response and creativity — can be used to help direct one’s point of view. For instance, an engineer that normally will use logic when approaching an issue may be asked to put on an emotions hat, thinking more intuitively and instinctively. Or someone who is deeply devoted to information, considering only the facts, may be asked to wear the creativity hat, thinking beyond just data. In each case, the team member is really looking at the same issue, but in a different manner than they normally would. By evaluating an issue or problem from a different point of view, team members can gain insights into their own thought processes and those of others and be able to expand upon potential ideas for solutions. While this is not a technique to be used for all phases of a project, it is quite commonly used in developing improvement strategies. How do you help the farmers on your team understand the point of view of other team members? Give six thinking hats a try. You might be surprised at the results. How are you helping your employees to work smarter by reducing the amount of time they spend on non-productive activities and correcting errors? If your business processes need a “check-up,” please email me at michael@leadingchangeforgood.com! I’d love to help you get back to a healthy, productive...
Read MoreThe Unsung 20%
Many Continuous Improve (CI) programs suggest using the 80/20 rule. In this, the team determines a list of root causes for an issue, defines a numeric ranking for each one as a percentage of 100, and then adds them up, listing the highest to the lowest. The results are then displayed in graphic form, often in a Pareto chart. Conventional methods then recommend focusing on the top 80% of the root causes, as the other 20% may be a list of several small issues. Often, these smaller issues are not ever addressed, and are simply placed as a footnote in the presentation. Conversely, they can be used as a starting place for another project. Again, the team can focus on the top 80% of that group, resulting in an additional 16% on the root causes being addressed, or 96% total. It is important that a CI team remembers to take another look at the 20% that was not originally addressed, based on the Pareto chart. When some original issues are resolved, other smaller issues may begin to express themselves. While 20% may not sound like a lot, it can make a big difference in the long run with a systematic approach! How are you helping your employees to work smarter by reducing the amount of time they spend on non-productive activities and correcting errors? If your business processes need a “check-up,” please email me at michael@leadingchangeforgood.com! I’d love to help you get back to a healthy, productive...
Read MoreA Ringing Endorsement: Using Six Sigma to Improve Call Center Operations
When was the last time you called a company and got connected to their call center? Were you stuck on hold for what seemed like an eternity? Or was the service representative less than helpful? Let’s face it. Call center performance can make or break any service provider’s customer loyalty ratings. Customer service representatives need to be able to answer the phone. They need to resolve questions quickly. Hold time needs to be minimal and at or under the customer’s expectation. Yet these important metrics, taken alone, with little or no regard to other client-affecting service level indicators, can lead to a loss of business. I read an interesting case study recently about a call center in that predicament. At first, call center leadership didn’t realize that the center’s performance was a problem – until there were rumblings that the organization’s contract was about to be cancelled because of poor service. When faced with this issue, many call centers just lay off staff in an attempt to increase productivity of the remaining group, or try to improve results by forcing people to be on the phone even more. This call center took a difference approach. They enlisted the help of a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) expert to improve their performance. The call center began collecting data around its operations and what customers wanted. The results were eye-opening: Most calls that could not be resolved on the first call required some research by the service representatives. The service representatives were primarily judged on whether they were available to answer calls. This limited the time they could devote to research open issues. As a result, many calls that could not be resolved right away were often never resolved. Customers whose inquiries were not answered within a few days would call back. This increased the call volume, increasing the numbers of calls that could not be resolved on the first call, and led to multiple entries in the computer system for the same problem. Baseline data showed that the call center was achieving only a 50 percent first-call resolution rate and 62 percent five-day resolution rate. Furthermore, service representatives with the highest available-to-answer rates had the lowest resolution rate. Interestingly, there was no correlation between available-to-answer and first-call resolution – so just increasing the time that people were available to answer calls would not necessarily drive up the first-call resolution rate. The call center decided to implement several improvements: They divided employees into two groups. Part of the staff would only take calls and the rest would do the research to resolve the issues. Representatives rotated through the two groups, with daily metrics designed for success, collected individually and reported in a central location. Significant drops in first-call resolution now immediately trigger follow-up action. The call center’s IT department tweaked the computer system to utilize an unused field in the screens to capture issues needing research and the age of those issues. After four days, calls that were not resolved were forwarded to the leadership team for action. Within weeks, the first-call resolution rate dramatically increased from 50% to 90% and the five-day resolution rate rose from 62% to 98%. LSS can be a great tool for getting call center performance back on track. By focusing on what the client needs, developing a process around those needs and tracking key performance metrics, a call center can become a true asset to the organization as a whole. How are you helping your employees to work smarter by reducing the amount of time they spend on non-productive activities and correcting errors? If your business processes...
Read MoreFlavor of the Month Syndrome
There are a lot of things that sound good, and may be very good for a short term, but overall, they don’t last. We noticed this on our recent trip to the State Fair. We found deep-fried brownies, deep-fried Pepsi, and even deep-fried Kool Aid – about anything you can imagine had been deep-fried. Each of these stations had a few novel-seekers in line. However the longest lines were at the more tried-and-true vendors, such as tenderloin sandwiches and grilled cheese sandwiches. How can you go wrong with those? Similar to fair food, many businesses adopt business plans that are the deep-fried flavor of month syndrome. They may sound good on paper, but they really do not have any lasting value. It is imperative that Continuous Improvement (CI) programs be founded on principles to ensure their sustainability. These principles include executive/managerial support, employee education and involvement, and the right goals. Without each of these three components, a CI program is assured to fail. First, it is important that a company’s leadership team supports the CI program. Often significant changes are required in business practices. Without management support, these cannot occur. It is also important that management provide ways to support their CI teams by eliminating road blocks and helping to gain buy-in from hesitant stakeholders. Second, it’s important that employees understand the basics of a CI program and truly be involved in it. It can’t be just a few people orchestrating an improvement plan that ultimately will affect everyone. The third and most key ingredient is the setting of proper goals. Too many times, employees see a CI program as a methodology for reducing the workforce and/or slashing budgets. This should never be the goal of a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) project or program. LSS is designed to reduce waste and eliminate errors. By combining these two aspects in its goal-setting, the company can be much more productive and therefore save money. How are you helping your employees to work smarter by reducing the amount of time they spend on non-productive activities and correcting errors? If your business processes need a “check-up,” please email me at michael@leadingchangeforgood.com! I’d love to help you get back to a healthy, productive...
Read More
Recent Comments