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[Simon]

Think about it, do we actually need the plethora of standards and methodologies to improve our businesses? Are we not all a little bit guilty of searching for the Holy Grail, the panacea, 'the something' that will lead us comfortably up the path of continual improvement?

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that standards and improvement tools are bad per say, but without the workforce ‘on board' they're not worth a jot.

Take a walk around your factory or better still sit in the canteen and listen; are the workers happy and motivated, enthusiastic and committed - are they ready and willing to help you improve? If not you may as well forget it.

It's not rocket science; you get a hell of a lot more return from motivated employees. Obviously you can't give them wheelbarrows full of cash, so what else are you going to do?

I know I keep banging on about job swapping or to be more precise 'work shadowing', but that's because it's an easy, cost effective and fun way of motivating the workforce through learning and understanding.

The first time I tried to set up a ‘job swap' programme I put a notice up in the work canteens with an explanation of what was involved, the benefits etc. Those interested were requested to add their name to a list indicating which department they wanted to work in for a day.

I was sure it was a winner so couldn't understand why after a week only a handful of people had volunteered (most of which were jokes). Rather than give up I decided to take the list round and speak to every employee and the response was tremendous. About 100 of the 200 workforce wanted to do it (well about 80 and I had to press-gang the rest).

The main programme ran for about 2 years in which time we did about 2,000 days of job swapping. In the end most of the employees got involved and now all new employees do at least a day in each department as part of their induction to the company.

Shortly after starting the programme there was a visible improvement in morale, motivation, teamwork, and involvement - you name it. Subsequently there were measurable increases in productivity, customer satisfaction and yes - profitability. All in all it just felt like a better place to work.

We also had some nice unexpected success; such as the labourer who used to solemnly remove waste, it turned out he was an amazing artist and he now works in the graphic art department. Also a shop floor worker is now the supervisor of another department.

How much of the business improvement was down to the job swapping is debatable as many other improvement tools followed. However, job swapping did give us a great start. It's not the panacea it's just one seed of culture change. And mostly that's what improvement is all about.

Has anyone else tried it?

BTW if you try this out make sure that you get a sheet completed for every visit that includes, where, when, what found, what learned, best bits, worst bits etc. And do something with the information.

Regards,
Simon

The attached pdf provides a little background on the subject. Extracted from 'Operations Management - A Supply Chain Approach' written by Derek L. Waller.

 motivation_article.pdf   148.27KB   111 downloads