ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: Prepare Your Team to Effectively Manage Change
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| Leaders need to focus on associates’ need for support and assurance when it comes to lean fundamentals. |
Lea Tonkin, editor in chief
As you develop plans for your organization’s lean transformation, how well are you preparing employees to effectively manage change? Do you understand their communication and work style preferences? Have you answered the critical question, “What’s in it for me?” Jeff Thurman, operational excellence champion at W.L. Gore & Associates, Elkton, MD, counsels that leaders focusing on lean fundamentals sometimes overlook associates’ need for support and assurance. Thurman and Tina Dyer, W.L. Gore human resources associate, will be presenters at the AME 2012 International "Excellence Inside" Conference to be held Oct. 15-19 in Chicago ameconference.org. Their topic will be “You Say Lean; I Think Change: Simple Tools to Help Your Team Become Excellent at Change.”
“Often the lean journey can become overly focused on tools and methods,” Thurman said. “In our focus on process definition the transition from current state to future state, we sometimes do a poor job preparing the team to effectively manage change.” Hidden fears about change may emerge during a lean transition, requiring facilitators to revisit lean benefits in another communications round and slowing progress.
Everyone goes through change individually, according to Thurman. “I find when I haven’t helped the team go through change in a constructive manner, we struggle to sustain our new process,” he said. “I believe you can’t lead someone through the emotional steps of a significant change, but you can equip them to individually go through the change in a productive manner. When we train associates most affected by the change with the concepts we will teach in this presentation, we empower them to constructively manage their emotions.” If employees are uncertain or anxious about the new lean concepts, they tend to favor traditional, familiar practices. Thurman said “resistance” to change may mask fear or misunderstanding.
Thurman recounted that when he was supporting a team going through its initial pull setup with kanbans and a supermarket, the lead supervisor started to criticize her peers and the kaizen team, questioning the need to proceed. “I reminded her of our training in change management concepts and she gained some self-awareness,” Thurman said. “She immediately took ownership of her emotions and we almost instantaneously moved back into the problem-solving mindset."
Where to Start
Thurman and Dyer shared several suggestions for effectively launching lean change:
- Train those most affected by change. Create awareness of lean concepts at the beginning. Provide a more detailed review just before an improvement/kaizen event. Follow up after the event; ask questions such as, “How does it feel?”
- Communicate. Use multiple teaching methods such as visual, auditory, and tactile. Visually communicate the plan to the area most affected. For example, post project tracking information near the area affected by change. “This allows associates to digest on a day to day basis,” said Thurman. Provide safe means for feedback. You can never communicate enough.
- Support. Ensure that leaders/supervisors keep in touch with the team. Maintain a balanced focus on change agents and resistors.
More Conference Learning Opportunities
Conference attendees will hear presentations in six value streams:
- Leadership, Change Management, Culture
- Fundamentals of Lean (Manufacturing, Six Sigma)
- Sustaining Lean & Delivering Results (Lean Champion, Lean & Green)
- Collaborative & Innovative Lean (Benchmarking, Consortium, Supply Chain, Lean Product Development, Customer Relations)
- Lean Beyond Manufacturing (Office, Health Care, Transactional, Public Sector)
- Overcoming Obstacles to Lean (Showstoppers).
Keynote presenters will include Mike Abrashoff, author of It’s Your Ship; Mark Kelly, husband of U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords; and Jason Jennings, author of Think Big, Act Small and Hit the Ground Running.
Approximately 40 workshop presenters will share practical application insights. The session presenters and topics will include Don Guild, “Virtual Pull;” David Mann, “Creating a Lean Culture;” John Kravontka, “Building Blocks for Equipment Reliability;” Robert Burke, “Lean Business Simulation;” Brian Maskell, “Solving the Standard Cost Problem;” and Rich Gildersleeve on “Lean Product Development Using A3 and the DJO Way.”
For a first-hand look at excellence in action, visit conference tour sites showcasing many types of work environments. Employees at two Caterpillar sites, S&C Electric Company, Winzeler Gear, Ace Metal Crafts, Bimba, Bison Gear & Engineering Corporation, and Whiting Corporation will share their process improvement “lessons learned.”
For conference information and registration, visit ameconference.org.
