Is It Time to Reset?

I recently finished reading a new book by Dan Heath entitled Reset.  It is an excellent book, and I would highly recommend it. The book contains a tremendous amount of change management and outlines methods we can use to make huge improvements in our processes.

One area where I hear the most complaints from Clients is “Labor Challenges.” Heath points out that “there is no emergency, only choices.” The key to making improvements on labor or any other issue, he suggests, is to identify “Leverage Points & Restack Resources.”

In one business, for example, the management team was having difficulty with employee motivation. As a result, they shared a questionnaire with employees that asked four questions that they could answer anonymously:

·       What makes a good workday for you?

·       What makes you proud to work here?

·       When we are at our best, what does that look like?

·       What are any impediments to your performance?

Then, in response, the same management team addressed these issues quickly, especially the small ones. For example, the coffee machine did not always work properly. It was relatively low cost and got replaced right away. They leveraged this item (at a reasonably low cost, too).

Additionally, they put three clear, plastic boxes at the place where their employees exited at the end of their workday. One box had orange ping pong balls, one had white ping pong balls, and the third one was empty. As they left work, the employees were asked to put orange ping pong balls into the empty box if they had experienced a difficult or unreasonably challenging day with conditions that needed to improve. If their day was solid, they were requested to place a white ping pong ball into the empty box, likewise giving management some immediate feedback on the day.

If you think about it, this process was very practical and provides a good example of participative management by asking the employees: “What matters to you?” It identified leverage points that were important to the crew and allowed management to “restack resources,” often at very low cost, to create a better outcome.

Give this some consideration in your operation, and if I can assist you with this, please let me know.

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”

Zig Ziglar

Let’s take your business to the Next Level!