Harvesting ideas
From HMCwiki
Harvesting ideas yields empowerment, innovation, service, and quality. The ability to collect ideas is critical as work demands become greater, change happens faster, margins become thinner, and resources become scarcer. How does an organization continually harvest ideas to stay ahead of the curve?
A large part of the answer is right under our nose. The answer is in the staff we hire to run the business. They are trained at carrying out policies and procedures, but shouldn't they be trained to look for waste in its many hidden forms as well as improve the work they engage in each day? Are they tuned to a customer’s desires? Do they know the value of even one missed opportunity and how it impacts the bottom line? Do they know how to offer up legitimate idea proposals and does management know how to treasure this input?
Most staff are trained on how to do their jobs but not how to improve upon it. Thus, bad habits die hard. As a manager or management engineer: here’s your chance to open the floodgates of employee engagement, and to have all eyes looking for ways to make a cumulative difference. The largest hindrance to this type of employee engagement is that most organizations don’t have an idea-friendly environment; for example, environments where ideas are welcome, developed, justified, resourced, implemented, recognized and shared. If there are no deliberate processes, communication plans, and job aids to facilitate each of these steps, it’s no wonder legitimate ideas aren't coming. As Dutch Holland of Holland & Davis Inc.[1] put it: 'If we don't run the business, we won't eat tomorrow; if we don't change the business, we won't be here next year'. In the early 90's the typical Japanese worker was implementing 32 ideas per employee per year. Their American counterpart... 1 idea every 8 years. So what will it take to turn the corner? What's missing?
Contents |
Leadership should value the small idea
Most leaders want a culture of improvement, but forget that it is risky for an individual to offer something that is ‘different’ in the face of impending ridicule. When an employee comes forth with an idea, she or he puts herself out there. For the culture to become improvement-oriented, leadership’s passion must be just as fervent for the ‘little’ idea as the latest lean project. It’s got to be in their bones and in their language. “If it’s not on the leader’s lips, its not on the employees’ minds”[2]
Implement a formal (friendly) idea reception process
We don’t expect our operations and procedures to run without a structured system, why relegate the reception and carry through of employee ideas to happen chance? TEST: If someone came into your department and asked one of the employees how many and what were the ideas has the department put in place in the past year, what would they reply? Is there an idea collection form? Is there a catalogue of past ideas implemented? Is there ‘promise time’ to evaluate and implement idea considerations? Is there coaching on what constitutes an idea worthy of consideration? Is there a demonstrated commitment to cement the idea into the work environment once it's implemented?
Ideas are personal. The Chinese character for the word idea has two symbols. One symbol is risk and the other is opportunity. The employee is risking ridicule to offer an idea. A manager needs to reply to an employee's idea in a timely manner so that not to be considered neglectful and disrespectful. The neglect of one idea will block the offering of the next fifty over the course of the employee’s tenure. No system, no time…no dice.
Employees should learn how to find waste
The worst waste is the waste we've grown used to as part of the job. The workforce must grow a mutual hate for the waste that gets in the way caring for patients, achieving the organizations mission and values. Waste comes in many forms, for example, in valueless time such as delays and slow authorizations. This slows the learning cycle and in this mind set, service opportunities can be missed.
Along with the ability to find waste should come the leadership and infrastructure to correct it. This infrastructure systematically generates and generalizes countermeasures throughout the organization to reduce its friction on organizational performance. Every organization ought to enlist employees as waste watchers.
Improvement should be an expectation of the job
Too many managers have too little expectations for the staff to improve the work they do. Look at the typical position description in your organization and see if there are designated quantities of proposals for job improvement in the performance evaluation. If staff are expected to come up with five ideas per year, it will become a part of their focus. This plan motivates them to make a difference in their work area, which in turn makes them feel they have a say in their job. Again, a complement of good structure to receive, evaluation, justify, implement and acknowledgement of ideas are prerequisites. Continuous improvement requires continuous reinforcement management on its importance.
Idea ‘sharing’ system
A good idea is situational, but a great idea is generational. A great idea is generalized and modified so that every part of the organization might benefit and its application is exploited to the utmost. Unfortunately in most organizations, ideas remain islands of excellence in oceans of opportunity because there is no formal system to collect and communicate ideas. A paper clip is a pretty good invention, but its use is rather limited if only one department is using it.
Our corporate idea 'sharing' systems need attention. Inside every hospital, there should be a proven practices database. There needs to be an electronic 'Weekly Reader' of ideas generated, applied, even a section on "tried and abandoned." Honoring ideas and their owners is important, and companies should treat them as treasures that can be continuously expanded. Ideas should be thought of as money that accumulate in the pockets of the patients, the company and its staff. This is not hard, it is only undervalued and untried.
Summary
If your culture is not systematically improving, you better hope your competition is not either. There is nothing more powerful than an entire workforce enlisted and engaged to eliminate waste and improve the process that affect their service and their paychecks. There is nothing more empowering to staff than to have management's listening ear and supportive arm to implement their legitimate proposals. There is nothing more satisfying to a leader than facilitating the excellent potential of the people he is leading. Your staff is ready and willing to make a difference. Are you ready to help them do it?
References and resources
 |
If you would like to provide feedback or discuss the content of this article, please visit the discussion page. To be automatically notified by email of any changes or additions to the article or discussions about this article, please click here. |
