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Component Manufacturing dverti$er
Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the
Adverti$er
December 2018 #10233 Page #25
It’s Time to Huddle Up! Setting the tone for higher expectations and productivity
I
am often asked by lumber dealers, component manufacturers, and others for that “one thing” that will improve results, drive cultural change, hardwire behavior, or create lasting quality. I’ve come to realize there is no magic bullet to becoming a high reliability organization; it is a long-term journey. This journey requires leaders at all levels to be deeply committed to setting expectations by aligning standardized behaviors/expectations/productivity and creating a culture that has a relentless focus on safety.
Ben Hershey, President & Coach 4Ward Consulting Group, LLC
Whether an organization is expressly striving for “high reliability” or creating goals to provide the highest quality and safety in our products, there are tactics that are key to fostering a culture of hardwired behavior, consistency between shifts, and constant focus on continuous improvement and higher productivity: The Shift Huddle. Shift huddles, or brief meetings conducted at each shift to exchange information, are an effective component of driving outcomes and are vital in the development of robust process improvement, productivity, and training efforts. Huddles, whether they are safety huddles or shift huddles or gatherings for any other reason, all exist for the sole purpose of communicating critical information to your team. Implementing a regular shift-change huddle, in which your team is directly involved, helps ensure that all team members are aware of expectations, safety issues, continuous improvement progress, and staying informed on key strategic initiatives intended to improve quality, experience, and safety. A shift huddle will help you reinforce teamwork and allows the team to share in a group so that everyone hears the same information. And being “lean,” in some cases the group can problem-solve issues on the spot.
Characteristics of Huddles: When, How, and Who When Shift huddles generally should occur at the beginning of the shift. You can also use a leadership huddle between shifts that allows your managers and supervisors to have a clean hand-off between shifts. The shift huddle should take no more than 5–8 minutes on average, though I always recommend a 15-minute huddle once a week using the SBCA Safety Program to supplement additional safety training or a more focused lean event. One thing to note, our teams do not have long attention spans, so going much past 5 minutes means you may start losing people. Keep in mind, a study done a few years ago that appeared in Time Magazine showed that most humans lose attention after 8 seconds.
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