Businesses are not caterpillars. They cannot spin themselves into a shiny chrysalis and remerge into an entirely new space. They expand, diversify, shrink, have bumps and unfortunately sometimes stop. But to transform is to change and that in business is inevitable. The decision as to when, how or where mostly remains ours. But a smoother pathway to understanding transformation is invaluable.
Transformational change is simply the embodiment of hundreds and even thousands of incremental differences made over time. So often viewed retrospectively, we fail to acknowledge the small successes that encouraged us to keep going, or even worse the failures that delivered life’s greatest lessons. But perhaps the greatest fallacy is to believe the transformation occurred without the application of time.
The second best time for change is today. The catalyst for change is almost irrelevant. A loss of customer, natural disaster, COVID 19 or planned event. The only guarantee is that positive transformation won’t happen if you don’t start it.
We have for some years now admired the awarded success of the late Rod Murphy and the team at R&R Murphy. A small family business with aspirations as grand as any. What made this team successful? They took the LEAN transformation step.
Day one, standing in the training room, Rod and I discussed economic climate, day to day hassles and amongst other things if the LEAN training investment in time was going to pay off. He had reservations. But in my opinion Rod had the one core characteristic that transforms businesses. That is, the desire to understand his people and more importantly, the desire to understand how he could serve them better.
It troubles me to read articles on servant leadership. In one way or another the introductory explanation almost always commences with “inverting the norm”. How is it possible that we are more inclusive, racial and gender indiscriminate than ever, and yet the norm does not naturally include understanding and providing for your people?
All transformation activities be they incremental or organisational wide start and stop with the people. They are our focus when selecting the team, they are our focus when running the project and the reason we celebrate success. Understanding their goals, processes, training and development requirements is our key to success. To serve them well we must be prepared to invest our most valuable resource, our time.
We have all been there. Turning goals into KPI’s and quickly modifying them to suit the audience. Increasing sales targets for the CEO, lowering costs, finding ways to divest losses into the figures. Before dividing them up and distributing equally amongst the waiting masses. Right that’s done until the next reporting period, onto running the business. That’s simply not going to work for a transforming business.
If we take a moment, do our KPI’s become our employees and theirs become ours? Does it not become our responsibility to ensure they achieve their goals? As such, does it not make sense to spend our time working with them on their programs to ensure ours are within reach? A KPI that is truly owned by the person above its delivery point.
So where do we start? The selection of transformational tools can be as daunting as the task itself. The myriad of ways to market products will have us have us going in circles chasing the epitome of change management. However, in reality the tools have some very common core elements.
LEAN programs rely heavily on the principals of sound direction, people engagement, process and data. Data which is easily truncated into a level of significance by the Six Sigma team. Which in turn strive to reduce the likelihood of risk; a core value of an ISO9001 system. But dig deeper and the commonality starts to be more apparent. Most will start with basic 5S, Kaizen or GEMBA systems, all hidden amongst the well marketed terms and branded documentation. But like all things in business they are only as good as the relationship with the stakeholders.
Ten minutes on the internet will provide you with all the tools required to commence your transformational journey. Before too long you’re hooked. Displaying KPI’s, work performance data and the like. Holding the daily meetings, revving up the team, identifying and solving problems. But a word of caution. Equally as fast your efforts can become yesterday’s dreams. Month old pieces of paper on the whiteboard, dirt building up around machines, customer relations getting in the way of the daily talks.
Time and time again I have seen that a well-placed transformational leader, coupled with an equally well-trained transformational educator, is the only way to provide long term success. Time spent finding the correct relationship will always pay off.
So if you did not start your transformation twenty years ago, you will have to accept second best, and start today. Go out and understand your team’s greatest issues. Personally own their KPI’s. As they are actually yours. Start transforming your business. And when you succeed, please share and reward your team’s success by entering the Hunter Manufacturing Awards.
About the Author:
Rob Martin has a passion for helping clear the path for change. Currently working with the team at ATB Morton Group to broaden their product and service solution offerings, he never strays too far from the transformation model. Rob's previous ventures include the restructure and green field development of multiple manufacturing operations throughout Australia and the Asia Pacific region. Whilst focusing heavily on automation he believes that nothing is more powerful than the drive of an invigorated manufacturing team.
