Page 184 - Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles

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Expectations

I cautioned the owner that such a dramatic increase was highly
unlikely without some significant change in the process and/or
technology. Nonetheless, I began as anyone would by observing
and interviewing the employees. I asked the obvious questions,
including, “What would it take to get to sixty shirts an hour?”
During these conversations, I realized that the employees had
no idea how many shirts they were currently pressing, nor had
they ever heard of the sixty-shirts-an-hour goal. Again, the
primary reason that most goals aren’t met is that they are not
clearly defined and communicated.
The intervention was simple; I had the manager at the pro-
cessing plant hang a large whiteboard and graph the production
rate every hour for a week, during which productivity increased
each day as employees got feedback on their performance. By
Friday, they averaged fifty-six shirts an hour. On the following
Monday morning, I facilitated a meeting with the plant manager
and employees during which we reviewed the data and asked for
suggestions on how they might be able to reach a steady produc-
tion rate of sixty shirts an hour. A few very simple changes were
made based on these suggestions. For example, children’s shirts
were particularly difficult to press, but one employee worked
on a smaller press that handled these shirts best, so children’s
shirts were redirected to her. Employees now press an average
of sixty-five shirts per hour.
As you can imagine, this experience led to several positive
outcomes for the employees, manager, business owner, and cus-
tomers. First, because of the increased productivity, the owner
could offer customers same-day service on all shirts, which led
to a competitive advantage in his market. Second, he reduced
his employees’ hours but raised their pay. Third, because their
manager had actually listened to and acted on their suggestions,