TeamMax Newsletter:

MEASURING BEHAVIOR CHANGE SAVED MY JOB
 
Larry Cole, Ph.D.
TeamMax®, Inc.
 
Abstract
Frustration is your best friend® when used to improve working relationships.  Sometimes, this frustration must be quantified before those responsible for creating it will accept their responsibility to minimize it.  In this instance, the data opened the responsible manager’s eyes to “see” the need  to improve working relationships.  Quantifying these improvements helped keep his job.
 
“I am doing everything that I can to ensure my people know what is expected to complete their job responsibilities” reported the Maintenance Superintendent.  But, the maintenance personnel reported a different version.

• “We never know what we will be doing from one day to the next.”
• “More frequently, the parts have either not been ordered, or they’ve been ordered and not available when we’re scheduled to complete the maintenance.”
• “We never know when contract workers are going to be in the plant so we can’t schedule our work or complete the necessary preparations for their work.”

As you might guess from these comments, there was considerable frustration within the maintenance personnel.  But the frustration did not start and end with the maintenance department.  Production supervisors also expressed frustration, because they did not know the schedule to take a line off production for maintenance nor the projected time required to complete the maintenance project.  Consequently, there were times when equipment was not ready for the arriving shift.
 
The Plant Manager had discussed these frustrations with the Maintenance Supervisor on several occasions, but to no avail.  To make matters worse, the Superintendent acted as if the Plant Manager’s perception was in error—he did not see how he could improve his performance.  The Maintenance Superintendent was on the verge of losing his employment.
 
As is often the case, the classic conflict existed in that the Superintendent was extremely technically competent and the plant needed his expertise.   Finally as a last resort, the Superintendent reluctantly agreed to meet with a team of maintenance employees to discuss the workplace frustrations.  The Plant Manager began the meeting by describing some of his frustrations associated with the maintenance department as a whole.  That testimony gave permission for other team members to communicate openly.  And communicate they did.  The participants presented a litany of frustrations about the maintenance department’s operations—a complete lack of communication.  During the meeting, several participants expressed appreciation that finally something was being done to improve teamwork and that the General Manager cared enough to both schedule and attend the meeting.  On the more pessimistic side, several participants noted that if nothing was done, at least everyone now knows what problems existed.
 
The team generated the following teamwork strategies to improve communication and working relationships within the department.
 
1. Keep employees informed through regular staff meetings.
2. Communicate schedule for contractors to be on site to ensure necessary preparations are completed.
3. Schedule maintenance jobs so the respective staff can ensure the parts are available to complete the repairs.
4. Keep the Job Status Board updated to ensure all staff are kept informed about scheduled maintenance jobs.
 
The employees used the MBC Software® to measure the implementation of these strategies.  The initial measurements showed little improvement, but a very positive event occurred.  After “seeing” and “discussing” the data, the Maintenance Superintendent finally admitted, “I guess my performance is not as good as I thought.”  This realization helped the Superintendent keep his job.   
 
Students of change will recognize that the very first step in the improvement process is recognizing the need for change.  Through the use of data, the Maintenance Supervisor finally recognized the need.  But, recognizing the need and changing are two different elements of the change formula.  And, improvements were not automatically forthcoming.
 
The next series of four weekly measurements showed little progress.  At the regularly scheduled monthly team meeting to discuss the data, it was evident that the Superintendent was not completing staff meetings and contractors continued to “show up” at the plant without the maintenance personnel completing the necessary preparations.  Valuable time and financial resources were being wasted so the team re-emphasized the following teamwork strategies:
 
1. The Maintenance Supervisor is to ensure that necessary parts are on site by the Wednesday preceding the scheduled Saturday repairs.
2. Contractors’ schedules are posted by Friday for the following week.
3. Departmental staff meetings are scheduled for Thursday at 10:00 a.m.
 
The Plant Manager had a coaching session with the Superintendent, subsequent to the team meeting, to re-emphasize the importance of putting these strategies to work.

SUCCESS!

The next series of data showed significant improvement and considerable less frustration was expressed at the next team meeting.  Actually, the team members’ laughter and jokes replaced the frustration.  Fun was back into the work environment.
 
The data were monitored for several months to ensure that the teamwork strategies became a permanent fixture in the workplace environment.  Eventually, the rating team was disbanded.
 
In conclusion
 
The success of this team illustrates several elements critical to the success to modify behavior in the workplace environment.
 
1. The involvement of the up-line supervisor, in this case, the Plant Manager. 
2. The willingness of the team to discuss the “as is” situation and the need to improve teamwork.
3. The MBC Software® methodology provided the data necessary to:
    A. “Quantify” the “as is” situation to underscore the need to improve performance.
    B. Hold employees accountable to implement the teamwork strategies.
    C. Communicate the degree progress has been made.
4. Recognizing the need to change is the necessary first step in the change formula.
5. The overall importance to convert perceptions into data that allow everyone to “see” the behavioral dynamics of the working relationships.
 
About the author
Larry founded TeamMax®, Inc., a consulting firm, and co-founded PeopleSystems, SoftWare, Inc.  MBC Software® was developed to quantify behavior to provide the luxury to manage the people processes with data as is enjoyed by the technical characteristics of the company. 

Contact Larry at lcole@cei.net or 800-880-1728
www.people-systems.com
www.teammax.net