“I can’t believe there are so many simple things that can improve the company.” a client told me recently.
It happens that everyday life and its challenges force us into a gradual isolation. We lose sight of what matters most while trying to respond to emergencies, which are often equally important.
The administrative activities of daily management consume most of the time: answering emails, preparing reports, sending budgets, analyzing offers, meetings, meetings, meetings... and thus contact with what the Japanese call genba is left aside.
Genba is the place where things happen. The trench. The plant floor. The place where products and services are generated and where, normally, there are hundreds or thousands of opportunities for improvement that go unnoticed. Precisely because we don't take the time to... go and see with our own eyes.
But why does this happen? We all want to improve the company. We know that its future depends on what we do and don't do. We know that jobs depend on the ability to be competitive.
Yes, in principle we all want to improve the company, although we often don't know how. The thing is, every search requires frames of reference and archetypes to drive it. In other words, it requires the right lenses to identify opportunities for improvement.
Our ability to see opportunities for improvement is influenced by at least two factors:
- Our ability to break out of our routine and give ourselves time to rethink the organization. And that requires the right frameworks, the right paradigms, the right mental frameworks.
- Our willingness to step out of the comfort zone of doing the same thing for years. The challenge lies in discovering that what worked before no longer works. The world is changing at a very rapid pace. And yesterday's recipes are inadequate today. That's why we must take charge and recognize, as Jack Canfield says, that If you want different results, you'll have to do different things...
The more we are able to question why we do what we do and why we do it this way, the more opportunities we will be able to see. A Brazilian colleague, when he visited us at the Plant, used to repeat to us: they don't see the enormous opportunities for improvement because this Plant is already part of their landscape. They have become so accustomed to living there this way that they have become accustomed to living with the dysfunctions and don't realize the enormous amount of little things that could make everything work a lot better.
That's why, often, courses and training are nothing more than triggers for improvement processes that we already knew were there, waiting for a decision, a push, an opportunity.
Other times, meeting with advisors is the stimulus for the team to learn how to work as a team. "Four eyes see more than two," goes the popular saying. Eyes that, although they belong to the same company, don't necessarily dedicate time to "observing."
Competitiveness isn't the result of major changes. It's the result of small, disciplined, and systematic actions.
Through training, you learn what to look at and how to look at it. This creates a group of people who learn to work as a team and critically analyze every process, every machine, every task, every activity.
The resulting transformative energy is truly astonishing. And it was hidden within the organization itself. We, as outsiders, are merely facilitators.
When this rethinking of the organization is part of a more systematic program of work, whether it is approached from the logic of Process Reengineering, from comprehensive programs such as TPM or from the simple activities of the 5S ProgramThe results are magnificent. They're difficult to predict and difficult to believe unless you try. Therefore, logically, you first need to dare to take the plunge. Convince yourself that the real solutions aren't cosmetic, but rather those that aim to change the very foundations of the business system. It's not about seeing to believe, but about believing to see.
When managers understand that these activities represent a unique opportunity to make things simpler, faster, easier, safer, and more enjoyable, the flow of ideas increases even more. And if the highest authority is truly involved, then the transformation can be complete.
In our experience, the more committed a team is to the transformation, the greater the opportunities for improvement that are discovered. Conversely, the more absent senior management is, or the more they unconsciously sabotage the process, the greater the discouragement, the greater the difficulties, and the fewer improvements that will be found.
There are many ways to boycott, including verbally stating that “What we are doing is very important.” But, in practice, they always find something "more important" to do. Whether it's reducing the resources needed for the change process or even avoiding the difficult decisions that every change requires.
Once this significant obstacle has been overcome, transformation is always within reach. It always happens, especially when the chosen program is the right one for the organization. logic applied to change.
It has to do with Organizational Change Management. With how to handle the relations between the different areas and between the different levels. With how to spread a north That excites. It has to do with understanding our Latin American culture. It has to do with building a collective dream and implementing proven and successful methods.
The challenge is to involve the highest level of leadership in the implementation. Agree on a vision and dedicate themselves methodically, a little bit each day.
With 20 years of experience in consulting, I've discovered that the success or failure of an implementation depends not only on the tool itself, but also on the skill of managing the change process. Recognizing that in every company, there's another hidden tool that doesn't produce. And this basically depends on the type of vision you have.
As Jonathan Swift said:
“Vision is the art of seeing invisible things.”
And when you change the way you look at things… the things you look at change…
Eng. Raul A. Perez Verzini
Master in Organizational Development and Behavior
TPM Instructor No. 723 – JIPM (Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance)
