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CI DILEMMA JANUARY 2020
CI Dilemma
Culture vulture
A newly appointed general manager fi nds that quick fi xes don’t work when it comes
to maintaining and sustaining long term organisational and behavioural change
I ’ve recently been appointed as GM
for an underperforming site in the
UK. We have a number of sites across
the UK and Europe, providing own-label
and branded food products for all the
major supermarkets.
The site I am responsible for has a
history of below-average performance.
We suff er from inconsistent delivery
performance. When our delivery rates slip,
we often also see high product waste levels.
When we do perform well, we are strong
performers, but the inconsistency lets us
down too often.
we need to improve, but I’m looking to
work with my immediate team to start
to change the culture. They are really
committed but have been with the business
for a long time so maybe haven’t seen what
‘good’ looks like in other sectors.
I know culture change takes time but
I need a series of quick wins to make the
board more comfortable. There is a group
CI team I can maybe utilise to help me
but are there any key elements I need to
consider when putting together my short,
medium and long-term plans?
FACTORY MEETING
CI Solution Chris Jones, director, Turner & Townsend Suiko
This sounds like a great opportunity! In
your position I’m sure you know where the
key opportunities are. The key to long-term
success is, as you say, creating a CI culture
where teams are engaged at all levels,
setting direction, quickly identifying
opportunities and feeling empowered to
make the changes needed.
This is a common dilemma for newly
appointed GMs. Like CEOs, you have an
understanding of the business and where it
needs to improve, but need to take your
team with you. A group CI team may be a
great resource to tap into, but make sure
the scope of their work on your site is
determined by you! In my experience,
having been involved in successful (and
not so successful!) programmes aimed at
turning businesses around, there are some
key areas to focus on:
Phase 1: Diagnostic/Understanding the
business/Confi rm key opportunities
The most successful ‘understanding the
business’ phases I have been involved in
have utilised a skilled business facilitator
(this maybe a member of the internal CI
group if they have the required business
and interpersonal skillset) and work with
the entire senior team. The creation of a
detailed ‘current state’ Value Stream Map
by the combined site team is a really
powerful way to start to develop a
consensus of potential improvements.
It’s resource heavy but probably the
most important phase of any business
transformation.
Phase 2: Create the future
state/Improvement plan
With an agreed set of key issues,
you can then develop the short,
medium and longer term plan.
It’s important that this is detailed.
I like to see these outputs made
visual for all employees to see and input
into further. It’s good to have an
experienced facilitator to make sure
potential improvements cover not only
solving current problems (such as line
waste improvements) but also looking at
lean principles such as layout, product fl ow
improvements and pull control. Think big
when looking at improvements!
Phase 3: Implementing changes
I like to use the seven stages of the Kotter
structure when implementing changes:
1. Create a sense of urgency. You need to
ensure the team understand the need to
make changes – so spell out the importance
of making improvements.
I have a good understanding of where
2. Form a strong steering team. Maybe
ask some group senior leaders to form
part of a steering team. The aim is to
meet monthly, review progress
and keep the project on track.
3. Create a vision and communicate.
It’s really important to create a
visual plan and communicate (via
briefi ngs, newsletters, Q&A
sessions). Every employee is
involved in this process – and
needs to feel so!
4. Remove obstacles. If we do see
slippages in progress you need to act
quickly and remove the issues. Often this is
resource related so tap into group if you
need to!
5. Create short term wins. It’s great to make
some quick improvements so include a
couple of small projects you know will
deliver (such as waste reduction on a line).
6. Keep up the pace. At steering it’s
important to keep challenging the project
to deliver more gains. Doing so keeps
people fresh.
7. Create a CI structure. To sustain a
culture, we need a framework where
issues and actions are captured as part
of the day job. There are some good
examples of businesses similar to yours
where this is in place.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Do you agree with our expert? How would you go about creating a CI culture in an under-performing site?
Send us your views and you could appear here next month. Email: chris.beck@markallengroup.com
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