Doing old things in new ways

Many of the people I work with contribute to the company by helping to start something new:  a new product, a new production line, or new invention.  Others contribute by convincing people to adopt new ways of doing things.

I'm in the latter group.  I don't work on new products or projects.  Instead, I see how we run our equipment, how we train our people, and I think, "This is wrong!  No wonder we're not running better!"  I think of ways we should change our systems, our procedures, and the way we manage our equipment.

There are lots of people in this group.  I think most people who make a big impact in manufacturing do so because they see a better way to run the plant.  Their creativity lies in doing old things in new ways.  A manager of a group of production lines often outperforms his or her peers only when they find new ways of doing an old thing:  getting cases of product out the door.

Getting an organization to change its habits is very different than rolling out a new product or machine.  The book, Leading Change, whose cover appears at the top of this post, needs to become my Bible.  The book is based on a Harvard Business School study of companies that try to get their employees to drastically change how they do their work.  Most such change efforts fail.  Those that succeed, follow a process that begins with a conscious attack on complacency.  It continues with forming alliances, sharing a vision, communicating broadly, getting short term wins to build momentum, and setting up systems to maintain the change.  

If I was rolling out a funded project, such as a new product that starts shipping in November, I wouldn't need to do all this time consuming communication.  People can't say "no" to a funded project.  But they can say "no" to my recommended changes in how they do their jobs.  I want them to say "yes".