Sweat the Small Stuff..It May Save Your Life [guest post]
This is a guest blog post by Ankit Patel, CEO of The Lean Way Consulting. You can also follow his blog or find him on Twitter.
Flying is the safest form of travel in the world and a safe takeoff and landing is arguably a true 6sigma process but accidents still happen. Did you ever wonder what were the causes? Believe it or not it is rarely 1 huge catastrophic failure like an engine dying or a wing breaking off. In fact it’s usually the small mistake that we’re told not to sweat that causes the problems. Not just 1 failure but a series of on average 7 failures for airplane crashes and catastrophic failures.
The cumulative failure affect is a common phenomenon that happens across the board in all processes. Most processes aren’t as robust as the taking off and landing of an airplane so there may not be 7 failures that need to happen before a catastrophe. Think about some of your own experiences and how many “small failures” happened before a big failure.
I actually had this experience the other day the supermarket. I only had 3 items but it took me 23 minutes to check out (yes I actually timed it). First issue was that there were not enough employees at the checkout counter so there were 6 people in front of me with full carts. Second issue was that I thought the other line was moving faster so I got into that line. Third issue came when I was next in line for checkout and the person in front of me needed cigarettes. Fourth issue, the key for the cigarette case was with the manager who was with an irate customer at the time. Fifth issue (now I’m actually checking out) was one of my items rang up 2x the price as the list price so they had to do a price check. Normally one of those issues isn’t too bad but the combination of the 5 in a row put me in the line for 23 minutes.
So what do we do about all the little mistakes? For starters you need a robust continuous improvement/problem solving system. The typical top down management doesn’t work because it’s too much to manage. Get the people who do the jobs on a daily basis to solve their problems and give them the latitude to experiment (yes they will make mistakes). It’s trickier than it seems but how serious are you about sweating the small stuff? What do you do to address the small stuff?
Target stores are a great contrast to the all-too-typical experience Ankit had. There is a great deal of available capacity in numerous checkout lanes. Employees are cross trained and can be quickly summoned from other duties to open lanes. There are express lanes for people with just a few items. Registers have andon lights to summon help, and a supervisor is dedicated to the checkout lanes to answer calls immediately. Price checks are requested by radios used by all employees for quick response. Bagging is ergonomically enabled and bags are hung at the ready. Employees are efficient but don’t seem stressed. Better throughput also prevents abandoned carts from people who decide they just don’t have time for waiting in a long line, and the work involved in returning items to shelves, or spoilage of perishable items.
Target stores are a great contrast to the all-too-typical experience Ankit had. There is a great deal of available capacity in numerous checkout lanes. Employees are cross trained and can be quickly summoned from other duties to open lanes. There are express lanes for people with just a few items. Registers have andon lights to summon help, and a supervisor is dedicated to the checkout lanes to answer calls immediately. Price checks are requested by radios used by all employees for quick response. Bagging is ergonomically enabled and bags are hung at the ready. Employees are efficient but don’t seem stressed. Better throughput also prevents abandoned carts from people who decide they just don’t have time for waiting in a long line, and the work involved in returning items to shelves, or spoilage of perishable items.
Target stores are a great contrast to the all-too-typical experience Ankit had. There is a great deal of available capacity in numerous checkout lanes. Employees are cross trained and can be quickly summoned from other duties to open lanes. There are express lanes for people with just a few items. Registers have andon lights to summon help, and a supervisor is dedicated to the checkout lanes to answer calls immediately. Price checks are requested by radios used by all employees for quick response. Bagging is ergonomically enabled and bags are hung at the ready. Employees are efficient but don’t seem stressed. Better throughput also prevents abandoned carts from people who decide they just don’t have time for waiting in a long line, and the work involved in returning items to shelves, or spoilage of perishable items.
Thank you Jamie for the guest blog spot.
Karen,
I’m glad you brought Target up as an example. I love going to their stores for the reason I know I’m going to get in and get out in a resonable time. So many stores seem to adopt the mentality that cashiers are cashiers, baggers are baggers, etc. I wonder what the specific reason for not cross training would be.
Ankit
Thank you Jamie for the guest blog spot.
Karen,
I’m glad you brought Target up as an example. I love going to their stores for the reason I know I’m going to get in and get out in a resonable time. So many stores seem to adopt the mentality that cashiers are cashiers, baggers are baggers, etc. I wonder what the specific reason for not cross training would be.
Ankit
Thank you Jamie for the guest blog spot.
Karen,
I’m glad you brought Target up as an example. I love going to their stores for the reason I know I’m going to get in and get out in a resonable time. So many stores seem to adopt the mentality that cashiers are cashiers, baggers are baggers, etc. I wonder what the specific reason for not cross training would be.
Ankit
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