For some time now business leaders in the U.S. have been deploying process improvement programs to improve their effectiveness in an increasingly competitive, global marketplace. Often this work results in the removal of significant costs, whether through the updating/reworking of existing processes and/or the elimination of redundant, unnecessary work. Overall the results appear to have been positive, and each year more companies are investing in ways to improve the way they operate their business.
The challenge for all leaders who embrace process improvement thinking is to determine how to sustain this way of working once the focus shifts to other important business platforms. At Johnson and Johnson, we have made a significant commitment to process improvement and we’ve already realized substantial improvements. Like other successful companies, we must ensure that that these improvements are permanently embedded into our cultures, and that is no easy task. As internal consultants, we are always on the lookout for alternate approaches to help our clients sustain the changes they make in their businesses. We look for simplicity and ease of implementation. We also look for approaches and processes that are “self-generating,” so that once taught they can readily be reapplied by executive and line worker alike.
Tony Dottino’s PITT (Process Innovation Through Teams) Workshop offers leaders one such approach. It’s easy to implement and creates a momentum right from the first workshop. Initial projects, often led by line workers, address operational needs to which they feel deeply committed. PITT offers a structure that greatly increases the probability of success. In turn, these successes “fund” additional work improvements, with a gradual increase in scope and leadership involvement. The BSL Workshop (BrainSmart Leader) provides tools that help managers encourage, harness and steer this new enthusiasm and growing organizational capability. Soon managers and work teams are tackling sizable process improvements with significant bottom-line impact.
Listening to the teams present at the Benchmark Day last month at Con Ed in New York City, we were impressed with the impact these teams are having on their organizations. In fact, some of the organizations in attendance have been engaged with this work for over ten years, still apparently seeing the value of PITT in getting everyone involved in making their company the best it can be. This bottom-up / top-down approach is highly enabling and easily replicable. PITT can accomplish needed improvements, foster communication and trust between line workers and upper managers, and provide on-the-job learning and enrichment. By transforming change from a threat to an opportunity, it also appears to support a flexible, proactive culture, able to reinvent itself with minimal effort to meet the constant change that we all face. ‡
George Chewning & Miriam Kotsonis, J&J Learning Services
“I was really taken by the genuine enthusiasm of the presenters. They showed me that it’s really the partnership between union / management with the worker that has contributed to their success. They proved that making progress a partnership is key to getting desired results.”
Vito Palermo, Retired Financial Executive, I.B.M.
