What Do You Mean by
Participation?
“I come to work! I do my
job! I do it well! Isn’t that participation?
Yes, in one sense just doing your job means you are
contributing to the success of your company. But, I
believe that the word “participation” has a
deeper meaning. It means you are giving something
additional than just doing what you are told to do. You
are offering new ideas to change the way the work is
done. These ideas can be given individually or through
your work team.
It is a subtle but very powerful difference.
Participa-tion really refers to when you are solving
problems.
Of course, people on the job solve problems but there are
few methodologies currently available that motivate
people individually and on a continuous basis to solve
problems. You might have team activities of some form,
maybe quality control circles or self-directed work teams
or some other name. They are wonderful activities but
only cover part of the problem. Teams are working on
group problems, but there are literally hundreds or
thousands of small problems that are neglected by the
average worker. Another method is needed, one that
encourages individuals to come up with new ideas to make
the work easier.
Just look around you and see the disarray—the
scattered papers, boxes, tools, and supplies all over the
place. Our goal is to be the highest quality producer,
totally pleasing all of our customers. Our environment
must reflect that goal. As an example, can you always
find any tool or item you might need within 30
seconds?
As a test, how long would it take you to change your
automobile’s four tires, fill it with gasoline, and
change the windshield wiper blades? If you are very good,
you might do it in one hour assuming no hidden problems
like the jack not working properly or a tire not
inflating. But how long does it take to do the exact same
thing on Memorial Day at the Indianapolis 500? I timed a
crew last year. It took them exactly 12 seconds. They
worked as a precise team. People knew exactly what they
had to do. People were superbly trained in their exact
skill.
They knew that they could lose the race if they lost a
single second.
Our workplace should, in reality, be the
same:
- Everyone should be superbly trained in his or her
job.
- Everyone should work as a precise team to get the
job done exactly on time and always with the highest
quality.
Finding better ways to do things is both a team and
an individual effort. If you went back just a year ago to
Indianapolis and it was taking your team 14 seconds to
service a racer, those two seconds were the measure of
victory. We all want to be part of the winning
team.
Fine-tuning Your Company
Last November, I had the privilege of introducing a new
methodology to Silicon Forest Electronics in Vancouver,
WA, to help fine-tune the company. (Silicon is a
surface-mount technology company in an industry that
today is highly competitive for new business especially
since the decline in high technology.) I call the method
Quick and Easy Kaizen.
Kaizen means continuous improvement. Quick and
Easy Kaizen is a system to:
- Change the method—do something different
that prevents you from going back to the old ways of
doing things.
- Utilize small ideas—you want people to
consciously look to make changes/improvements and you
want everyone to be involved. This can come from small
ideas, one after the other. An example of a wonderful
idea created by Linda Nash at Silicon was a fixture
(see photo below) to prevent her chemicals from
spilling.
Another great idea was this wire holder developed by
another operator at Silicon (see wire holder photo
below).
Each of these ideas is pretty small—so
what’s the big deal? Imagine getting two ideas
per month, per employee. Silicon with approximately 100
employees is now getting 200 new ideas per
month.
- Change within realistic restrictions—if you
don’t have enough money, or time, or people, then
do Quick and Easy Kaizen—small changes. It
doesn’t take a lot of money, time, or people to
do it.
Isn’t This Just a New Name for an Old
Suggestion System?
The old suggestion system first developed in America at
Kodak in 1898 was like a Quick and Easy Kaizen
system—when it began, but then it changed. The
first submitted idea was to clean the windows. With poor
lighting in those days this was an important idea. But
the original system got lost, as it became a burden to
management to implement the workers’ ideas. To make
it easier for managers, the suggestion system shifted to
a cost-savings system looking only for big ideas to save
the company money. Small improvements were lost, as was
the opportunity to get the employees involved with their
own ideas.
Quick and Easy Kaizen is not like the old suggestion
system whereby you submit an idea that someone else
installs. With Quick and Easy Kaizen you come up with an
idea and then implement it on your own; that makes work
exciting. It is not an extra burden to managers. You
simply encourage people to come up with lots and lots of
small ideas:
- They recognize a problem.
- The workers come up with a
solution.
- They present the idea to their
supervisor.
- They implement it on their own.
- The workers write up the idea (it takes only three
minutes).
- They post the idea on a bulletin board to share
with others.
- The idea generators discuss the idea with other
workers.
We
want people to copy each other’s ideas for we want
everyone to be making continuous improvements.
So, Who Else Does Something Like This? Anyone
Big?
In the early 1960s Japanese firms were noted for making
junk—Toyota sent their first 60 cars back to Japan
to be reworked. How did Toyota go from producing junk to
leading the world in quality? Here is what they
say:
“What sets us apart? The Toyota production system
is at the heart of everything we do. Based on the concept
of continuous improvement, or kaizen, Toyota team members
are empowered with the ability to improve their work
environment. This includes everything from quality and
safety to the environment and productivity. Improvements
and suggestions by team members are the cornerstone of
Toyota’s success.”
Real participation happens when everyone is involved in
creative activities. You are all on the right track; you
just need the right tools and techniques to turn on the
entire work force.
NORMAN BODEK is president of PCS Press in
Vancouver, WA. He was called “Mr. Lean” by
Quality Progress magazine in October 2001 and
“Mr. Productivity” by Industry Week in
1990. Bodek’s most recent book is co-authored with
Bunji Tozawa: The Idea Generator—Quick and Easy
Kaizen. The book is available from Amazon.com or you
may contact Bodek via e-mail at bodek@pcspress.com
.
Return to
top
April 2002 News for a Change
Homepage
