Self Organization, Michael, Artur, Joelle thread

J. Paul Everett JPESeeker at aol.com
Sun Dec 9 17:10:56 PST 2001


I sent this earlier today, about six hours ago, and it hasn't appeared as yet
so I suspect it has gotten "lost" in cyberspace.  So, am sending it again.
If the original shows up, pardon me.

Paul


In a message dated 12/9/01 7:17:28 AM, mmpanne at snafu.de writes:

<< >I would agree with you on that, Artur.  And I have also been intrigued
for a
 >long time about the degree of behavior change which often happens when the
 >rules are changed a bit. >>

Michael, Artur;

Here is a real life example of what can happen when the "rules" are changed.
A client of mine had a paper machine that had been idle for two years.  There
came an opportunity to re-start the machine, create some more good jobs, and
make some money.  The management plan was for the 'standard process',
estimated to take 5 months.

One of the discoveries about becoming a world class performer that we made in
the 80's was the concept of the "Outrageous Goal"---defined as a clearly
unreachable goal under current "rules" (paradigms).  Therefore, to make the
goal, one has to shatter the current paradigm (rules) and re-think the whole
effort.  I have dozens of examples of this working for most who try it.

In this case, one of the engineers suggested "Why don't we listen to what
Paul has been showing us and set an Outrageous Goal?"  After the laughter had
died down, he kept it on the table and when they challenged him, he said "How
about two weeks?"  (Instead of five months).  When the now-nervous laughter
had died down again, they started to think what it might mean to do so.
Market capture was a big one.  So, they altered the "rules" about how the
project would be done.

In the case of maintenance and engineering, they said:  You can work on what
you want, when you want, as long as you want (minimum of 10 hours off the
job), with who you want.  The only requirement is absolute safety at all
times (this company has the best safety record in the industry) and to come
in and check off the steps on the PERT chart.  Result:  In 15 calendar days,
they ran test paper, and ran good paper on day 17.  Over 100 people were on
the floor cheering as the good paper came off the machine onto the roll.  (Is
that a self-organization statement or what??)

The value was over $2.5 million in additional sales during the remaining
"5-month planned start-up period" and a presence in the market before anyone
else could get there.  The head of quality accompanied the first roll of
paper to the customer and the customer ran up and hugged him!!  "First time
in 30 years of working I've been hugged by a customer" said the QC super.

This is an example of how altering the "rules", which I see as paradigms
about how we think and do things around here, can have dramatic results.

Paul Everett

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