There are lots of problem solving techniques to improve productivity in a business setting. Today we will share a team-based process that with good facilitation can be performed in remarkably little time. It uses very few tools, but the facilitator must be good enough to drive the process forward if it bogs down. This particular practice that we call “Turbo Teams” is designed to work best on complex cost-drivers that carry impact across multiple business divisions or functions, and do it quickly.
The basis of the process is this: Once a known complex business issue exists, the first part of our process gets the right team together to identify the variety of issues/problems that add to the cost and complexity of the issue. We identify the watershed of all known problems, categorize them together, then we prioritize those into which problems have the greatest impact upon the overall issue, and we set about choosing the top 1-3 to solve. Then, we effectively repeat the process, by identifying the watershed of all known possible solutions to those 1-3 top problems, categorizing similar solutions together, and upon prioritizing them again we develop action items.
The core of successful practice in using Turbo Teams rests in a few key items:
- High-level business sponsor who not only wants to see this problem fixed but is willing to commit the resources necessary to get the team together to work on it
- Getting the right members on the team (all appropriate functions represented, in the room, and the actual people performing the work, not heads of state)
- Strong facilitation skills (i.e., rigorous process management to move forward, to disallow arguing over solutions while you’re identifying problems, etc.)
- Strategic business-level thinking during the process, for example, critically evaluate cost savings for practicality and true value to the business
- Effective development of action items with defined expectations and timing of results
It’s not hard! In my mind, the best way is to walk you through a fictitious event. (I’m making this up to demonstrate the process, you’ll see I don’t know anything about bikes or how they’re made.)
1. Clearly articulate the problem at hand and how much estimated cost impact to the business. A bicycle manufacturer is losing market share because consumers are complaining that the gear shift mechanism goes out of alignment after only a few weeks. The core to the gears themselves are purchased from an outside supplier and then modified within our manufacturing complex. Manufacturing blames the supplier; the supplier maintains that they meet the specification and believes the modification throws the gear out of alignment. Machinists say they are doing the process right and think that assembly is torquing too high when the final assembly takes place. The total loss right now appears to be $1.5MM in warranty work over the past four months (annualized to $6.0MM) and Marketing estimates we should have sold $4MM more than we have due to the public relations regarding the issue. Size of the prize: approximately $10MM annualized.
2. Identify the right team. You need the engineer and the sales guy from the gear supplier in your facility the day of the event. If the vendor suspects the steel used to machine the gears, that steel supplier should have an engineer at the event. The two men from Assembly need to be there, plus the in-house engineer who designed the Assembly specifications and the Assembly manager. Your best Machinist needs to be at the meeting, and if there is a different engineer designing those specifications, then him, too. Marketing needs to send the person whose territory is impacted the most by this problem, and the individual who identified the cost impact. Finance should send a representative knowledgeable about our Manufacturing and Warranty cost calculations. Last but not least, it would be really helpful to have a customer there: either a purchasing representative from a chain of stores who is very familiar with the actual complaints, or a couple of end users who had to send their bicycles back for repair. (This way we don’t have to argue about how the problem manifests itself.) Even better, bring in 1 or 2 of the bikes that have been returned for warranty repair but not fixed yet. (My point here – you need to fully agree as a team on what the end resulting problem is. Our focus needs to be on what causes it. To save time and money, you could do this customer connection in advance of the meeting.)
3. Get your facilitation gears ready. Two facilitators would be even better. Arrange a room big enough to handle the entire group with room to spare. Plan to be there the entire day. Bring at least two flip charts and a stack of 12-15 large 4″x 6″ sticky notes pads. Have 12-15 markers on hand. This should be all of the logistics, except arrange to work through lunch and have plenty of coffee available. Start right at the beginning of your workday.
4. Kick off the meeting. Everybody introduces themselves and her role, as well as her relation to the problem we are here to solve. Ask the business sponsor to say a few words thanking the participants but also highlighting how important it is to the business that we solve this problem, and solve it quickly. That’s really it; we’re not planning any teambuilding exercises or group activities other than get right down to solving the problem at hand.
5. First we must full understand and agree on what exactly is the end problem. Have the problem described to the team, and the impact on the customer’s time, money, and satisfaction with the product. Allow 20 minutes or so for the team to ask clarifying questions about the nature of the problems and collect data on the results of the problem. In this case, the gear mechanism has a widget outside the thingy that gets bent anytime a customer’s bike falls over. After a single incident, the higher three gears (of the first 5) won’t slide into place and cannot be used. We all agree, bikes fall over from time to time; this is unacceptable.
6. Your process for problem solving is Identify – Categorize – Prioritize. Start brainstorming quickly. Ask any member of the team to grab a sticky notes pad and a pen, and write down a possible reason for the problem. Have the team member call it out to the group when he writes. Hand it to the facilitator, who sticks it on the flipchart (or wall, for more room) for all to see. At this point, only clarifying questions!! No disagreements, analysis, or further discussion on the problem. Duplicates are ok, we’ll deal with them later. Facilitator, keep the group on track, and confirm that at this point each issue identified is on the problem side — for example, “Gear manufacturer quality declining” instead of “Get a new gear manufacturer” (a possible solution). Keep the group engaged, and this will happen very quickly. Make sure that all perspectives are considered and all team members are contributing.
7. Now categorize. You now have a list of possibly dozens of potential issues contributing to the problem. Allow the group to look at the entire list. A common response you will hear is, “Well, this tag is the same as that one.” Facilitator, ask a group member to come up to the board and help us group similar items together, calling them out for group agreement and understanding. (Watch out: don’t overgroup. If it’s different, it’s different.) Once again, clarifying questions only — avoid the temptation to solve these problems at this point, because you will tend to bog the process down with discussions focused on the wrong things.
8. Finally, prioritize. The primary prioritization tool to use here is the 4-block grid. Standard 4-block grids are cost vs. benefit; in this case since we’re looking at the problems rather than the solutions, X axis will be “difficulty of changing/fixing this particular item” vs. Y axis as “biggest part of the problem”. In short, what’s the category of items we are looking at that is the biggest problem with the easiest fix? Draw a big 4-block grid on the flip chart, and move the categories around until the group can agree on the relative high-low ranking of problem size vs. difficulty to fix.
9. Break time. You’re almost half way through. We will go through the same Identify- Categorize – Prioritize process in Section 2, this time focused solely on the one or two categories that were the biggest problems with the easiest fixes. Next time, next blog — the prioritization will be on the cost vs. benefit of the solution – the “biggest bang for the buck”, then wrapping up with a list of actionable items we can present to the management sponsor. See you next time.
HR Strategy and Tactics 