Employee Involvement Prototype Archives

There is one element of an organization that holds significantly more value than any other aspect and yet many companies overlook it.

Focusing on this critical piece of your business leads to increased productivity, improved efficiency and safety, and higher customer satisfaction.

This essential asset… your employees.

At USC Consulting Group, we understand the value of your people and why it is so vital to empower them to be the best they can be.

One key to our success is a strategy we call the Employee Involvement Prototype (EIP) process. This gets to the heart of what makes companies tick.

The EIP process is one of the cornerstone techniques USC uses to validate and measurably implement changes to a company’s management operating system. The secret of it all is getting onto the shop floor at the point of execution and talking to employees to obtain their feedback and insights.

But change is hard

We’ve been in the consulting business since 1968 and have learned a few things about change in that time. When we go into a company, it’s because something isn’t working and needs to be tweaked, optimized or even overhauled. That usually involves changing the way things are done, day to day. But here’s the thing about change. It’s difficult and people don’t love it, especially if it’s coming from a consultant.

In the end, when we’ve finished our work and the company is functioning more efficiently and effectively, like a well-oiled machine, people are happy with the changes we’ve implemented. But it can get pretty dicey when you tell a shift boss who has been on the job for decades that the “way they’ve always done it” can be improved upon. It messes with their sense of competency, job satisfaction and know-how.

That’s why the EIP process is such a powerful ally.

Why the Employee Involvement Prototype process works

The Employee Involvement Prototype process is a method of introducing change on a small scale that involves the people who do the work. You can’t change the whole plant at once, we need a good point to start.

First, together we pick an area that has a need to improve and is open to change. An area where we can start to fill in the gaps and address the issues we have observed. Then, design or enhance the needed tools and demonstrate our techniques. We have open dialogue between USC, the employees and on up to management with daily meetings. These meetings are held on the floor, in the area where the work takes place.

We spend time observing how things are currently done. We talk to the employees on the front lines and ask for their input.

What did they observe?
What are the logjams and impediments to them getting the job done?
Are they happy with the way things currently are?
How do they think things might be improved for tomorrow?
Is there a better way?

The answers to these questions become employee identified opportunities for improvement.

And it’s not just us out there. We involve the top brass at the company and encourage them to walk the shop floor with us.

Along the way as we’re rolling out changes, we have daily EIP meetings. The key agenda points are:

What did we like?
What didn’t we like?
What do we need to do differently?

You find a lot of wisdom on the shop floor from people who have spent years, even decades, doing the job.

It allows us to identify the root cause of operating problems and implement permanent solutions.

This simple tactic works on many levels. Here’s how and why:

Employee buy-in. When change is foisted on people, they don’t like it. They might even fight against it and undermine it. But when you involve employees in creating change, that creates ownership, pride and ultimately, buy-in. They become the champions for the change.

Demonstrates the USC difference. Employees can be quite skeptical of outside consultants. The EIP is a very rapid and concrete way for the company leadership to show their employees that this effort is different. They have likely never seen their managers and executives in the workplace striving to fix issues. We spend the shifts in the area, seeing the process in action and demonstrating that we are interested in what is really going on.

Quick results. We call the EIP a starting point, a “pilot” in which we begin with one machine or in one area of a plant where we can start to engage the client in the change process, the tools we use, and how it all works. It allows us to start small, and if something isn’t working, we can correct it quickly.

Bottom line, it’s all about involving employees in the changes we’re making. In the end, they’re the ones whose day-to-day will change, so they should be part of the team that uncovers the problems and finds solutions.

For more info into what USC Consulting Group does and how we do it, read “How USC Consulting Group Accelerates Your Process Improvement Efforts.”

Change management – how do you define it and why is it such a popular term these days? The BNET Business Directory calls change management “the coordination of a structured period of transition from situation A to situation B in order to achieve lasting change within an organization.” That’s a mouthful. Accurate? Technically, yes. But we think there’s more to it than that. Successful change management is an art form.

At USC Consulting Group, we’ve been effecting change in organizations for more than 50 years, and if we’ve learned one thing, it’s the importance of managing that change correctly. It really is the key to the whole thing. That’s because you can go into a company and effect all the change you want — make the line more efficient, increase throughput, get the operation lean and mean, whatever else is needed — but none of it will stick or do the good you envision it will do without managing the change correctly. The bad news: Change management is not intuitive or easy. The good news: We’ve developed several change management best practices along the way.

Change management best practices

Here’s some of the secret sauce we put into our change management recipe for success.

Remember, it’s about human behavior

When we go into a company, our goal is to identify gaps in performance and rectify whatever is impeding the operation. But when it comes right down to it, everything revolves around behaviors. Whatever the change you’re making, it’s going to involve people behaving and working in a different way. So at its core, effective change management requires helping people transform their behavior. And as we all know, people don’t necessarily love that, especially if they’ve been getting the job done one way for the duration. Research shows 62% of people don’t like leaving their comfort zone. As Operations Manager Chris Smith says, “It takes time and it takes a lot of intent.”

Generations are different

Effecting change within a company isn’t a one-size-fits-all proposition. Boomers have one set of expectations. Millennials look at things differently. And Gen Z has its own lens. “You have to take into account who you’re coaching and what they’re willing to put up with,” Smith advises.

Reassure people their jobs aren’t going away

This is one of the biggest misconceptions about consultants — that we’re going to swoop in, slash and burn, and paper the shop floor with pink slips. That couldn’t be further from the truth. We never go into a company intending to cut jobs. Just the opposite. We believe people are a company’s biggest and most important asset. Making the operation more efficient might mean people’s jobs change, but it’s not our tactic to boost the bottom line by cutting staff. Still, people seem to have a universal suspicion that change is going to usher them right out the door. Let them know their jobs are safe and you’ll get less resistance to whatever change you’re proposing.

Involve people at all levels

We can’t overstate how important this is to the process of change. It’s crucial to involve people at all levels of the organization, from the C suite right down to the people getting the job done on the line. Not only will you get a wealth of ideas by listening to all of them, the buy-in that comes from getting people involved at the outset is crucial. That way, the change that you’re implementing won’t be happening to them. They will be a part of it. With that kind of mindset, you’re setting yourself up for success.

Recruit advocates

Of the employees who are part of the process, ask some of the more enthusiastic and excited among them to spread the word about what you’re doing and why it will be a positive step. Consider leveraging your informal leaders to weigh in. Making it their idea goes a long way toward acceptance among the rest of your working group.

Be clear on the “Why”

While it’s crucial to involve people at all levels, you’re not going to be able to involve everyone. For those who are not a part of the process, it’s important they understand why the change is happening. It could be that the company’s throughput is lagging. Or profits are down. Or supply chain disruption is grinding things to a halt. Whatever it is, identifying the problem is a big step toward getting people on board with the solution.

Communicate early and often

“Transparency” is a big buzzword these days. But all it really means is telling people what’s going on. Don’t work in a vacuum or people will wonder what you’re doing, why, and if their jobs are on the line – if you don’t provide information your employees will likely make up their own. Let people know what’s happening, what you’re finding and what they might expect.

Stay the course

This is one of the biggest differentiators between USC and the other guys. We don’t simply hand upper management a file of recommendations for change, pat them on the back and walk out the door. We stay on site to help implement the changes we’ve recommended, iron out any glitches along the way and make sure everything’s running smoothly. We’re a true partner for our clients.

Utilize these change management best practices to ensure the process improvements you make last. Get in touch today if you’d like to talk about how USC can help your company become more efficient and effective. We’ll help you manage that change, guaranteed.

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