How Team-Oriented Problem Solving Unleashes Workforce Creativity Gerard M. Cronin Kaizen Promotion Office Manager Massachusetts General Hospital CCM Vivarium Operational Excellence Network

Humility “The Magic of Working Together” “I stand here before you and declare that our workers are making mistakes right now... I also declare that our workers have the tools to see those mistakes and make them go away.” Jim Morgan, Director, Ford Motors;

“We leverage the Team Member to participate in every facet of continuous improvement; …that’s our competitive advantage…” Eric Barnett; Toyota

Do Work Improve Work Everyone has 2 jobs in a C/I Culture: Respect for the Worker: The true experts are the Front Line Staff! “If you are not part of the solution…”!

“What problems are you working on?”

“I don’t have any problems”

“We need tools for Problem-Solving”

The Problem-Solving Sheet Why

Training: Phase 1: Basic PDCA Basic RCA Phase 2: Advanced RCA

8 WASTES: (aka “DOWNTIME”) Definition: the classification of the most common wastes in operations and processes. These are: production of Defective elements, information Overproduction ahead of demand, Waiting for the next processing step, Non-utilization of employee talent. Transport of materials that is unnecessary, Inventories more than the absolute minimum, Movement that is unnecessary, Excessive processing due to poor process design Application: Waste can easily be observed when watching workers walking to gather supplies. Use the 5 Whys to see if you can eliminate any unnecessary elements of a process. Purpose: Waste causes more work for the RAS and less time for more important tasks the customer pays us to perform, such as animal welfare checks, customer services, participation in problem-solving projects, preventing problems from coming back. Waste also causes worker frustration, exhaustion, lost productivity, slows down research, and prevents CCM from reaching its goals. “What are your problems?” What problems are you trying to solve?”.

“ I don’t have any problems”

8 WASTES: (aka “DOWNTIME”) Definition: the classification of the most common wastes in operations and processes. These are: production of Defective elements, information Overproduction ahead of demand, Waiting for the next processing step, Non-utilization of employee talent. Transport of materials that is unnecessary, Inventories more than the absolute minimum, Movement that is unnecessary, Excessive processing due to poor process design Application: Waste can easily be observed when watching workers walking to gather supplies. Use the 5 Whys to see if you can eliminate any unnecessary elements of a process. Purpose: Waste causes more work for the RAS and less time for more important tasks the customer pays us to perform, such as animal welfare checks, customer services, participation in problem-solving projects, preventing problems from coming back. Waste also causes worker frustration, exhaustion, lost productivity, slows down research, and prevents CCM from reaching its goals. “What sucks about this process?” “Why?” “Where is there waste?”.

“Let’s collect some data”

“How long have you had this problem?”

What was I thinking?

“What other little problems have you solved?

“80/20 Principle of Innovation”

“1 million $1.00 Ideas” 80% of Improvements Generated by Front-line Staff 10-15% of Improvements Generated by BHA Projects 5-10% of Improvements Generated by L/6sigma Projects Competitive Advantage 80/20 Principle of Innovation

Isenberg School of Management, Umass Boston

Experimenting With Idea Generation

I had a meeting yesterday with the “Smith” lab and explained how we were working on the problem and showed them the board where we were working on the issues as a team. The lab managers were very impressed. They asked if the lab could come down and see the board. I said of course anytime. They said they really love the way we handle the problem solving in the facility.

Opportunity Card Front: The following fields must be filled out By RAS/RAT: Date, Name, Opportunity Check the appropriate category Back: Fill out the Current State with: Description of the idea or issue A question you were asked Something that is unclear Metrics; time, footsteps, material

Idea Guidelines Safety – Did you make it safer? Did you make it dangerous? Quality – Did you make the outcome better? Did you make the outcome worse? Simplicity – Did you make it easier? Are there more steps? Speed – Did you make it faster? Did is slow you down?

How can we measure success?

Organic Problem Solving & Idea Generation

Real-time Lean Thinking

Phase 1: 3 Teams (Pilot) Phase 2: 4 Teams (Pilot) Phase 3: 6 Teams (CI) Phase 4: “Pull” (Roll-out) Idea Generation Roll-Out

WIIFM Benefits of Idea Generation Teams: – “Unleashes Employee Creativity” Gives everyone a voice and a role to make a difference – Generates measurable accomplishments Progress made visual – Stimulates Team Collaboration Consensus building Leadership: – Potential Indicator for “Employee Engagement” Teams can coach other teams – Potential Indicator of Workload balance Low activity = excessive workload – Recognize Employee Creativity Celebrate accomplishments

Do Work Improve Work Everyone has 2 jobs in a C/I Culture: Respect for the Worker: The true experts are the Front Line Staff! “If you are not part of the solution…”!

“I stand here before you and declare that our staff is making mistakes…” “I also declare that we have allowed the staff to create the tools to see those mistakes and to unleash their creativity to make them go away”

Questions Questions? Free Problem-Solving Tools