As I was working with clients this week, I ran into two separate clients who felt that managing visually was busy work. In both cases since the management had already decided that the staff members could not impact the outcome, it was busy work to report progress on an hourly basis.
The specific tool we were using is known as a process control board. The process control board is designed to show variance from takt time. Takt time is a theoretical calculation the shows the relationship between the time available to do the work, and the volume of work. The inverse of this number yields units of output per hour. Regardless of the capacity of the process, variance from the takt time shows where the opportunities lie.
Is it helpful for the staff to understand the gap between actual and target performance? If we are trying to create a culture of continuous improvement, then everyone needs to understand the measures and targets. How else can the team help you achieve your goals?
So if we agree that everyone needs to understand the measures, planned ,and actual performance, then why not measure this in real time. We can run a report, but it would be too late to impact the measure in any meaningful way. Anything the staff does to narrow the gap is favorable, but they must know the gap needs to be narrowed, and by how much.
The hour by hour process control board is designed to show the variance between plan and actual in real time. So I conclude that the completion of the process control board is not busy work!
Ron
www.breakthroughhorizons.com
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