Are You Working Too Hard?

A cotton ginning company had been disposing of the trash from the cotton pods since their inception by having it hauled away and incinerated. By 1998, the cost of disposing of the trash had risen to $600,000 a year, and this expense was accepted as a necessary cost of the business they were in. Within two years, not only had they eliminated that expense, the company was generating revenue from the cotton trash by selling it to an organization who used it as an ingredient in a fertilizer they manufactured and sold.

This dramatic turnaround was instigated by an employee working in one of the cotton gins who was participating in a cross-functional team; part of a company-wide program I worked with this organization to implement. He had been thinking for some time that it seemed such a waste to burn this material, the pods and stems, which had to have some goodness in them. But until the organization gave him the opportunity to speak up and gave the cross-functional team the opportunity to do the research to identify alternative uses for the trash, nothing changed.

Take a look at this graphic below...what is this "organization" doing?

The people in this "organization" are working very hard. The manager out in front is pulling hard and the employees behind the wagon are pushing very hard, and the wagon is moving along clunk, clunk, clunk, on its square wheels. But look at what is in the back of the wagon. Neither the manager nor the employees can see the round wheels because they don't have time to stop...they're working so hard. In order to discover the round wheels they would have to stop pulling and pushing and look for opportunities to improve productivity and performance.

I haven't met anyone in any kind of organization in recent years who doesn't work really hard. Most people say things like "there just aren't enough hours in the day", or "I haven't got time to take a vacation." And what I hear a lot as a consultant is "We don't have time to take our people out of work to improve teamwork."

Most executive teams take time out, at least once a year, to focus on the strategic plan and the organization's mission, vision, values and goals. But can the executive team see all of the "round wheels" the organization has that are not being used. I think this next graphic accurately illustrates the challenge many executive teams face...they are so far away from the action that they don't know what is in the back of the wagon.

In last month's leadership update I gave you an example of an organization, a molding department of a manufacturing company in Michigan, who increased productivity and reduced costs significantly by giving frontline employees the opportunity to discuss how the company could be more successful.

The employees on the front line who are making the products and providing services to customers see things executives can't see. They see the "square wheels" that are slowing the organization down, and they see "round wheels" their leaders haven't seen... like the disposal of the cotton trash.

What are the square wheels in your organization that are slowing you down? How many ineffective or inefficient meetings do you attend that waste valuable time because they aren't well planned or don't have the right people there? What are the square wheels that are causing your customers to look towards your competitors; that result in unnecessary waste or duplication of effort; and that stifle creativity and innovation.

Take time out! Until frontline people have the opportunity to speak up and generate ideas the organization will continue to "clunk" along on its square wheels and the round wheels will continue to be a figment of your employees' imagination.