Operations
When it comes to simplifying problems in your company, what is the most effective and efficient way to do it? Well, if you are heading up the operation, the owner, all you have to do is convey what youexpect. Your choice is unquestioned and the group has to do what you want. But are you sure that the choice you made is the best possible answer to your circumstance? Is the answerconclusion that you came up with what will answer the problem or just delay the inevitable? Is only receiving the ideas or input from a single colleague the very best way to go about solving a predicament or is it better to get a judgment and thoughts from multiple individuals? Of course, a problem can better be torn apart and identified with diverse people working on it. When different views and varying perspectives are viewed through, the simpler it is to come up with new ideas. The combined knowledge and worldview and skill of numerous different colleagues is much wider and much more varied than if it is narrowed to just a single individual. That person may have plenty of practice and be very well informed, but when you have access to many thoughts and many ideas, you are almost always more likely to get a favorable outcome.
This grouping of individuals, this group that you choose to put together will need some aid getting started. Who is best to put on your team? It is always going to be slightly different and for each problem you may want to have another team leader. You want your leader to be somebody that everybody can get behind and that everybody respects. You also want them to be competent about what they are working with and if they are valued and liked by the rest of the group, then more than likely they are all of the above. This team is going to be responsible for a big task and they will be looked at to resolve the situation and do it as efficiently and cost effective as possible. You will want an individual on the team that has experience working with these types of groups and has knowledge with teams and lean manufacturing in general. You will also want team members that are varied in their job duties and are up and down the chain of command. You do not want a team that is strictly comprised of upper management or only employees on the floor. If you do this, then you will not get the ideas and the varying perspectives that you want. The more viewpoints that you entertain, the more possibilities you will get an suggestion or perspective that you weren’t expecting and that might be new to everybody on the team. The ideas that come from a group can often be a combination of ideas that come from the entire group. Often, the final product is a mix of all of the ideas that has come before it, but fleshes out the thoughts more fully.