Change Won't Stick Without Changing What Managers Do

We add some new shelving to help get organized. We move several workstations together to improve flow. We create a place for everything, with everything in its place. We change a procedure; write a new policy. We change something, anything, about the nature of the work, and we'd like the change to stick. But it doesn't.

So we set up training courses, write thick manuals, post signs to remind people, create an intranet, and send out memos. We plead for discipline, for attention to detail, for people to do what they're supposed to do, but within a very short time, the new shelving is disorganized, flow has stopped, everything is not in its place, and the signs, procedures and memos go unread, and unused.

When we set out to make an improvement, we usually think of a specific change, of an event, of something to cross off our list. "Organize the storage area ... check. Change the warranty claim procedure ... check." We like to accomplish things and it's comforting to believe that we've improved things, we're done, things will be better now. But that's not the way it works.

Everything we create is impermanent. Nothing stays the way we'd like it. Everything changes, deteriorates, requires maintenance. We hate to acknowledge this, because it's uncomfortable, but it's a truth that permeates both philosophical writings like Pema Chodron's Comfortable with Uncertainty and practical business guides like David Mann's Creating a Lean Culture.

For every change we want to make, we need to look beyond the change itself, and look to how we will sustain it; how we will make it a part of "how we do things around here". In the workplace, each technical or structural change also requires complementary changes in what management does, not just in what the workers do. This piece is almost always ignored when we change the design of our work - the leader thinks "This is a change for the workers, not for me," and soon everything reverts back to the way it was before.

Most leaders do not understand or embrace the concept of Standard Work, of having some specific clearly-defined tasks that leaders need to do each day, or even each hour. "That's for front line staff, not me." Yet what the leaders do - what the leaders care about, ask about, talk about - directly affects what everyone else does. What the leader shows to be important, is what actually is important.

So, when we organize a shelf, it's not enough to stop there. We might go farther and ask questions like - Who will keep the shelf organized? How can we tell at a glance that the shelf is properly organized? How do we know what is supposed to be on the shelf, and what is not supposed to be on the shelf? How do we know what to do when something is missing? How often should the shelf be checked? What do we do when we get new stuff for the shelf?

So, we answer these valid questions, and use them to set up some standard work for Paul, the new Shelf Organizing Guy. But Paul gets busy, Paul gets pulled onto other important tasks, and no one asks Paul about the shelf until three weeks later when something that's supposed to be there is not. Then we have a crisis, with finger pointing, blame, and misguided accountability - "Paul was responsible for this - why didn't he do his job?"

Instead of this dysfunctional and ineffective change strategy, management needs to become part of the daily accountability process. Paul's team leader Steve needs to change some of his own standard work to support the change and help it stick. Steve's standard work might include a daily check of Paul's standard work list, a periodic spot check of the shelf itself, and immediate support to resolve problems that have prevented Paul from doing his standard work. And the facility manager's standard work might include a daily check of Steve's standard work, and immediate support to resolve problems that have prevented Steve from helping Paul. Eventually, maintaining the new shelf becomes a part of "how we do things around here", but that change is not an event, it's a process.

If any of this sounds like effort, it is. Remember that everything is impermanent, everything requires maintenance, and maintenance requires effort. But the minimal daily effort of standard work is nothing compared to the chaos and frustration of the alternative. The next time you plan an improvement, don't just plan a change event. Plan how management's daily standard work will change to support the improvement. That's how to make it stick.