Social Sharing block
Some time ago, while consulting for a huge call center, I took a group of customer service agents for a little gemba walk and a quick activity to demonstrate a few lean fundamentals. What was scheduled for a 60-minute exercise turned out to be an experience that awakened the agents, several of whom went on to create reports based on Toyota's A3 problem-solving method and on the plan-do-check-act cycle (a method for learning and improvement developed by Walter Shewhart), that added value to the customer and the company.
Stand in a circle
I gave each of the customer service agents a pencil and a piece of paper. We then stood quietly in the middle of the call center for five minutes. There was no talking. We wrote down as many things as we could observe during those five minutes.
Instruction
With a white board, still in the middle of the contact center, I had one of the agents create a tally of the items observed. I showed the team how to create a simple tick sheet and then I asked them, “What’s a good way to visualize this data?”
After considering their responses, I showed them how to create a simple Pareto chart using the tick sheet data. Then, I asked them to consider the categories and the bars: “Is there anything curious about what you see?”
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Comments
5 Whys The only Tool you need
An interesting methodology contratulations as this gives ownership. You would have got them thinking and hopefully doing their own thing. I make a point of never giving solutions although many a time they ask for them. There's a saying about feeding people that says give the man a fish and you will aways be feeding that man. But then if you teach this man to fish he will take care of himself. Self realisation is a great thing to observe and makes the day worthwhile when we see the light bulbs go on.
Really who needs all these fads? Lean or Six Sigma or or. The 5 whys are an essential tool kit and so simple to apply it doesn't need a black belt or a green one. Say after me WHY? and WHY so? and WHY so? and WHY so? and WHY so? Boring isn't it? This is why parents get so annoyed with their kids when at a very early age they ask why and then why and then why again. etc.
So my take on this is to have a big tub of ice cream. When they get to the 5th why you give them an ice cream yep staff and kids alike. It works with either.
You see this is just a change in how one thinks. Why is it at an early age we have this wonderful gift of seeking the reasoning behind events that control our life. Mum says don't touch that it's hot. Why is it hot? Because it is. Why is it? Well there's a source of heat there and it will burn you if you touch it. Why will it burn me? Because it's hot. Why is it hot? Have you been here? We teach kids to grow up for a variety of reasons the main one being survival. But there is a reverse education going on here. The child is feeding back vital information as to their level of understanding and then we as adults make changes to our responses. So we to learn from this exchange of whys. Yet as we age we loose this powerful tool, this thirst for knowledge. Of seeking why we are a lonely planet in a big universe. Fear of being seen as an odd ball, or someone that doesn't fit in perhaps. Using the 5 whys without telling them they are going to get an ice cream has a magical effect when upon getting to the 5th why you produce the ice cream. Handy to have some toppings hidden away somewhere as well.
We should remember that all these fads are nothing more than tools. The trick is to know when to use what tool. Because everyone else is doing it does not cut the ice. The trick is to bring out the child in each and everyone and run up the yellow brick road learning as much as we can along the way. Hey you might get to meet Alice!
Nice work Pete.
Rob Langdon
Quality Manager
Biomedical Technology Services
Brisbane
Queensland
Australia
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