How to Get Buy-in to Ensure Results

Part 4 of a four-part series

Part 1: How to Transform Objectives into Results?
Part 2: Identify Business Metrics and Business Situations to Drive Results
Part 3: How Much Time is Needed for Process Improvement
Part 4: How to Get Buy-in to Ensure Results

Last week we discussed process improvement half-life or how long it should take to achieve our target objectives. We also introduced what other resources we need to build our action plan. What’s left? In order to achieve your objectives for real process improvement you will need to change the business rules, incentives, and measurements and empower employees to get involved in the process of improvement. We will need their buy-in to change the culture and change the results.

Business Measures as Culture

What you measure creates the culture of your organization. People are generally good and want to do the right thing. Even when employees are apparently making bad decisions they generally think they are making good decisions. People do things for a reason. If we measure the wrong things we most likely will get the wrong results and make bad decisions in the process. If you want to change the culture of your organization then you will need to change the measurements that your organization uses.

Business Measures Affect Behavior

Measurement affects behavior in a profound way. Remember last week when we discussed business metrics we were trying to focus on the key metrics that could be used to drive the business results. Our example focused on inventory turns. In a manufacturing business inventory turns is one of, if not the most critical factors that drives performance. Yet when we go into a business we typically find the plant manager focused on asset utilization instead of inventory turns. What’s going on here?

There is a false belief that in order to generate the highest return on investment; you must keep all of these assets (investments in plant, machines, and labor) working at 100% capacity. Plant manager’s are typically compensated on their ability to achieve the highest asset utilization possible, even if that means a large build up in inventory or keeping the line running while defects are occurring.

What’s really going on is that the plant manager is sub-optimizing by elevating one element in the business, manufacturing, above all other elements, like the cash cycle or quality. The plant manager’s behavior is driven by the metrics used to measure performance. We need to change how the plant manager measures results.

[Note: To increase your return on assets you only need to focus on those assets that are constraining your manufacturing cycle. Only your constraints need to be at 100% utilization, all others can be at something lower than 100%.]

People Don’t Create Defects, Systems Do

Systems are made of up of our objectives, metrics, policies and procedures. If we set the wrong objectives, use the wrong metrics and document the wrong things, then we will get the wrong results. Yet we have a tendency to blame the people. The great quality leader Deming said, “People don’t create defects, systems do“. The management procedures you use make up your management system.

Gaining Understanding, Commitment, and Action

Buy-in is the process of gaining people’s understanding, commitment, and action in support of your goals. Without buy-in you are almost certain to fail. You can’t just dictate results. People will resist and even try to stop your program. After all, without buy-in you have not really convinced anyone that it is in their interest to participate. How do we do this?

Strategic Stories of a Positive Future

Use stories. The best way to achieve buy-in is by using strategic stories of a positive future. In other words, strategically design, target and deliver a strategic story that projects a positive future. It is all about the listener. They need to know what’s in it for them. Address their agenda. Present your goals from their perspective and you are half-way to achieving your goals already.

For example: Let’s say your strategy is process improvement to build a competitive advantage. We know that if we improve process performance (i.e. increase inventory turns) we will increase capacity, which is good for the company. But, the employees may think that increased capacity will lead to layoffs and fewer jobs so they resist your efforts to improve processes. This is a classic buy-in problem that we see all the time.

The Solution: You need to present how you plan to use the increased capacity to sell more products and not just cut expenses to realize the improvement. You will need to create a strategic story about new products under development or opening new markets that will require increased capacity. Then paint a positive future that increasing sales and decreasing costs brings the company, such as new job opportunities, higher pay scales, or continued employment in a competitive market.

Buy-in Ensures Results

This week we learned that in order to set objectives for real process improvement we need to change the business rules, incentives, and measurements used within the organization. And to ensure the changes are effective, we need everyone’s buy-in to the change program. Only if you empower employees to get involved in the process of improvement can you truly realize the goals and objectives you set.

Learn more about process design, implementation and continuous improvement with a How to Create Well-Defined Processes Class coming up June 16-17 in St. Louis, MO.

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Posted on Wednesday, May 25th, 2005 under Strategic Process Improvement