How do you inspire people to improve their own behaviour or way of working?
During Gemba walks (walks around the shop floor) one can randomly talk to people and encourage them to improve something by asking the following questions, which in our plant are also put on a Kamishibai card:
- In your job, what is the moment most frustrating for you at the moment?
- What action have you taken to reduce that frustration?
- Is there anything I can do to reduce your frustration?
By asking the person for actions he or she has taken to reduce their frustration you encourage them to take ownership for their own behaviour.
These three questions can also help when people randomly start complaining to you on the shop floor. For some reason people often expect you to do something after they have randomly told you. In these situations you can start asking questions 2 and 3. What actions are defined by the frustrated person to reduce the frustration?
When the problem to solve is to big for one person to solve, the change agent can bring the right people together to discuss the issue and commit to actions and/or new behaviours to solve the problem.
Continue to:
Lean Diary #19
