Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1449093
www.machinerylubrication.com | January - February 2022 | 21 INDUSTRY OPINIONS Each issue, we collec t insight s from lubrication leaders around the world to give their thought s on impor tant topic s facing our readers today. What is the most effective way to drive culture change in a plant? Tommy Cocanougher, Director-Ops Engineering, Cintas Corporation A. I suggest you can't "drive" culture change but rather have to lead people through the process for it to be truly successful. 1. Develop and share the vision — document it and develop plans using it. 2. Establish norms. 3. Don't hold back secrets — be totally open and honest with every employee. 4. Identify winners and get them engaged. 5. Set measurable, achievable goals. 6. Celebrate the wins, share the rewards. 7. Show you truly care for your team — don't think they can't sense you being fake. 8. Understand and show that you know your employees have a life outside of work. Realize they have struggles, too; treat them with respect. 9. Ensure every employee understands their role and gets a say in the change effort. Don't get frustrated if it takes a long time. It will take a long time, so strap in for the ride. Bojan Frljanic , Sr. Equipment Engineer, PGT Industries A. e first step is to understand your company's Vision & Goals and then compare them with your current culture. Once completed, you will see if your current culture needs to change. If culture needs to change, short and long-term goals should be clear and achievable, so everyone has time to make adjustments without major culture shock. Setting visions and goals too high or too fast is a common reason a healthy culture is not created. e overall company culture represents who you are as a whole — find that one thing that sets you apart from others. Doc Palmer, Managing Partner, Richard Palmer & Associates A. e best way to drive culture change in a plant is to be about to go out of business. It's easy for bad plants to have a change of heart and want to grasp at straws. Hopefully, though, good plants want to become great plants which, of course, is a lot more difficult. Jim Collins, in his 2001 book "From Good to Great," explains the problem: Good plants have discovered the methods that have led to their current profitability, and new methods have learning curves where they don't pay off right away. Not many good plants want to tolerate the risk of early setbacks that may or may not lead to the plant becoming great or simply better. So, driving culture change in a good plant requires committed upper management support that empowers change agents with enough time to go around constantly handholding. Both the upper management providing horsepower and the change agent with "feet on the street" time to go around are probably the first two requirements for culture change. An additional note would be not to try to change everyone. Aim to change the people that are willing to change. Most companies have people willing to change, not willing to change, and in the middle — okay either way. And finally, as Stan Moore of Emerson says: "It's not consistency, it's persistency." ML