Machinery Lubrication

Machinery Lubrication May June 2014

Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation

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6 | May - June 2014 | www.machinerylubrication.com Jeremy wrIght | NorIA CorPorAtIoN l u b r i c a t i o n P r o g r a m s From the FIeld Use edUCAtIoN and training to overcome resIstANCe to Change What is the biggest hurdle when trying to implement a reli- ability or lubrication program? Is it funding or obtaining approval from upper management? Or maybe it's that you have no idea where to even start? Having designed and implemented world-class lubrication programs for many years, I know the answers to these questions. It has become easy for me to walk into a facility and compile a report of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Within three days, I will have written more than 100 pages spelling out the current conditions, the optimum conditions and a gap analysis of how to bring the two more in line with one another. These exercises have become almost second nature to me. But why do some facili- ties that receive this information put it into practice, while others allow their programs to wither and die? When I become part of a program, I like to share in its successes and failures, and I don't like to fail. If there is a failure, I want to know why so I can prevent it from happening again. After a few investigations, I've come to the realization that almost all the fail- ures (those that have not yet approached world-class status) had something in common — the stakeholders were not on the same page. They lacked a common goal and were pulling the program in different directions. Upon further investigation, I found the root cause of the problem — people do not like change. There are many reasons for this appre- hensiveness to change, including fear of the unknown, lack of trust, unconscious incompetence, ties to the old way of doing things and failure to communicate the project's benefits. See the sidebar on page 7 for a more detailed list of the reasons why people resist change. To combat this resistance, the first thing you should do is to expect it because it will happen. Of course, the pushback you receive can come in different levels of severity. It may feel like oppo- sition is coming from the entire company at once or only from a select few individuals. However, if you are expecting it, it can be handled easily. Now that you are anticipating resistance, plan how you will manage the objections. Take a proactive approach. Noria preaches proactive maintenance, but what about proactive objection manage- ment? A great way to start is to focus on the list of reasons for apprehensiveness to change. What can you do to ease this apprehen- sion? Education and communication offer the best solution. Before changes come flying down the organizational hierarchy, you must show those who will be most affected why the change is needed. The likelihood of success is severely diminished when the change comes in the form of an order. I've found that pushback and apprehension decrease to almost nothing if you take the time to sit down with those affected and educate them. Once they thoroughly With the amount of training available today, there is no longer a valid reason to be unconsciously incompetent.

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