Standardizing “Best Practices”
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
When it comes to the term “best practices” for process-driven tasks, there seems a wide range of understanding of the concept; some better than others. According to Wikipedia, “A best practice is a method or technique that has consistently shown results superior to those achieved with other means, and that is used as a benchmark. In addition, a “best” practice can evolve to become better as improvements are discovered…Best practices are used to maintain quality as an alternative to mandatory legislated standards and can be based on self-assessment or benchmarking. Best practice is a feature of accredited management standards such as ISO 9000 and ISO 14001 – the framework for industry quality programs such as AS9000 and IATF16949. ISO 30414 broadened its focus on best practices with its “Human Resource Management – Guidelines for Internal and External Human Capital Reporting” in an effort to secure an organization’s sustainability with regard to worker technical expertise through establishing documented best practices.
This credible definition of the concept is representative of a consensus opinion that I have seen in the field at organizations who strive for high quality performance. However, how many individual interests derive their best practices, or what they display as their best practices, seems often to operate at the edge of the definition yet close enough to claim that best practices have been achieved. In truth, proclaiming a process as a best practice may be soothing to the locals, it may not have the same credibility with clients, potential clients or auditing agencies.
click here to expandYour “Resident Expert” May Not Be an Expert Trainer, But Easily Could Be
by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.
Just because a worker is informally recognized as a “star performer,” it doesn’t necessarily follow that they can be an effective trainer. Employers like to think it is as easy as that, but seldom does it turn out to be the case. However, with a little structure, some tools and a little guidance these resident experts can, and often do, become expert trainers.
If one thinks about how an expert is measured and recognized, it is usually by subjective, mostly anecdotal measures. The worker performs job-related tasks quickly, consistently and completely. This implies few mistakes, performance that is mostly within specifications and standards of performance, and no one can remember anything rejected or returned as scrap or rework.
click here to expandIncreasing Worker Capacity – An Alternative to Cutting Workers for Short-term Cost Savings
by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.
In business, if you encounter market “softness” and believe that the business level that you were previously operating at is now unsustainable – even if for a limited period – you might be tempted to first “cut labor costs” to extend short-term cash flow and/or make the balance sheet appear healthier in pressured by investors. It often becomes a slippery slope that can lead some organizations struggling to get off. Sometimes the pundits’ forecasts were inaccurate or the recovery is swifter than anticipated. Regardless, what appear as a benign short-term solution can have long-term repercussions as the market recovers and the employer is now struggling to regain the capacity the workers afforded, while watching opportunity slip by.
Sometimes investments are made in machinery and technology during the lulls to get ready for the economic up-turn, but too rarely is any effort made to determine the level of each worker’s current capacity (i.e. what percent of the tasks they were hired to “expertly” perform) relative to the job they are currently in and what could be done to increase it to handle not only existing technology and processes, but the new technology and processes as well. One might even think about cross-training workers to build “reserve capacity.”
click here to expandEnterprise Expansion/Contraction and Worker Development Standardization
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
One challenge faced when expanding, contracting or acquiring an enterprise is adjusting the scale of the workforce development strategy(ies) that already exist(s) to the increase/decrease in the number of workers while maintaining a consistent ratio of output, quality yield, safe performance and process compliance. Contrary to an accountant’s perspective on staffing level adjustment, there should be serious consideration given to the range and depth of each worker’s acquired skills; an “inventory” of each employee prior to the official act of expanding or contracting. We take a physical inventory of product, equipment, parts, etc. to assess value, so why would we treat a human asset any different?
Obviously, an expansion strategy is different than a contraction strategy, but when it comes to determining the value of a worker it is similar for both strategies. How an organization addresses the development, measurement and maintenance of that value may differ widely. Let’s look at both scenarios.
click here to expandRead the full January, 2023 Proactive Technologies Report newsletter, including linked industry articles and online presentation schedules.
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