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Like many people who get promoted into management, Brian Penzone didn’t have any experience leading a team of front-line workers on the manufacturing floor. But he knew one thing:
“I wanted to manage people the way that I would want to be managed.”
Sounds obvious, but it is so rarely done.
With help from Ray Attiyah’s team, he learned how to stop fighting fires, get advice from the front lines, and focus on continuous quality improvement.
Result?
He’s happier, his staff are happier, processes are more efficient, and quality has improved, so customers are happier.
In today’s interview we hear how he made the change, how he keeps it going, and how it benefits his company, Lake Shore Cryotronics.
Keys To Successful Change Management for Quality Improvement
A few tips from the interview:
* Treat your staff as adults. (See more on this theme in my Chuck Blakeman interview.) Remember that, as Brian puts it, “the people who know best what needs to be changed are the people who do it every day.“
* Ask why things are done a specific way. It may turn out that the reason is long gone, and a much more efficient process is now possible.
* Look for a few early quick wins. When a staff member pointed out that having a flashlight to work more effectively in a dark space would be a good idea, the solution was implemented immediately with a quick run across the street to a hardware store. Seems like a “duh… obviously”, but people were so used to working in the dark that it took some rethinking to realize that there was a better way.
* Use metrics and data both to discover areas for improvement and to measure results.
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