Most people are complaining that they have too much to do and not enough time to get it all done. Leaders need to look through the smokescreen to seek solutions that will be critical to the future success of their business. The first target should be the leader themselves.

Busy doing what?

It’s not so much the fact that people are busy; the question is what are they so busy doing? Is what they are doing adding value or simply gobbling up cost and profitability. The magnitude of the problem may startle you, and yet imagine the profitability improvement and competitive advantage that could be gained when you wrestle this problem to the ground.

This additional productivity will become more imperative as future workers need to do triple the work of the existing workforce to support those who will be retiring.

Exploding the cost of misdirected time

At a recent training session, participants were asked how much of their time was spent dealing with tasks related to quality problems, problem customer orders, lack of communication or fixing things gone wrong. The quality manager quite proudly shared that their cost of quality was at or below their target of 3%.

What happened next basically blew the minds of the managers in the room.

Engineering reported that 95% of their time was spent fixing problems instead of developing continuous improvement, designing new products or implementing innovation. Customer service reported that 75% of their time was spent dealing with customer issues, complaints or inquiries about delivery instead of taking new orders. Sales reported that 60% of their time was soothing customers who had issues related to current orders instead of spending that time generating new business and establishing new relationships. Manufacturing said that up to 40% of their time was spent juggling the schedule to accommodate rework or reprioritize customer orders. Purchasing reported spending more than 75% of their time chasing suppliers to expedite shipments instead of developing suppliers, or seeking alternative sources. Human Resources said than 97% of their time was spent dealing with employee issues and problems. When all these numbers are added up, it is easy to see that at least two thirds of the salaried payroll is being wasted on quality issues or problem solving. And if you add the direct labour associated with the problem, the size of the opportunity could be even larger.

Figure out how much money your organization is losing

The leader is responsible for seeing the problem, raising its awareness and leading a relentless attack to achieve success. If the managers are too busy to figure this out, it may indicate that their time is being spent unproductively. Managers complain about being busier than ever yet during a recent management meeting, managers were openly discussing the trap they had set for themselves.

Getting involved when they shouldn’t – a manager said that he often asked his people to bring issues to him that they were more than capable of dealing with themselves.

Doing things out of habit – More than one manager said that it was easy to start doing more things, yet they spent no time deciding what things to stop doing. These habitual tasks that were no longer value added needed to be discontinued but nobody told people to stop doing them.

Empowerment opportunities – Managers completed a survey to identify their preferences for empowerment as an employee and their preferences as a manager. They discovered that as employees, they felt they were capable of taking on more autonomy and accountability and yet as managers they felt that their people were less capable of taking on greater responsibility. Managers do not become smart when they are promoted, they are achievers prior to promotion. How many of your employees are capable of thinking more for themselves?

The habit of giving answers and solving problems – Managers said they had greater satisfaction when they were doers as they could see the fruits of their efforts more easily. As managers they continue to interfere in the work of their people to get this fix of satisfaction. Managers feel useful when they are solving problems and answering questions. Often these problems and questions come from experienced employees who could figure it out for themselves. Instead a co-dependency relationship exists between the manager and employee. The employee knows the boss likes to take charge and the boss enjoys the perception of being more useful. For the employee it is safer for the boss to be accountable instead of the employee.

Tips for executives and managers

1. Calculate the cost of the problem and the magnitude of the opportunity. Ask people what percentage of their time is spent on tasks that are not related to processing a customer order correctly the first time. This includes problem solving, problem resolution, additional time in meetings big and small discussing solutions, extra customer communications, changes in production schedules, and much more. Multiply the percentage by the payroll costs for the department. Add up those costs (we suggest sitting down while doing this, because the number will be staggering).

2. Heighten awareness – by letting everyone know about the problem and its magnitude, people will begin thinking about the problem and possible solutions.

3. Search for the root cause – in the example detailed above, the managers identified that late deliveries caused most of the customer concerns and the late deliveries could be traced to missing materials and the complexity of the product configurations caused longer lead times. Ask why a number of times in a row until you get to the possible root. You will know you are getting closer when people begin squirming more or getting defensive.

4. Mount a relentless attack on the root cause – Start a small number of projects focused on eliminating the problem and stick with it until it is wrestled to the ground. Make it the priority item in every meeting and hold people accountable for achieving results.

5. Stop doing things - Activities that are deemed to be unimportant should be stopped to free people to focus on the most value added tasks. Ask each manager to look at their department to discover tasks with marginal or no value and propose how to eliminate or streamline those activities.

6. Watch profits, morale and attitude soar – as obstacles, customer complaints and problem solving decline, your costs will drop and your profits will rise. Employees will be happier and less stressed.

Download a free worksheet to calculate your cost:

Cost of Quality Worksheet

See an outline of a great quality awareness session for your team.

Quality Awareness Workshop Outline

Our course catalog:

Course Catalog

Want to talk about changing the behaviours of your leadership team? Send us a note or give us a call (800)622-6437, (519)685-2116, info@uniquedevelopment.com.