From Elliott Lezov, Senior Consultant
T.A. Cook (tacook.com)
How much did your company spend on its last improvement project? How long ago did it happen? What was the preceding improvement initiative before the last one? How much of it is still being followed today, exactly as it was envisioned during implementation? Based on the outcome, can you say the money was well spent? Depending upon on your answers, it may be time to consider involving project sustainability consultants in future initiatives. T.A. Cook’s Elliott Lezov fills in some of the what, why, and how blanks regarding such consultants, and explains the potential ROI they can deliver.
It seems, quite often, that changes initiated with good intentions leave behind a bitter aftertaste once the improvement project winds down. What is left behind? Will it last as originally intended? Are there plans to sustain the new way of doing things? What follows are some of the proposed guidelines for sustainability coordinators.
You may ask what the difference is between sustainability coordinators and change agents. Change agents transform the organization. Sustainability coordinators preserve the transformation.
WHY DO WE NEED SUSTAINABILITY COORDINATORS?
The main purpose of sustainability coordinators is to ensure that improvement project initiatives stay active and to provide a common, ongoing understanding of the importance of those initiatives to other stakeholders.The objectives of coordinators are to ensure a consistent implementation process; to promote enhancement of craft professionalism and training opportunities; to provide subject matter expertise on technical and process workflow aspects; and to deliver concise, factual and candid feedback and advise recommended measures in the report to the Steering Committee.
HOW DO YOU APPROACH THE SELECTION OF CANDIDATES ?
Leverage the informal influencers/leaders in your workforce. The team of coordinators should be limited in size to be manageable, but have enough resources to touch on business areas affected by the changes. One or two representatives should be selected from each discipline involved in the project. They will obtain feedback from their respective counterparts throughout your enterprise to present an aggregate view. This will also enable them to influence their counterparts.
Note that candidates should not be nominated against their will. Their buy-in is crucial, and involuntary assignments will only undermine your efforts. Coordinators should come from the ground level to provide a true picture of the frontline reality.
Selection of candidates should reflect an even distribution in business and production units at a site. A disproportionately heavy representation from a single unit will strain resources and potentially create tension with other units. A consistency in key positions for coordinators is required, i.e., they should not be moved before sustainability is achieved. As for bringing sustainability coordinators on board, the answer is, “the sooner, the better,” for sites that want to capitalize on the effects of proposed initiatives.
TO WHAT EXTENT SHOULD COORDINATORS BE INVOLVED IN IMPLEMENTATION?
Your sustainability coordinators should participate in all project phases: analysis, conception and implementation. The intended positive effects would be their buy-in agreement on the need for the project initiative, shared targets, participation in training and coaching, and providing feedback during reviews.
Additional thought should be given on training the coordinators to function as trainers for their peers in other units. This will be needed to share lessons learned with other employees and prepare them to sustain the improvement project.
Coordinators should also participate in external audits, e.g., three and six months after the improvement project has finished, to assess achieved maturity levels of sustainability.
WHY INVEST IN THIS COORDINATOR ROLE? WHAT COULD BE AFFECTED?
Sustainability coordinators will impact processes and tools through a reduction of complexity and increased standardization. They also will impact the organization itself: organizational structure, roles and responsibilities, and competencies and skills.
Moreover, efforts of coordinators will also affect the behaviors and capabilities of workers through training and one-on-one coaching. The impact of these’ efforts will be seen in increased collaboration and teamwork.
Just as important, project sustainability coordinators should also be able to bring sustainable changes in operational improvements, financial benefits and the business culture of your enterprise.
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