Q x A=Excellence

Let me paint a picture for you. You are a warehouse manager with plenty of experience who started at a new company about a month ago. You have noticed that several of your warehouse's current processes could use  an update. You spend hours tirelessly creating this new process, writing it, mapping it, tweaking it, until you are satisfied these changes will most definitely improve your department.

You gather your team and unveil the new process. You explain in detail that you have noticed some areas that need improvement and that this new process will improve efficacy, eliminate movement waste, and launch the department past it's quarterly goals. Excitedly you proclaim that "starting today, this is how we do things".  What kind of reaction do you think you would receive from your team?

Well, I don't want to burst your bubble, but I'll tell you what kind of reaction you will probably get. You will have a few team members who will just nod and agree but won't really follow the new process, although they may make a half hearted effort to do so. You will have a few team members that will mutter under their breath and go grumbling back to work, and you will have the one or two who will absolutely not change what they are doing. These folks will poke every hole in this new process that they can think of and fight you on every step you have created.

But why? Why would someone not want to change things for the better? You explained how things need to improve, you have even shown how they will improve, so why the resistance and what do you do?

It's the same scenario you might face trying to get your child to eat broccoli. You can explain all the health benefits of broccoli, you can make bold statements such as "you'll grow up big and strong" but the reality is they won't willingly eat it simply because it's new, it's weird, and they have never seen it before.

Humans are inherently afraid of what they don't know, and that includes change. This trait is ingrained into the primal part of our brains. A little appropriately allocated fear can be a good thing and has most likely kept our species alive over the years. If we didn't know the plant, we didn't eat it, thus never getting poisoned. If we didn't know what was in the cave, we didn't go into the cave thus never getting eaten.

So now lets review the formula for success in the above situation. Quality x Acceptance = Excellence. What this means is we need to have process "buy in" by the majority of the team before we roll out a new process. Having "buy in" will help ensure the desired process's success. Oh, and by "majority" I mean the alpha male or female on your team. This person may not always be a leader by title, but can be the person with most tribal knowledge or the unappointed leader.

I'm sure you have met this individual at one stage of your career. I'm referring to that person who can rattle off part numbers like they were his/her favorite song lyrics, or tells stories about "how we used to do it" in the break room. Whatever the case, this person is most likely well respected by your team and having them on your side is just as critical to your new process's success as the process itself. The best process in the world will not succeed if  your team does not believe in it.

How does a professional warehouse manager create process buy in? It starts with some astute observations of the members of your team. Allow me to give you the scenario above again but this time our warehouse manager applies the Q x A=E formula.

You are a warehouse manager with plenty of experience who started at a new company about a month ago. You have noticed that several of your company's current processes could use an update. Bob has worked as a clerk in the warehouse for 15 years and is skeptical about you and your fancy ideas. You ask Bob, on the floor (his territory),  what he thinks about the current process. You ask him if he sees any areas that he would like to see improved. You take physical notes on his ideas. You thank him for his input and move on to Sally who has worked in the warehouse for 8 years. You ask her the same questions and get some different insight. You may do the same with a few other members of your team. You begin work on the new process and at certain points you invite Bob, Sally, and other members of the team into your office to review what you written or mapped thus far and ask them for their perspective. You ask them back for a final review of the new process once you have completed it. Then you gather your team and unveil the new process mentioning and thanking your team members for their individual contributions to the creation of this new process.

Now what kind of response do you think you would receive? Do you believe that your team may be more inclined to get behind this new process if they helped create it? I believe they will because you have eliminated fear by allowing your team to help create the new process. It's no longer this new, weird thing they have never seen before.

Of course you are the process manager. It is your responsibility to ensure the processes is maintained and to have the wherewithal to recognize when the process needs to be re-evaluated. This does not mean you have to be the only one who creates the process. When the time comes for re-evaluation remember once again that QxA=E and you will achieve the desired outcome.

As for getting my children to eat broccoli, I'm still working on that.   

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My name is Matt Austin. I am a Professional Warehouse Manager. I greatly enjoy all areas of warehouse process improvement, and sharing ideas. Please feel free to contact me with any warehouse situations you may be experiencing for some outside perspective. Thank you for reading!