Do you feel team productivity is not at the same level as was before the pandemic? Are you seeing your team members are not engaged with their work and with each other?
This pandemic time affected all of us in so many aspects: personal and professional! It was a time of adaptions to the companies and employees and to find new ways of work.
One of the key factors to every business challenge is the correct usage of visual communication inside and outside the company and it might be the best way to getting things running smoothly again. It’s time to boost and maximize your company productivity but also improve communication across your organization!
Identify pain points in the Existing Workflow
Analyze the people and their motivation.
Identify and learn with what changed last year on the production process, procedures, technology used, communication tools, and resources available across the company.
Learn to recognize your own communication gaps and research possible solutions. Consider using value mapping as an effective solution for identifying and monitoring projects for process improvement—this strategy enables managers to pinpoint issues and record how changes impact the overall system.
Update the Communication Process
After identifying the actual company reality and the new behaviors and processes resulted from the pandemic situation, you should evaluated and update your communication process and tools.
Information such as production procedures, production orders and plans, security warnings, quality best practices, plant map, institutional communication, and calendars, are best displayed on boards, in planners, in glass cases, and any kind of signage in every production area and all common spaces (e.g., corridors and entryways).
From an internal communication standpoint, it is beneficial to have an "open door" policy where your employees feel comfortable bringing anything to your attention. It is a great way of motivating employees in your organization, and it can improve efficiency and productivity in the workplace.
Encourage Collaboration
The manufacturing floor is more productive when everyone works together towards the same goal. Unity ensures less conflict and more collaboration. While focusing on work is important, it's also crucial to ensure that each staff member feels comfortable as part of a team and informed on all aspects of a project.
Schedule a ten minute meeting with everyone on the daily to align tasks and combine skills. Give an opportunity to the team to share experiences and thoughts about the best practices and improvements in performance.
Use a community planner board that everyone on the team has access to, that can share all the tasks and responsibilities of each member, for all projects. Post the final goal on the board and explain the importance of everyone’s input and participation.
Implement Lean Management and Methodologies
Lean Management promotes team efficiency and shared responsibility, it is about people, methods, workflow and experimentation systems to keep on finding and implementing continuous improvements. The main goal of Lean Management is to continuously enhance productivity, efficiency and safety through important and continuous small changes. Small changes for big results. And for a better understanding and tracking of all lean initiatives and small step by step improvements, it is crucial that they are communicated clearly, exactly where they ought to make a difference, and that they can be visualized by all. So ultimately, visual efficiency is key for reducing costs, improving quality, growing profits and creating a shorter path for a business continuous success.
Be and Stay Organized
Now that you indentify the pain points, update communication process, engage and encourage your team to collaborate, implement the Lean Management… it’s truly important to ensure that all the workflow and workplace it’s well organized and will keep in that way. The best way is to use guideline such a document or a communication plan to have all the team aligned and help to maximize efficiency and productivity. Share the guidelines and goals to all team and even think to give recognition or goals awards to motivate organization and plan implementation. Team members have to care about not only their own success, but the success of those around them and the organization as a whole.
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