Some years back while working in an administrative department, I encountered a curious condition. Along with about a half-dozen employees, I was following the information flow from sales order to shipping. Our spaghetti diagram kept looping back to an in-box on a table just outside John’s door. It was imposing.
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John’s box looked a bit like this:
“Who is John?” I asked. (John wasn’t asked to participate with us on this project.)
“He’s the order supervisor,” I was told.
“What does he do with this information at this point?” I inquired.
“He makes a list of sales orders, checks for accuracy, and then sends them to scheduling for release,” was the answer.
“Where is he today?” I asked.
“He’s in a meeting,” came the reply.
A short time later, the spaghetti led back, once again, to John’s box. I was told that after an order is released to production, it goes to John for prioritizing. However, order files were stacked in mixed piles.
“How does John get through all of this?” I asked.
“He works late,” was the answer.
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Comments
Using the "Old Dog's" knowledge wisely
Hi Bruce,
I very much enjoy your posts. I agree that underutilization of people's skills and talents is probably the worst waste of all. I have had many, many clients comment on "teaching old dogs new tricks", usually with a note of challange in their voice and a smile on their face.
However, I have found that, rather than trying to teach the "old dogs" new tricks, perhaps we should listen to what they have to share in terms of knowledge and experience. Because they are "old dogs", they have a rich stockpile of "tribal knowledge" that, in all likelyhood, has never been documented. They also have the experience of living through all of the failed attempts made to improve the company - the old adage about repeating mistakes comes to mind.
And, to the surprise of many, the "old dogs" are a source of many solid, well-thought-out ideas for improvement that have not been shared with anyone, usually because no one has asked for their opinion or ideas.
I have found the "old dogs" to be of great value in my facilitation of Lean interventions. I actively seek them out and build relationships with them so they will trust me enough to share their tribal knowledge, insightful ideas, and even some of the company's folklore, which provides a better understanding of the company's values and culture.
Perhaps the "Old Dogs" have some tricks to teach us!!!!!
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