Improving Communication Across the Team, While Saving Lots of Money
The Problem
This fast-paced logistics company wanted to improve performance across its many distribution centers located across the US. They wanted to harness the creativity and experience-base of their diverse employee base to solve problems and reduce waste.
What They Found Out
Managers quickly saw that APS can serve as an online coach. APS leads team members through a powerful, problem-solving process. As a result, the participants determine the costs and feasibility of any solution themselves, fairly quickly.
Managers tell us that APS has improved the communication between themselves and their teams. When a solution isn't practical, it is the users saying no, not a manager. This eliminates a number of negative transactions between the two before they happen.
APS helped make the dynamics within working teams more positive too. Using APS to develop collaborative solutions, team members noticed another effect. The dynamics between more senior workers and newer team members changed. When working the process to solve problems, the experience of the senior members proved valuable. Their memories of past solved problems demonstrated to the newer workers the safest and quickest ways to do things.
The problem-solving process helped them build new lines of communication inside their own teams. The newer team members enjoyed learning these "tricks of the trade." They saw that these "time tested" ways of solving issues reduced problems, and made everyone's life easier. Some teams began to compete with each other, wanting to be "rated" as a clever problem solver who was good at his/her job.
These captured experiences, and the new problem solutions developed by the teams were added to the "best practices" of the organization, and shared with the other distribution centers.
Quote
"PHRED has proven to be a successful knowledge transfer tool...enabling us to capture the 25+ years experience of industry veterans and integrating this into the energy and creative problem solving of our emerging leaders. What I find to be most powerful is how the use of this system creates a common communication platform that allows diverse ... and often conflicting...communication styles to work together."
-Sandra Bushby, Director of Training, Organization Development & Corporate Strategic Communication
Benefits To the Company By Using This Process:
- Guides diverse groups in creating well-rounded, workable solutions to operations issues.
- By focusing on fact-based interactions, communication improves between team members, and with management.
- Can positively change team dynamics by supporting a culture of competence.
- Get problem solving skills and practices to "stick" in the field.
- Develop "best practices" for procedures. Performance and quality standards improve as problems decrease.
Find out more about how PHRED Solutions can help you. Contact us
