Most managers do well in terms of communicating ‘down’ from management
to employees. What we are often missing, are mechanisms for employees to
communicate ‘up’ on a regular basis. Employees with first-hand knowledge of
processes or problems are some of our most valuable resource. They are willing to engage in problem solving rather than accepting legacy
answers.
Since I have been at the Lehigh facility, I have been amazed
at the employees’ willingness to engage and contribute. Our first successful
engagement was when a Logistics employee decided he wanted to move our clamping
area to a new employee friendly area.
We defined and implemented this change which had a far reaching
effect on productivity, quality and safety.
The employees saw that we were committed to listening and now they offer
suggestions all the time.
Now, instead of having formalized meetings, we focus on
communicating through day to day conversations with our front line employees.
By Dan Dougherty
