Lean Six Sigma For Dummies by John Morgan & Martin Brenig-Jones

Author:John Morgan & Martin Brenig-Jones [Morgan, John]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781119073819
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2015-10-08T04:00:00+00:00

Looking Beyond the Seven Wastes

The Japanese believe seven to be a lucky number, which is why they identify the ‘seven wastes’ even though they know at least eight exist! This eighth category is failing to use the potential of people.

Wasting people’s potential

The ‘waste’ of human potential can be viewed from two perspectives – misused or untapped.

Misused potential can result from not properly structuring the way work is distributed and described. So, for example, how often do you see misalignment of individual and departmental goals, causing people to work at cross purposes? And how often do you either hear or say the words, ‘that’s not quite what I meant’? Spending a little more time on properly describing and agreeing the requirements of the task is time well spent – assuming the task is a value-adding one!

Untapped potential is often the result of managers assuming their staff leave their brains behind in reception when they come into work. Think about all the things people do in their spare time, running clubs or societies, acting as treasurer or being a school governor, organising social events and raising funds for charity, being members of teams or choirs, and so on. These activities require skills and talents. Skills and talents that aren’t always recognised in the workplace – it’s such a waste!

Another form of people waste stems from competition between teams in the same organisation. Co-operation can cut out so much wasted effort. Time will also be well spent on agreeing the ‘one best way’ of carrying out the various process activities of the organisation – standardisation is covered in Chapter 10.

In looking for opportunities to reduce or eliminate waste, you can find a clue in words that begin with ‘re’. Although plenty of ‘re’ words are fine – recycle is one of them – many indicate doing things more than once. Look out for rework, reschedule, redesign, re-check and reject!

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