Bernie Sander's PIT's Stop
Taking Notes If we look back at the history of employee engagement, there is a common thread running through almost all organizations. 70% of employees do not actively contribute their ideas to established continuous improvement systems, irrespective of how they are designed. For this reason Innovation Transfer has developed an employee interview-based methodology to engage all employees. That is to say, doing it 180 degrees differently. PiT-Stop, as the process calls itself, stands for problem finding, structuring and solving in teams. We train and certify your local facilitators to conduct 20 minute face-to-face interviews directly at the workplace. On average 3 problems/ideas are generated within this timeframe from every person. Up to 100 employees can be interviewed using 5-10 2-person interview teams. The problems and ideas are clustered and structured and then 20% are immediately addressed in parallel conducted one-hour problem solving sessions. All within a week!
It is an inclusive bottom-up approach that involves everyone. The guaranteed cost savings from this workshop are in the range of 100 - 200K in local currency per interview day. In addition what we promise based on our experience are the so-called 'soft facts': employee engagement, motivation, recognition, team competency, coaching, facilitator training. As well you receive a database of viable suggestions and a controlling instrument for follow-up and implementation efforts.
Organizational Requirement
It is imperative that employee engagement be a critical success factor for all organizations. The use of trained internal facilitators to establish a LEAN ... continuous improvement ... culture can clearly be established through use of the PiT-Stop methodology.
Lean Imperative
Lean = Kaizen! The systematic identification and elimination of non-value-adding activities through the ideas of our employees! Simply said: Efficiency = doing things right. Effectiveness = doing the right things. Efficiency is completing a task successfully and without wasting time. Employees can easily identify this wasted potential for us. Organizations, who in these difficult financial times, use this hidden potential to make themselves 'fit', have the opportunity to emerge strengthened from this crisis. Waste has no future!
PiT-Stop stands for Problem finding, structuring and solving in teams - problem finding ( thru facilitated interviews at the place of work ) - problem structuring ( both visual display and electronic database ) - problem solving ( locally trained facilitators conduct parallel 1-hr mtgs )
PiT-Stop is a universal sector-neutral idea generation methodology that helps to identify problems and ideas from the employee viewpoint to help optimize existing business processes at all levels of an organization
PiT-Stop is an efficient and effective bottom-up employee engagement methodology that can be used in production, administration and logistic environments. It acts as a feeder for other methodologies such as: Six Sigma, Value Stream Mapping, Constraints Analysis, Production Systems and Lean Manufacturing
It has impact on the following areas:
- process development
- quality improvement
- cost reduction
- human resource development
- organizational effectiveness
- employee engagement, motivation and recognition
- teamwork
- managerial skills development
PiT-Stop promises, based on our experiences, not only provides Savings Potential and hard ROI but also 'soft facts' such as employee engagement, motivation, recognition, team competency, coaching and facilitator training. Translated into real terms:
- 3 Problems/Ideas per employee interviewed
- up to 50 employees interviewed per day
(20 minute average interview )
- 10-20 of your employees are trained as facilitators
- $100.000 - $200.000 Benefits Potential per Interview Day
- a 10:1 ROI of the external costs as a minimum
PiT-Stop is not about theoretical training but about real bottom-line improvement potential through the active engagement of ALL employees. It is definitively not consultant-dependant but train-the-trainer based and certifies employees to lead the process and provide continuity thereafter. It is a well-established and time-tested process that is just as suited for the SME business market as for the Fortune 500 clientele where it has been successfully implemented.
What organizations need:
CEO’s and Senior Managers
- meaningful upwards listening channels for employees
- vehicles for harnessing the creativity and innovation of their workforce
- transparent and sustainable problem structures and solution platforms
- results-oriented analysis of the found problem areas
- systematic and efficient problem solving and implementation for action
Production and Plant Managers
- analysis of problem areas through quick interviews sans work stoppage
- use of synergies with other quality and cost reduction initiatives
- practical training of method and social competencies
- systematic development of solutions through facilitated 1-hr workshops
Human Resources Development
- active engagement of all employees through training and use of structured interviews for problem identification
- active engagement of all employees through training and use of problem visualization and cluster analysis
- active engagement of all employees through training and use of
facilitated problem solving techniques
Quality Department
- analysis of problem areas through direct involvement of employees
- systematic and methodical problem solving applications
- continuous improvement process (CIP) application to production as well as administrative areas
- documentation of all results in an electronic xls-based database that serves as a real-time performance and results controlling instrument effectively populated with bottom-up cost savings data
CIP and Suggestion System / Idea Management Practitioners
- idea generation methodology predicated on active solicitation
- problem solving sessions are restricted to one hour duration
- trained local facilitators act as decentralized suggestion personnel
- minimum savings potential of $100,000 per interview day results in approx $1,500 savings potebntial per employee interviewed
- front-line managers receive a hands-on tool for effective coaching
- the 7-% of employees who would normally not be engaged, are actively engaged
PiT-Stop Proposal First Step
To run pilot PiT-Stop weeks in either administrative or production business units (where few ideas currently flow). This will prove its merit and add to the ideas management potential within the organization.
Local Facilitators 10-20 ( per week ) local 'hi-potentials' to be involved in this train-the-trainer learning-by-doing hands-on PiT-Stop idea generation methodology, will nadd to their effective toolbox of skills and Lean techniques.
Deliverables ( What’s the Innovation Transfer Product )
1/ PiT-Stop
... problem finding, structuring and solving in teams
... a bottom-up interview of employees on site to generate
problems/ideas with immediate ROI
… trained in-house facilitators
Based on our experience:
- 3 Problems/Ideas per employee interviewed
- $100,000 - $200,000 Benefits Potential per Interview Day ( 80-100 employees interviewed )
- a 10:1 ROI of the external costs as a minimum
- not only Savings Potential and hard ROI but also 'soft facts' such as:
employee engagement, motivation, recognition, team competency, coaching, facilitator training
- a database of viable suggestions and a controlling instrument for follow-up and implementation efforts
In a nutshell, the 3 definable PiT-Stop products that can get plugged and played immediately and are the full ownership of the client organization:
Firstly: the on-site trained and certified idea champions (facilitators) that worked diligently with us. They are not theoretically trained but have hands-on exposure to real bottom-line skills that can be repeatedly used, namely problem finding, problem structuring and problem solving
Secondly: the populated performance and results database that serves as an excellent controlling instrument for both effective coaching and implementation of cost savings
Thirdly: bottom-up ideas from all employees with savings potential of over $100,000 per interview day
What we also deliver, besides PiT-Stop:
2/ Facilitator Training
... train-the-trainer concept of empowering your employees
3/ Management Awareness
... Idea Management as a Business Strategy
4/ Idea Management /Suggestion System Implementation
... Roadmap for the Future
5/ Top-Down Initiatives
... idea campaigns to generate innovations & ideas
…needed to be successful
6/ Keynotes
... motivational workshops and seminars
7/ Reset to Zero
... eliminating the evaluation backlog (open employee suggestions)
Key Words
- suggestion systems
- continuous improvement process (CIP)
- idea management
- knowledge management
- Kaizen
- participative employee involvement
- employee engagement
- creativity and innovation
- problem solving in teams
- employee recognition and motivation
- facilitator training
- management coaching
10 Questions to help discern the need for PiT-Stop
1. What do your employee suggestion metrics look like
- suggestion rate, participation rate, implementation rate, benefits rate
2. Do you have trained facilitators that have been trained in the past and who need to refreshen their toolbox of skills and apply them effectively
3. Do you have a cadre of hi potentials that could use on-the-job 'soft skills' ie problem solving, employee interviewing, idea generation to prepare them in their career path
4. Do you have CIP (continuous improvement processes ) initiatives on the books that are not strategically focussed or that do not effectively engage employees
5. Do you lack metrics to evaluate the performance of your managers as effective coaches
6. Do you have cost savings objectives that demand immediate attention
7. If we can run a process that delivers 10:1 ROI would you be interested
8. If the PiT-Stop facilitated idea generation process can deliver 3 ideas per employee per 20 minute interview, 100% participation and greater than $100,000 savings potential per interview day would you be interested
9. 70% of employees are not involved / engaged .... would you be interested if they were also engaged and delivered their creative potential
10. Could you use a performance and results tracking tool that allows you to effectively monitor the coaching skills and cost savings potential of managers