Engaging Top Management

The biggest challenge we face in moving reliability efforts forward is engaging top management.  No matter what the size of your company, the people at the top of the organization got there for a reason and whether you agree or not, they all feel that they worked hard and earned that position.  And it's true.  They followed the rules of the organization better than others, delivered what the organization asked them to do, worked with others to get there in the way the organization expected them to (NOTE:  Many organizations focus on the outcomes not how the outcome was achieved so "working with others" could mean "taking advantage of others to make the company look better to [investors, the board of directors, the CEO, etc]"

So now you come along and want to change the entire culture of the organization.  Is there a lot of money there?  Yes.  Will it make everybody's life better?  For most of the workforce and leadership, yes.  For those established in high level positions, no.  It will require them to change almost everything they know about success in your organization.  Many of them worked hard to get to where they are.  Some of them enjoy their position power in the organization (maybe too much but it comes with the territory).   So going in know that middle management will be your toughest challenge.  They will be the ones putting up roadblocks and trying to prevent change.

So how do we make this change?  We first have to convince the top leadership.  To do that you have to put aside your bias about how stupid the leadership is because of these 5 dumb things the company does.  Every company does dumb things.  They probably started with good intentions and for good reasons and became distorted into dumb things over time.  So let's take a look at your leadership.

Does your leadership recognize the need to change?
Here you have to look below the surface a little bit.  Only really good organizations say, "Wow, this is really out of whack and we have no idea how to fix it, we need to go get some outside help to solve our problem."  Most other organizations come to the realization slowly.  Here are some things you should be looking for and why.

• Cost reduction initiatives.  These initiatives are the top executives way of saying "We are not being competitive" or "We need to be more competitive" In manufacturing organizations, one of the biggest costs tend to be maintenance so there is a big driver to reduce maintenance costs.  This is your cue to enter with "If you want something to be different you have to do something different.  I'm here to tell you how to do that."  (In an entirely positive way.)
  
• Look for a change in the corporate message.  This usually starts with safety.  An improved safety focus can help you leverage the reliability message.  Safety and reliability are very much alike and they are linked.  They use the same types of tools (risk, statistics, pre-planning for high risk events, strategies).  Reliability is a harder concept for management to grasp because of the delayed consequences. If you get hurt, you know it immediately (you see blood, you feel pain).  If you hurt your equipment, often you see it months or years later as early failure.  When you think about management rotating through jobs every 3 - 5 years, it's easy for one guy to make a name for himself by slashing costs only to sandbag the next poor sucker to take the job with poor reliability.  This happens even in the best companies.
• Listen to the messages coming from individual managers.  Are some more focused on longer term?  Do some think ahead and plan for the future better than others?  These are the leaders who may be more receptive to your message.

If your leadership is ready to change are you ready to lead them?
Even if your leadership is not ready for the change, you should start preparing for when they are ready by having a plan to lead them there.  This is critically important because you will only get one shot at it.  If it doesn't work, they will write off Reliability as well as you.  So you need to get your plan together first before you try to convince one of your leaders to sponsor your effort.  This probably means you have to spend some time outside of work on this when you can, including nights and weekends.  Since your effort will go nowhere without top management support,  let's think through how we might develop this plan.

• Gauge where your organization is now in order to tailor a message they they can (1) understand and (2) get excited about.  Most manufacturing organizations are led by production people (goes along with the arguement that "that's where the money is made").  Their position is usually "production above all else" regardless of what your company mission statement says.  Ask yourself "Do they get it?"  If the answer is no, the next question is "How can I show them?"
  
• Assuming the worst, they don't get it, what can you do to give them the concept?  This will take the most thinking on your part.  It will probably take several efforts to get the message across to all of them.  Consider a benchmarking visit to someplace that does things right.  Workshops may be helpful.  Simulations, such as The Manufacturing Game or  The Reliability Game can be extremely useful with top management in getting the concepts across.  This is also the point to think about organization change management.  If you don't have experience in this get someone who does to help you. If you use consultants here use them wisely and pick the right ones.  Many reliability consultants are selling manhours.  They want to come in, do a bunch of RCM, planning and scheduling training, and work process redesign.  In theory, this takes you to a planned maintenance state.  In reality, you don't have enough resources to get there and keep doing what you are doing today on the reactive side.
  

• Once you get your message across you need a proposed action plan.  It should have some quick hit successes built in.  No manager wants to wait 3 years to see the results.  Figure a way to get some early quick wins and build in some success milestones along the way so you can show it's working.  My own experience says that well done reliability efforts are self funding.  Costs start to come out in year one by a focus on work selection using a risk-based approach but sustainability takes 3 - 10 years to achieve and it must be sustainable or the costs you take out will creep back in.  Here I would propose you have a standard of what good reliability looks like ready to go.  A good place to start would be the SMRP Body of Knowledge.  Turn this into your own company standard of "what good looks like".  Have an idea of how you might implement this standard in your company once it is accepted.  
• This is a good point to start doing some peer review and get the other like-minded people in your organization in up front so you have some support once you get to the point of roll out. In my organization, I am using a moderated wiki to do this.  The thought leaders in the organization, see it, comment on it, tailor it to the organization before it goes out to the broader audience.  Buy-in comes through ownership.  We all wrote it, now we have to live by it.
  

So what have we done so far?

• We identified where we are as an organization
• We developed a plan to get top management on board
• We developed a DRAFT of "what good looks like"
• You have a group of like-minded individuals working together behind the scenes.
  

Now the real fun begins.  First you have to share your work.  Always remember that others will want to change your plans.  In order to get buy in you will need to let them.  Your job now becomes facilitator.  You must not let people put their mark on your work and "improve" it but do not let them water it down or render it ineffective.  Don't let them change the things that matter.  So let's talk about the next steps:

• Find your executive sponsor.  This is critical, it may take several discussion, presentations, etc.  Beware of your own organizational politics.  Make sure your boss is onboard, it looks like it's his idea, he is up to speed in order to support you when executives ask questions.  Remember it's easy to wash out here if you don't get your proposed sponsor onboard.
• With your sponsor, get the rest of leadership onboard.  This is a cross-functional, organizational effort.  It will not work if it is just a maintenance initiative.
• Be flexible and tailor your approach.  Every site, line, production team, etc tends to have their own style and personality.  This is where good change management tools make or break you.  Your organization may have these or you may have to go outside and get them.
• Don't use the Pareto principle in picking where to roll out.  The biggest opportunity may be the hardest nut to crack.  Pick the most likely success as your pilot, then incorporate the lessons learned there before going after the big opportunity sites.

From here, this quickly becomes very specific to your organization and your sites so I hope this gives you something to think about and starts you on the right path.