You have one job!

 



Lean nation,

This month's blog begins with a story.  In the spirit of March Madness, I'd like to share with all of you a true story.  For those of you who aren't basketball enthusiasts,  each year in March,  the top 68 teams in Men's and Women's college basketball compete for the national championship in a single elimination tournament.  The tournament spans 3 weeks and the winner must win 6 games in a row against a wide variety of teams, styles, etc. to win the championship.  In my opinion, this tournament is the greatest single elimination tournament in sports. 

Now back to my story.  About eight years ago I was watching a regular season men's college basketball game.  I had nice seats that were two rows up from the floor and essentially behind the basket on the end line.  There was a gentlemen in front of me sitting on a bucket.  He had an important job.  It was his responsibility to jump up between plays, at time-outs, and when the action went to other side of the court and wipe up the player sweat from the floor.   I have officially titled this job the sweat mop technician.  Actually this under-appreciated job helps keep the players safe by eliminating slip hazards from the playing surface. 

In a close game, there was an incident where a couple of players ran into each other along the sideline in front of the home team's bench.  It took a second to untangle the players and be sure no one was hurt.  Once that was complete, the court needed to be made safe again. The referee was looking under the basket to the sweat mop technician.  He unfortunately wasn't paying attention.  After a few frantic waves in his direction, the referee decided to blow his whistle to get the technician's attention.  This worked!  The technician jumped up from his bucket and ran to the spot of the pile up and mopped up all the sweat, allowing play to resume.

When complete, the sweat mop technician returned to his seat on the bucket waiting patiently for his next foray onto the court.  A person sitting behind me, did not enjoy the delay.  In a full shout, right after the sweat mop technician returned to his seat, he yelled to the technician...."you have one job!"

I was sitting with my father at this game and we both started laughing.  The comment was timely, a bit harsh, but rather funny and definitely on point. The technician did have one job.

So this brings me to the lesson of today's blog.  In the continuous improvement world do we have one job?  Is our job to see and eliminate wasted time and activity to deliver more value to customers in the never ending pursuit of perfection?

Alas, the answer to this is question in no.  In the improvement world everyone has two jobs: to do the work and to improve the work being performed.   Our job is to first perform the work being asked of us by following the standard work, balanced to takt time to ensure the highest quality, in the shortest time, at the lowest cost.  Our second job is to improve the work being performed.  We should be constantly experimenting with new solutions designed to get us closer to one piece flow,  linked by pull, and with zero defects to constantly be increasing the value of the work being performed.

As much as I enjoy shouting, "you have one job" on occasion,  in our improvement world we actually have two jobs. 

Lean blessings,

Ron

Ron Bercaw,  President and Sensei

Breakthrough Horizons

www.breakthroughhorizons.com   

LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ron-bercaw-882a0a8/ 


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