There’s no question that robust, technical skills are important to reliable manufacturing. That’s why we put so much emphasis on craft skills training and assessments, after all. Those skills have no value, however, unless excited and motivated individuals or teams properly apply them to their daily work activities.
While training can address the technical skills, at the end of the day, it is often the motivational side that becomes a barrier to improvements in the area of reliable manufacturing. So how does a manufacturing organization motivate people and change the culture of their workforce, and why is this important in the first place?
Defining “Culture” In Manufacturing
Within the workplace, especially in manufacturing, culture is defined thusly: “Culture is the observable patterns of activity and dialogue in an organization that employees have learned as acceptable and have adapted to as a result of reinforcement over time”
The key part of the above definition is the phrase “adapted to as a result of reinforcement.” A good, healthy culture within an organization is a learned behavior, and so is a poor one. No matter what the current culture is, the organization did not start with it.
In our day-to-day, we all reinforce and encourage behaviors in others. Human beings are a largely social species, and are often highly influenced by the behavior of others – especially our peers. If the reinforcement we give sends the wrong message, culture will change for the worse.
How to Motivate People and Change Culture
Motivation is an inner force that compels behavior. From a technical standpoint, there are two ‘types’ of motivation: Intrinsic and Extrinsic.
Intrinsic Motivation is the type of motivation that branches from inside an individual rather than from any external or outside rewards, such as money or grades. They can come from sources like instincts, preferences, or interests. Within manufacturing and on-site operations, this might be from displaying one’s skill on a particular machine, or a sense of personal pride.
Extrinsic motivation refers to motivation that comes from outside such as money, rewards, punishment, and the like. It can be a very powerful influence on behavior – this is the usual motivator we see in the workplace. At an absolute baseline, most operators have the extrinsic motivation of wanting to keep their jobs. However, it’s often better if both the extrinsic and intrinsic motivation are a bit more thought out than that. Operator care, as well, should come into plat.
While extrinsic motivation can, and often is utilized to modify behaviors, it typically only produces short-term changes in behavior and often is counterproductive for long-term sustainable change. Countless studies show that short-term extrinsic motivators such as formal bonuses, pay-for-performance schemes, etc., although sometimes effective in the short term, are not just ineffective in the long term. In fact, in some cases, they are actually counterproductive and reduce motivation.
Extrinsic motivators are valuable when used correctly. Typically, it’s been observed that the best use of extrinsic motivators is informally on an ad-hoc basis rather than a formal process. The formal process becomes an expectation, and when removed is highly unmotivating.
Engagement
One measure of how intrinsically motivated a workforce is is through a measurement of employee engagement. There are a myriad of consulting companies that will measure this with varying results. Of note here is that the industry with the highest engagement scores has the least extrinsic motivators. Compensation is important, but not always in the way we think.
Compensation and benefits are attractors to a position, not maintainers — they’re what someone sees when they’re filling out the application that initially attracts them to a job. It’s been suggested that as long as we perceive our compensation to be fair and we are providing for our lifestyle, our performance at work is not related to compensation.
Engagement can be significantly improved by the appropriate application of spontaneous extrinsic motivators. This can be as simple as a heartfelt thank-you from a senior leader, or some kind of public recognition for an outstanding performance. The important characteristic is that the motivator should be spontaneous. As soon as it is expected, it becomes highly unmotivating when removed.
The Science of Motivation
So what motivates us intrinsically instills that sense of pride and a job well done? As human beings to be intrinsically motivated, we need three things:
- Autonomy: A sense of being in control of one’s destiny
- Mastery: A sense of being good at something (job well done)
- Common sense of purpose: A feeling that everyone is in it together
Let’s take a look at how these things apply to a Reliable Manufacturing environment.
Autonomy
Everyone wants to feel as if they are in control of their lives, their choices, and what they do. However, in the setting of a maintenance or operations department, someone obviously has to be in charge and direct the effort — that’s true for any job where management exists. Autonomy is crucial in industrial manufacturing settings because it helps a workforce reach its goals, even when external factors, like environmental changes or storeroom asset care obstacles, make it so that operators need to be quick on their feet. With no autonomy, they’re not able to make crucial, ‘improvisational’ decisions.
Therein lies the question: How can a team be managed while maintaining autonomy?
No one likes to be micromanaged, and that is usually due to the lack of autonomy that comes with it. Then again, having a little too much autonomy could mean that one person’s choices do not align with another’s, leading to disorganization all the way down.
Autonomy’s Balancing Act
Consistent execution of well-planned work is one cornerstone of reliable manufacturing. To achieve that coveted, yet careful balance of manufacturing autonomy, it may seem tempting to write a detailed procedure or job plan on how the job should be done, hand it to everyone on the floor, and hope for the best. Doing this would be a huge mistake – it destroys any sense of autonomy.
Most experienced and skilled crafts persons when presented with a detailed, meticulously pinpointed procedure on how to align a machine or inspect a pump will likely feel at least somewhat insulted; ignore the procedure, and go about their business the way they always have. They behave that way because they’ve been stripped of their human desire for autonomy.
If a procedure was written in the form of a series of questions, both subjective and objective to be answered, the craftsperson has to perform certain tasks, then autonomy is restored and the work gets executed consistently.
Mastery
In the maintenance environment, demonstrating mastery is very difficult — yet it’s incredibly critical. Most conventional measures of mastery, such as uptime, mean time between failure, reliability, and other similar points of reference, are longer-term measures so cannot provide the immediate sense of mastery we need to be motivated.
One method of promoting a sense of mastery within a manufacturing organization setting is to require that the craftspeople themselves gather a set of performance measures before and after any work is done. This can be extracted through assessments, operator rounds, or other metrics. The act of personally measuring, documenting, and communicating performance indicators promotes the required sense of mastery.
On the operations side, requiring operators to perform a simple RCPE (root cause problem elimination) as part of submitting the work request creates a sense of mastery of the understanding of the machine and its failures. This is an area where careful use of extrinsic motivators can be valuable. In some facilities, machines in a ‘precise state’ are tagged with a well-designed metal tag reading “rebuilt with pride and placed in a precise state by ‘name inserted’ for all to see. Recognition amongst your peers can be a powerful extrinsic motivator.
Common Sense of Purpose
The final motivating factor is a common sense of purpose. Everyone is working together toward the same, shared goal, which creates a sense of camaraderie.
As humans, we are social animals and need to feel that we’re all in this together. Often a significant emotional event will rally disparate groups together for a common cause. For teams to achieve a common sense of purpose, we need to keep score. With a common way of measuring progress, we can all work towards the same goal.
One problem is the operational measures that are currently in place do not support this common goal. For measures to be effective, there must be three levels of metrics: Strategic, Tactical, and Application.
- Strategic goals are the big picture overall goals and tend to be long-term.
- The Tactical goals are developed to support the strategy, and the application level is the day-to-day work.
- All three levels need measures that are clearly defined and linked.
For example, a strategic goal that supports the business might be to achieve x reduction in downtime. One of several tactics to accomplish this might be Precision Maintenance. A tactical metric might be the number of machines in a precise state.
At the application level, we know that one of the things needed to place a machine in a precise state is a routine soft foot check. In this case, there could be an application metric around soft foot checks. This application metric supports the precision maintenance goal, which in turn supports the downtime goal. By clearly communicating how the measures work together, we can develop a common sense of purpose.
We often hear about a lack of accountability, and what management can do to improve this. It is important to understand that the most effective form of accountability is peer-to-peer. By fostering a common sense of purpose, peer pressure will drive performance.
Conclusions
We conclude with two simple questions:
As a Leader, what actions are you going to take today to promote Autonomy, Mastery, and a Common sense of purpose among your employees?
As an employee, what actions are you going to take today to promote Autonomy, Mastery, and a Common sense of purpose among your peers?
Reliability Solutions provides the training, assessments, and even direct, hands on help with creating a culture of change within a manufacturing workforce. Contact us today, and start your journey to reliable manufacturing.
