Cartoon Lunch Box
cartoon lunch box What happened to lunch boxes? Remember the luch boxes with cartoon characters or tv shows on the front, and it had a matching thermos inside? What happened to them? Went shoppin...
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Gainsharing Best Practices – The Power of Communication
In the first of the four articles of this series we referred to a conference of Human Resources Managers which focused on Gainsharing best practices. The participants were HR Managers from 17 North American facilities. Each facility had its own Gain share (link here) plan. Article one in the series focused on the calculation or technical side of the Gainsharing. Article two focused on best Gainsharing practices related to employee involvement. This article, the third of four, focuses on communications.
Brief Review- What is Gainsharing?
Gainsharing may be best described as a system of management in which an organization seeks higher levels of performance through the involvement and participation of its people. As performance improves, employees share financially in the gain. It is a team approach; generally all the employees at a site or operation are included.
The typical Gainsharing organization measures performance and through a pre-determined formula shares the savings with all employees.
Gainsharing and Communications
What are the "three-C's" to a successful Gainsharing plan? Communication, communication, and more communication. "Not cash, credit, and currency."
Like any other performance improvement initiative, communication is a key element for success.
I often follow up within the first year of a Gain sharing plan's implementation. When I meet with managers and employees I ask, "What has improved the most since your plan has been implemented?" I commonly get the answer, "Communication." People say, "We get more information from our supervisors, and there is better communications between departments." "Great, what can be done to further advance your Gain share plan?" The response is typically, "Communications." In other words, communications is extremely important, and no matter how good an organization may be in their communications efforts, they can always do better.
The mangers made the following specific suggestions. I should point out that these suggestions are not listed in order of importance.
* Performance Charting
- The more frequent the charting, the better. Some factors may be posted daily, others (i.e. cost) monthly. Ideally, the gainsharing measure would be posted daily or weekly. If the data is not readily available on a weekly basis, then chart a major driver of the measure.
- Have employees involved in chart data. This may be as simple as getting the performance data from the supervisor/manager and then plotting it on a dry marker board or flip chart. By employees charting the data, understanding and ownership is further developed. In addition, the person can talk to their peers about the result. Also by involving subordinates in the process, the credibility of the information is further enhanced.
- Chart performance against a milestone or "best ever" goal.
- Have all Gainsharing postings on a special colored paper.
- Post "employee alert bulletins." This might be a customer complaint, environmental issue, etc.
- Keep it simple. Sometimes companies chart so much information that it causes people to be overloaded with data, and in turn, they lose interest and focus.
- Ask people the specific information that they would find helpful to their work. Engineers and other technical people have been known to create a number of fancy electronic charts that scroll across a large plasma screen in each department. But too often when employees are asked if they look at the charts they respond, "No, it's too much information. I don't understand what it means. It scrolls by so fast that you don't have the time to figure it out."
* Bulletin Boards
Bulletin boards should be reserved for Gainsharing information only. All the HR managers reported their facility used specific bulletin boards to prominently display each month's results. Many of the managers suggested posting bonus projections during the middle of the month rather than just at the end of the month. Also, the feeling was that it was best to have information posted separately in each department rather than just one location. In turn, the supervisor or manager could conduct regular meetings by the bulletin board to discuss progress. Also, the HR Managers suggested that if the year-end reserve was growing, that they make a thermometer poster and even put play money on the posting. It gets everyone's attention and also gets the "chatter up." Other practices that the mangers brainstormed included:
- Highlight both the positive results as well as areas for improvement.
- Post cause and effect diagrams of problems and brainstorming notes.
- Post the factors that influence bonus, ways to reduce costs, ways to increase quality/customer service.
- Give lots of recognition about ideas for improvement, beating goals etc.
- Use large type and font to identify Gainsharing.
- Make things short and snappy--color, cartoons.
- Purge frequently.
- Don't overload with depth.
- Give lots of recognition if possible--ideas, beating goals.
* Meetings
The HR Managers cited that the single most important item related to communications was for the manager/supervisor to conduct brief, regularly scheduled meetings. One HR manager commented about the success they had with their "WOW" meetings (Work on Winning). Each department had a 10 to 15 minute weekly meeting in which the supervisor reviewed the prior week's and month-to-date performance figures. Also, at the end of the session they conducted a brief brainstorming session identify ideas for improvement. Brainstormed ideas were written on a flip chart for follow-up in subsequent meetings.
The HR managers provided the following additional suggestions:
- Having the supervisor/manager conduct brief, stand-up "lunch box" meetings on the day's critical activities and potential problem areas.
- Hold monthly or quarterly organization-wide meetings that are 1/2 to one hour in length. Consider conducting a brainstorming session or reviewing employee concerns.
- Have managers walk around and conduct "donut meetings" during breaks. Ask for employee feedback on how things are going.
- Luncheon meetings. Have someone from a technical or staff organization conduct an educational session during lunch periods breaks.
- Conduct a semi-annual or annual organization-wide meeting. Have a door prize. Have a special guest from marketing, sales, or a customer make a presentation. Have the communications committee involved.
- Annual meeting. At the beginning of each plan year conduct organization-wide meetings to review plan changes. Have employees renew their commitment to the plan by signing the plan mission or identity statement.
* Banners
Some of the facilities often used banners as a communication tool. Banners can be fairly small but are as large as 3 x 10 feet. Typically, these display slogans such as:
- "Gainsharing works for everyone"
- "Gainsharing means quality"
- "Think Gainsharing"
- "Gainsharing means customer service"
Some managers suggested holding contest for the best Gainsharing slogan and awarding the winners a $50 dinner certificate. One manager said they had a gigantic banner that replicated the monthly bonus check.
* Newsletter
A monthly or quarterly newsletter is a good idea. One best practice cited was to form a communications team including both hourly and salaried employees. Have the team responsible for the newsletter. Each issue would provide information about results and goals. Some even used cartoon figures that depict each Gainsharing measure. Some examples are "Base Cost Barney," "Safety Sam," and "Elvira" for a measure related to environmental compliance. Some newsletters published quizzes and contest. The newsletter should be fun.
Remember, however, there is no substitute for verbal communications with the supervisor. The supervisors that talk more about Gainsharing are able to generate better results. The following is a case in point.
I shared with the HR Managers the results of a survey that was administered about one year after a Gainsharing plan was installed in an operation that had about 250 employees.
The survey results were overall very positive. Moreover, the results for one department (buffing) were generally higher than the facility-wide norm. For example the buffing department employee survey ratings were significantly more positive on the following questions:
- My supervisor encourages open communication from employees.
- My supervisor, in general, is committed to our Gainsharing Plan.
- I understand what things are included in the bonus calculation.
- I feel that the bonus calculation is fair.
- Overall, I'm satisfied with our Gainsharing Plan.
After the survey, there were follow-up meetings with employees by department to provide feedback and clarify the results. When the buffing department employees were asked, "Why their survey ratings were higher than the norm?" There comments were as follows:
- "We get feedback daily on how the department is doing."
- "We post information daily and give verbal feedback."
- "We also discuss Gainsharing in our safety meetings."
- "The supervisor talks about what we can do better and how it will impact the bonus."
- "We generally have more communications within our department. The supervisor answers a lot of questions from employees on the Gainsharing Plan."
- "Buffing has more practice communicating performance measures. We have been posting information before Gainsharing."
The key to the buffing departments positive results was communication. What was the key to communication? The supervisor.
Summary
Looks like a lot of work? Communications is not easy; it takes time away from the day to day retinue. However, it is a critical that an organization invests in its human resources. If an organization does not invest the time to properly communication its Gainsharing plan, there will be no change. If there is no change, there will be no improvement. The 17 HR Managers found that good communications returns gains many times the initial investment in time and resources. As one manager said about their successful Gainsharing plan, "You get out of it what you put into it; it's well worth the investment."
Look for the forth and final article in this series which will deal with best Gainsharing practices related to recognition and the important role it plays in the overall Gainsharing concept.
About the Author
Robert Masternak, founder of Masternak & Associates a specialized consulting firm focusing in Gainsharing design, installation, training, and monitoring activities.
Mr. Masternak is an internationally recognized consultant with over 22 years of Gainsharing experience and is the author of the book Gainsharing - A Team Based Approach to Drive Organizational Change.
He has installed “tailor-made” plans in well over 200 companies including: chemical, plastics, iron, steel, aerospace, health supplies, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, machining, lighting, energy, automotive parts, mining, footwear, glass, defense equipment, distribution, aluminum, metal fabrication, printing, paper products, food manufacturing, and furniture.
If you are interested in further exploring Gainsharing, please call Mr. Masternak at (330) 725-8970 or email at robert@masternak.com