By William J. Goetz, Vice President of Corporate Development

It’s a safe bet that most of us have heard the expression “The left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing” used to describe organizational disfunction. Just imagine the catastrophic consequences of playing a guitar in that condition!

This disconnect often happens in manufacturing companies, as well. They may have strict guidelines on the responsibilities and expectations of most roles, but there is little to no requirement for each person to understand how his or her own particular role interacts with others. As a result, training and guidance often ends far short of what is needed for teamwork.

In reality, the right hand and the left hand should not only be trained to play their roles, they should also be trained to work in concert (pardon the pun)! Similarly, operators, engineers, procurement teams, supervisors, technicians, planners, craftsmen etc all need to work together seamlessly.

The challenge of defining roles and training individuals how to interact with other roles is exacerbated by the ongoing stream of acquisitions and mergers, all of which can introduce variability into role definitions, work processes, training and other key functions that orient employees. Furthermore, the pandemic (which discouraged close team interactions) made alignment more challenging.

Even at a plant with strong maintenance planning practices, a planned outage can become bogged down by inefficiency and poor communication. One of our consultants recently related an experience he had as he observed a shutdown at a client site. This outage was complex and was scheduled to last just over 20 hours.

Coordination among crafts, contractors and the storeroom personnel was weak, leaving assigned personnel standing around. The inefficiency of the team resulted in three more hours of downtime than planned, which cost the organization nearly a quarter million dollars in lost production.

The Solution to Get Your Team on the Same Sheet of Music 

When teams speak the same language — when they have the same frame of reference and feel true camaraderie — a sense of common purpose arises within the organization. This outcome is vital to success. It is a major factor in nearly every successful engagement.

To ensure success, management must confirm teams share the following commonalities:

1. Speak the same “language” and are provided documentation of definitions, role descriptions and process descriptions that fit the organization as a whole. We call this documentation a “playbook.”
2. Share a common workplace culture and appreciation of how every role should create value. We find that training sponsored by and supported by cross-functional teams is most effective here.
3. Are fully aligned regarding goals and priorities, not only for each role but also for how roles interact.

Senior management must also audit, coach and engage their teams, ensuring they objectively review performance and interaction, provide direct feedback on positives and opportunities for improvement and promote the importance of following the process playbooks.

All these activities can cement institutional knowledge, adherence to approved/proven techniques and pride of ownership among workers.

Redefining Roles and Responsibilities

We generally find that all roles on the team need adjustment. One of the most common problems is the perceptions that planners are responsible for kitting parts. Kitting takes them away from developing job planning packages and working with other team members to schedule the work. Our playbooks redefine the planner’s role and the roles they interact with to achieve a balance in responsibilities that optimizes team performance.

However, since the roles and required teamwork are new and different, the changes should be managed carefully. For the past 45 years, PCA has worked to help companies boost production and lower maintenance costs by implementing best-practice work processes and functional roles. All of these are documented in the PCA Playbooks covering four key areas: Work Management, MRO Spare Parts Inventory, Procurement, and Reliability Centered Maintenance. Invaluable as a training and reference resource, PCA’s playbooks are also integral to daily activity since they are used in CMMS configuration. Comprised of more than one thousand pages, PCA’s playbooks are used in hundreds of client sites.

PCA’s PerformancePlus^TM methodology puts these playbooks into the hands of our clients and guides their cross-functional teams through the process of customizing the content and embedding them in their CMMS. Understanding that every facility and situation is different, we designed PerformancePlus to make it easy for our clients to customize their playbooks so they align with the firm’s own language, communications style and other key attributes for successful adoption. Lastly, we coach internal teams through the change management process.

Final Thoughts

PCA’s process playbooks can get teams working in concert and increase cash flow for nearly all companies, particularly during today’s supply chain challenges. Nevertheless, we understand that leaders have many competing priorities and now may not be the right time to invest. Our experts welcome the opportunity to share their insights. When you are ready, we will be here to share pragmatic, sound advice and help you determine how our legacy of excellence can benefit you and your team.