Do Scanlon Plans Ever Run Out of Ideas?

Just like you must stir the coals of a campfire to keep it burning you also must stir the environment to bring up new outlooks and ideas in what seemed to be a stagnant pool.

While it may be possible to run out of ideas that possibility is remote and would require total management inattention. It would take a state of nature where nothing ever changed. Every day is exactly like the last, in every regard, as long as the company is in business.

Let’s look at a company that is involved in the manufacture of some product. The more complex the product and the production process the more opportunity there is for different eyes to see different things. But let’s take a simple product as a base for this discussion. How about making nails? Nails have been around for a few hundred years and the All American Nail Company is quite good at making them. In any given year there are 100 people employed by AANC and together they manufacture nails. The first question that needs to be asked is, “What is the purpose of AANC?” The workers answer to that question is very different in a Scanlon driven organization. In Scanlon companies the purpose is not to make nails but to make money by satisfying customers better than anyone else. It makes money by making nails that are higher quality, lower cost and always timely to name a few of the characteristics of success.

Every new person coming into an organization looks at the business through different eyes and interprets through different subsets of experience and education. This happens naturally. However in most companies such interpretation is heartily discouraged. Why, because in order to maximize this aspect of the human resource, information must be shared. That means trust. As Joseph Scanlon said workers can contribute far more than is generally accepted BUT they must have an understanding of the necessary. What, how, why, where, when etc., the “necessary” in bringing the product to market.

The environment (weather, politics,markets, etc) is constantly changing, the culture of the factory, the town in which it is located, the state in which the town is located etc, etc, all are subtly, and of course, some times not so subtly, shifting and changing over time. Technology is advancing continuously and in a great many cases, exponentially. Change, change and more change!

To capitalize on the opportunities presented by change it is necessary to be “change friendly.” That is, always inquisitive, always asking why, how, is there a better way? Such an environment stimulates change in a great many cases rather than chasing change. It is an environment of contagious self confidence in the best sense This a key reason why the culture is so critical to long term success in gainsharing. The culture of a company helps it to cope with its environment. The more open, inclusive and sharing an organization is the more information its people have to work with and the more self confidence they develop.

The ISS logo is a flame. If a campfire is left to itself after being lit it will not last nearly as long as a fire that is periodically stirred. Just like you must stir the coals of a campfire to keep it burning you also must stir the environment to bring up new outlooks and ideas in what seemed to be a stagnant pool. Regeneration or reinvention of the process is mandatory.

(Regeneration and reinvention are exciting topics that will be discussed in future ISS Updates)

In conclusion, “Do Scanlon Plans Ever Run out of Ideas?”

Not likely, but the fire must be tended and the necessary must be a way of life.