JUST PLANE CULTURE
BY PATRICK KINANE YOU CAN’T GET THERE FROM HERE
DO NOT PASS GO. DO NOT COLLECT $200. THAT STATEMENT IS LOST TO THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER PLAYED MONOPOLY. BUT HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU BEEN TOLD IN YOUR JOB THAT YOU CAN’T DO IT THAT WAY? ALBERT EINSTEIN ONCE SAID, “IF THE FACTS DON’T FIT THE THEORY, CHANGE THE FACTS.” THIS SOUNDS A LITTLE CONVOLUTED AND SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN TOO LITERALLY. AS FOR US MORTALS, WE HAVE TO FOLLOW THE BOOK — BUT DO WE FOLLOW THE BOOK TO THE LETTER? THE FAA AND UPPER MANAGEMENT WOULD LIKE TO THINK WE DO, BUT WE IN FACT, WE DON’T.
The NASCAR example I was watching a TV show about
NASCAR pit crew training. This function is extremely critical in shaving off pit stop times but must still maintain accuracy and precision. A high speed camera was used to detect small areas where time can be saved. Millions of dollars can be won or lost by pit crew performance. A fraction of a second can win a race. If that fraction of a second means not tightening a wheel bolt, then the race can be lost and the fraction of a second saved costs. The NASCAR pit crew also shows a connection between the sponsor’s goals (win the race), management goals (win the race), the driver’s goals (win the race) and the pit crews goal (win the race). There is no ambiguity. Everyone is working in unison, focused on a single mission without disconnects. Uniformity is communicated. Ask an individual in NASCAR management what their job is and they will say, “Win races.” Ask the driver what his/her job is and he/ she will say, “Win races.” Ask the pit crew what their job is and they will say, “Win races.” I would even venture to say that if you asked the person sweeping the floor in the shop what their job was, it would be, “Win races.”
CLEAR MISSION? Would you get a similar response from your workforce if you asked
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management, supervisors, technicians, stores personnel and cleaning staff what their job is? Is there a clear mission or is everyone working in a silo? I manage the afternoon shift, I supervise the check crew, I fix airplanes, I work in the stock room and I clean airplanes. If those are the responses you get from your workforce then they have retreated to a safe, protectionist area and will ignore looking beyond their sphere of influence. Outside of that area is strange territory so we stay close to home. Home is our comfort zone and most of us are not adventurous because it involves an element of risk. We are naturally risk avoiders and wary of the unknown. We are comfortable staying within a small circle because this is the area where we have control or are cognizant of the controls. In many organizations the upper management and the workforce have the same vision and mission. Upper management has the authority to effect change and is vocally committed to improvement. However, this verbalization must be followed up with deliberation, delegation, follow up and action. This is a cyclical theory called “Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA),” and has been attributed to W. Edwards Deming. (Deming has never laid claim and has deferred creation to Walter Shewhart, his mentor and predecessor.)
CULTURE, CLIMATE
AND CONTROLS Before you can determine where you want to go you have to figure out where you are and probably how you got there. First, is there a problem? Do you have a disconnect? There are three forces at work in an organization: culture, climate and controls. Controls are the rules, regulations and policies and represent the ideal situation. Culture is what is actually happening and represents reality. Climate is how people feel about the control and culture and represent the attitude. When all are aligned you have a NASCAR moment; it’s a beautiful thing. When they are not aligned you have conflict, confusion and chaos. In business I would venture to say alignment is a rare occurrence. There is an axiom in the quality ranks:“Do what you write; write what you do.” This sort of fits in with Einstein’s quote, “If the rules don’t fit, change the rules,” but caution must be applied. We are bound to follow certain controls. In aviation we have laws, the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs), that we must adhere to, and those laws direct us to follow various maintenance instructions. How many times have we found that those instructions are not complete or are inaccurate or incorrect? There are processes to change them, but they can be slow
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