Coal, Cost and Culture: The ‘Process of Discovery’ and Continuous Improvement

Many years ago, we moved into a home with a pine tree in the front yard. The tree looked more like a tall bush because it had never been trimmed. Its pine tree shape was hidden by branches that grew helter-skelter from top to bottom. I was certain that a more appealing shape was hidden in there somewhere, but wasn’t sure exactly what the end product would look like.

One Saturday morning I decided to find out what the tree really looked liked underneath and took out my trimming shears. I took my time ‘sizing up the tree’ to determine what branch to trim first, and decided that the best approach would be to start at the bottom and work my way up. I picked the first branch to remove and began to cut. After the removal of each branch, I discovered that it was easier to determine which branch to trim next. A surprisingly art-like trunk shape began to emerge, much like a bonsai tree. The end result was an eye-catching tree that was the centerpiece of the front landscape. Even the neighbours commented on how great it looked.

While reflecting on what I learned that day about tree trimming, I recognised similarities between the process for finding the optimum shape for a tree and processes for optimising operational and financial performance. Shaping a tree is a process that has an end-goal in mind, potential for improvement, and a cycle of steps for trimming, analysing and prioritisation that are repeated until the end result is achieved. Each removed branch sets the priority for the next branch to be removed, and sometimes the next branch selected for removal changes as the shape of the tree begins to emerge.    

When improving an organisation’s performance, we start by believing that we have opportunities for improvement, even though we might not know exactly what all of them are when we start. We do our best to quantify and prioritise the opportunities as we find them. Then, we assign resources and apply the appropriate tools and methods to capture the lost value and optimise the end product. 

A subtle but important dynamic in every improvement programme is the ‘process of discovery’. In the tree trimming process, the priority set for the next step is continuously evaluated to achieve the best result. That iterative evaluation step becomes an integral part of the process. Similarly, recognising the process of discovery as a natural and expected part of optimising your organisation’s performance gives you permission to change your mind about priorities as you progress on the learning curve of continuous improvement.

Just as important to capturing process potential, sustaining improvement and changing culture is management’s reaction to ‘discovery’. As employees learn how to recognise opportunity, they begin to see their work and recurring problems differently. What used to be a problem that continued to happen will suddenly be viewed as an improvement opportunity that really can be fixed. As that problem is analysed and action plans are implemented, another problem will surface. If the second problem carries a higher opportunity cost than the first, employees need the flexibility to re-prioritise so that the second problem gets top priority.

Thought for the month:

Giving the workforce permission to change priorities as they develop expertise in process improvement allows them to do what makes sense to maximise operational and financial performance.

Author: Kay Sever CMC, CQIA, Sustainable Improvement Consultant and Coach. Kay Sever is a leader in sustainable improvement for mines and plants. She combines 29 years of mining experience with a common sense approach to improvement that raises awareness about lost opportunity and hidden barriers that prevent improvement success. www.miningopportunity.com.

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/drilling-and-production/06092010/coal_cost_and_culture_the_%E2%80%9Cprocess_of_discovery%E2%80%9D_and_continuous_improvement/