Change Workplace Culture with 5S
Are you changing mindsets? Will people do the right thing even when nobody is looking? If not, something needs to change in the culture of your workplace.
The benefits of a successfully implemented 5S system are obvious: increased productivity, quality, safety, morale, etc.
While these bottom-line improvements are certainly enough to justify a commitment to 5S, a beneficial side effect is the creation of a culture where people do the right thing because they understand the benefits of 5S and take personal responsibility for its success.
You won’t sustain results and achieve long-term success if you’re not changing mindsets. Below is everything you need to know about to change the culture of your workplace to embrace a 5S system.
Workplace culture change starts with leaders.
5S is not easy but is deceptively simple. On the surface, it seems like common sense. But anyone who has tried to implement a 5S system knows that it’s tougher than it seems. Specifically, leaders don’t understand their role.
Most leaders begin with the belief that 5S is a responsibility that they can delegate to a practitioner for its implementation. Leaders play a critical role in changing the thinking of the members of the organization so that 5S can take root and grow…and that responsibility cannot be delegated.
Learn to lead change.
Leaders who embed 5S into the workplace culture demonstrate their ability to create employee mindsets that are aligned with ideals and principles that serve the organization and the customer. Now I’m not talking about managing an auditing system that forces behavior, rather a 5S system that people want to be a part of.
Leaders must approach a 5S initiative just as they would any other change. First, learn what is required to be a leader. Peer groups, personal networks, online articles, and good consultants are all resources available to better understand what will make a 5S initiative successful. There are thousands of mistakes that you can avoid if you just invest some time studying upfront.
Similar leadership skills will be required in order to reinforce 5S behavior-dependant concepts like standard work, kanban, TPM, etc.
Bottom line: people who instill 5S principles can lead their workplace in a lean transformation. In contrast, people who cannot lead 5S will forever rely on managing compliance through audits and oversight.
Two factors influence the level of workforce engagement.
At the beginning of any change initiative, you can expect early adopters, cautious skeptics, vocal critics, silent observers, and so on. While there are countless ways that people react to change, it boils down to whether a person is aligned with the new direction or not.
Factor 1: Current employee mindsets about the change and direction.
Alignment is the key issue and it won’t take much time to figure out who is aligned and who isn’t. You’ll know. Now focus on how to align employees’ thinking to embrace a new 5S system.
Factor 2: How managers approach aligning thinking.
There are three approaches that managers use to influence people in a change initiative. The first two are ineffective while the last will bring you success.
1. Avoid and Neglect:
Unfortunately, a majority of managers use this approach to change, many to the point of perfection and exclusivity. It’s easy to tell when a manager or supervisor is using this approach: little sustainment, unhappy people (especially among high performers), and the manager will be busy putting out fires.
Avoiding unaligned thinkers is deadly. Not only does it lead to zero change in thinking, behavior, or results, but it could change those who were initially aligned into harsh skeptics. Your 5S system will seem like just another waste of time drummed up by an inept management team.
2. Manage Behavior:
The follow-up step to the Avoid and Neglect approach. While the real issue that needs to be addressed is the thinking of each employee this approach avoids the root cause while consuming a mountain of resources. It can make managers feel busy and like they are doing something to sustain change, but managing behavior only deals with a symptom of thinking.
The most typical way to simply manage behavior is an audit. You probably know that I am not a fan of audits, not because they don’t have a purpose but because they are misused. Simply conducting audits is signing up for a career of “Whack-a-Mole Management” because the symptoms of misaligned thinking will continue to appear and keep you busy trying to control behavior for as long as you can stand it.
3. Change Thinking:
This is the only way to achieve true buy-in from employees. Changing thinking will change behavior whether it is audited or not. This is extremely powerful because the stance people take will influence thousands of decisions that are made in an organization every day without a word being spoken.
Managers who can change employees’ thinking will sustain improvements, create change agents, be the manager of choice, and achieve unparalleled levels of performance. Their influence will be so powerful that they will create followers who will watch them and learn how to influence thinking themselves.
This positive cycle is the heart of a change in culture in the workplace: being able to influence the thinking of one person after another, aligning them with a new direction. After the thinking changes, everything else is simply problem-solving.
An Employee’s Tale
I’ll never ever forget this one experience at a previous job. I had been promoted to a new role in a new department. I was in the job less than a week and showed up at the weekly Friday staff meeting with eight team members.
My boss said to me, “David, please pass out the production report so we can review the numbers.”
I looked up in confusion not realizing the production report was my responsibility. He looked around the table at the rest of the group and slammed his fists on the table and told me to go get the report and that they’d wait. To say the least, it was quite uncomfortable. I told him I had no idea that I was supposed to bring such a report nor did I know where to get it or whether it would even be current.
He stood up, dismissed the meeting but not before denouncing my lack of effort and deflating his entire team as well as his new staff member. Yeah, I’m not making this up.
The importance of clear expectations to change workplace culture.
“It’s pretty tough to encourage accountability if no one knows what he or she is responsible for. Take away any confusing gaps in responsibility, and your people will adapt to new roles and grow in their current ones. The entire team will benefit. People are more likely to own up to a problem when they know what they own.”
John Maxwell
We all know treating anyone the way my old boss treated me is just wrong on so many levels, a Management 101 No-No. This example is a little extreme for the point I’m trying to make but there’s a lesson to be learned here with regards to your 5S program.
More often than not, if a 5S program is not succeeding then the missing not-so-secret ingredient is a set of clear expectations. It’s what my boss in the story did. How can you expect people to do you what you want if you haven’t made what you want clear?
Unfortunately, a common refrain is, “they should just know what to do.” Well, that’s just silly and honestly unfair to that employee. I had no idea what was expected of me and as a result, I could not succeed. If you want people to do something it only makes sense to make sure they know what you want in the first place.
Use 5S to set clear expectations.
Expectations need to be clearly defined and discussed. Dare I say they should even be adjusted with input from the team?
Make sure audits aren’t done in a vacuum. All too often, the auditor goes around, makes notes, posts the results and walks away expecting improvements to be made. What a wasted opportunity! Among other things, audits should be used to set the standard on what’s expected. What’s expected shouldn’t just be the audit score.
Set clear standards for color-coding. What color should be used for which material type?
I was in one plant where the manager thought yellow floor tape should be used for material but noticed someone used blue. He said to me that everyone knows we use yellow for materials and was surprised the person used blue.
Turned out, they had no color standards posted. Really? I suggested he set the standard by posting the color-coding scheme throughout the plant and communicating it to everyone.
Use 5S Rewards and Recognition Systems to reinforce culture change in the workplace.
“On the last episode of her show, Oprah Winfrey said that after 25 years of interviews the one thing all of her guests had in common was the need to be validated. Recognition is an inherent need in all of us. Awards are badges of honor, they are acknowledgments before your peers that you did something better than everyone else.”
They Can’t Eat You by Marc Sparks.
A surprisingly controversial topic is whether or not to reward employees for their 5S efforts. Personally, I think it can add a little more fun to the program, so why not? Rewarding and recognizing aligned thinkers and good practitioners will change the culture of your workplace in favor of 5S and encourage alignment throughout your business.
Here’s a great and effective reward program to encourage aligned thinking and sold-out employees:
- Using a magnetic whiteboard arrange magnetic document pouches
- Label the pouches: “Ideas,” “Reviewed,” “In Process,” “Done,” and one pouch per department.
- Provide preformatted idea forms throughout the plant.
- Employees will fill out the form and place it in the “Ideas” pouch.
- The employee gets a numbered raffle ticket for each idea they submit.
- During each daily manufacturing huddle, review the ideas then place them in the “Reviewed” pouch (only if you have multiple shifts), or into the appropriate Department’s pouch.
- The Department Manager should check their pouch daily
- When an idea hits the drawing board, move the form to the “In Process” pouch.
- Once the idea is implemented or completed move the form to the “Done” pouch.
- Collect these completed idea forms on a routine basis and track for metrics.
- Every month hold a drawing from the raffle tickets. Determine how many rewards you wish to give out each month.
- Publicly announce the winners!
- Create a space that showcases the winner’s photo, a picture showing the improvement and explain the results. (Or maybe showcase all implemented ideas and the employees behind them.)
When 5S fails, pick yourself back up and try again.
5S starts and stops happen more times than I’d like to admit. I’ve talked to hundreds of practitioners over the years and most know what the problem is – lack of management support. However, a significant part of management support that is often overlooked is the need to hold people accountable. It’s the missing ingredient.
Without doubt, the most effective method to sustaining a 5S program is to have the Senior Management (including the President of the company) do a quick 5 – 10 minute 5S walk every week, without fail, and comment to the staff about the 5S program. Nothing will help change the culture more than this weekly focus.
If for example, a manager sees someone break a “Set in Order” rule (like leaving the two-wheeler outside the designated and marked spot) it’s a great learning opportunity to pull them aside and point out where they fell short. Don’t just walk by because you’re too busy. You’re hurting your staff by doing so. They deserve better. Let them know the expectation.
Four Tools to Promote 5S
1. Designated 5S days: Select a day per month or per quarter to emphasize 5S throughout the plant.
2. Slogans: Select a 5S related slogan, post it in public areas throughout the plant, pass out shirts made up with the slogan to successful 5S teams, etc.
3. Public Announcements: In monthly or quarterly announcements/all-employee meetings, take some time to emphasize the importance of 5S.EMS Strategies
4. Seminars: Have employees participate in seminars throughout the year. Some of these should be 5S related.
Most folks want to do a good job. To do that, they need to know what’s expected of them. Make it clear and hold your staff to the standards you set. You’ll be glad you did and so will they. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll even see a higher audit score next time around.
4 Quick Tips to implement a successful 5S program
- Train employees immediately prior to or during 5S events.
- Feature skilled and experienced facilitators who have the knack and materials to effectively teach adults. There is no training without application in a 5S event. Successful facilitators know how to engage people while achieving a high level of results.
- Managers and Supervisors must effectively use the skills required to change the mindsets, thereby changing the behaviors, of employees. Leaders at all levels must manage change and embed new mindsets into the culture. This is by far the most important component of an effective 5S system.
- Hold managers and supervisors accountable for 5S results and sustainment. There are effective metrics to track progress.