Use WhatsApp wisely for better results

May 12, 2023

I was walking though the client’s plant one day with the plant manager to look at the opportunities for improvement. While we were walking down the Shopfloor and looking for WASTEs, I observed the plant manager would click a picture of whatever I am pointing out and would post it on a WhatsApp groups.

I was curious about his actions and I could not resist to ask as soon as we reach his office. I found out there are various WhatsApp groups, one for each purpose like safety, quality , maintenance, improvement etc. Almost everyone including operators are part of one or the other groups.

Some managers were part of four to five groups which were active. The moment someone sees abnormalities and or opportunities of improvement they were instructed to capture it and post it in relevant groups responsible to take actions.

I asked him how long they are running this initiative? – More than 6 months – a year may be.

Did he find people taking actions?
Are the WASTEs getting Eliminated?
How many of them are repetitive?

You guessed it right, the answer to both the questions was apologetic no.
WhatsApp groups has been a one solution to many problems (सारे दर्द का एक ईलाज) for many managers.

I agree it can be a tool for communication but it’s a pure waste when it’s not used with right intent.

Just do some math’s to find out how much of the cumulative time it wastes and the disturbance, loss of focus from your core work.

Let’s say a plant has 100 employees and 10 managers and each of the employee is part of at least two groups.

There are average 2 problems spotted by each manager and posted on either of the group.

So 20 posts (which is unusually low knowing the usage of WhatsApp) Each one of the employees looks at this post for may be 60 sec.

So we have (100x20x 1)/60 – 33 hours per 2 posts by managers (approx. 4 Man-days)
And a result not very tangible.

I suggest we call a person whose actions led into that Waste and the persons responsible to correct or take preventive actions , explain why you think it’s important and what problem you saw , ask what their opinion is.

As a senior leader we are missing on big opportunities to train and mentor the team. Understand their problems and also set expectations.

Technology is good, we need to use it wisely and with the intent to make it effective.

#Leanmanagment
#Continiousimprovement