Twenty-four Hour Responsibility

“I am already working 12-13 hours a day,” Miguel pushed back. “And you are going to expand the swing shift to run 18 hours a day. How do you expect me to manage? I can’t do it.”

“You can’t do it the way you are doing things, now. What has to change?” I asked.

“Look, I can only be responsible for production about 12 hours a day!” Miguel’s face began to redden.

“No, I want you to be responsible for production 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That’s why you get paid by the month, not the hour.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little unrealistic?”

“Not at all. You can’t do things the way you have in the past. What has to change?”

“Well, I can’t be here 24 hours a day. I’m pushing it the way it is, now.”

“Actually, I don’t expect you to be here more than 9-10 hours a day. How can you be responsible 24 hours a day when you are only here for 9-10?”

5 thoughts on “Twenty-four Hour Responsibility

  1. Aaron Michalove

    – Daily Metric/KPIs for the process prepared by team
    – Clear escalation processes for exception management
    – Strong shift leaders who are capable of managing metrics and escalation process and clearly identified as such to the team

    Reply
  2. Chandra

    Higher strata and longer time horizon in organizing and planning would likely resolve the issue and give Miguel the additional hours. However, most people are required to work more by the “cycle of waste” created by incoherent organization and fighting fires that should not have existed in the first place. Apart from hiring the right strata, the combined inertia of the organization should also be improved and stepped up to create an environment that has least amount of waste. Senior Management is responsible for creating this environment supplemented by the hiring at the right strata. Most importantly, senior management should not have short range strategies and press the panic button too often. Right hiring, coaching, demanding performance from the staff and stability in decisions (no flip flops)are the key ingredients for a stable and growing enterprise that creates a healthy balance between work and leisure for everlasting energy within the organization.

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