One inch higher on the left and the magnetic white board would be level. It had been the subject of much speculation on the shop floor that morning. There were several theories floating around, but no one had correctly guessed what the boss had in mind.

While the shop floor was organized according to a logical work flow, production had gotten further and further behind. The right jobs were late, the wrong jobs were early.

Last Friday, the boss had taken an informal poll. “George,” he said, “tell me, how do you know if we are ahead of schedule or behind schedule?” It was a fair question, but one that George did not know how to answer. “Well, boss, I guess if we were behind schedule, someone would come out here and tell us.”

It was an interesting response, seeing as how the floor was running only 28% on-time delivery. The boss walked over to the foreman’s office, leaned in and asked, “Say, John, when we are behind schedule, which I know is most of the time, do we ever tell anyone out on the shop floor?”

“Oh, no, boss, if we did that, they might get discouraged and quit.” Another interesting response.

You see, the boss had just heard of an experiment in a plant where they simply published production numbers on a daily basis to everyone in the plant. Every time there was an improvement over the previous day, the manager would circulate and thank everyone. No bonuses, no pizza, just a complimentary remark. The slow group in the plant improved from 83% efficiency to 87% efficiency. The fast group, however, improved from 96% efficiency to 162% efficiency (62% beyond predicted capacity.)

One inch higher on the left and the magnetic white board would be level. I wonder what your numbers would be. -TF

Credit to Barry Shamis, Selecting Winners for this model.

Materials: 3×5 index card, a stack of them.
Each Monday (or other consistent day of the week), the Manager meets with the Team Member. The Manager always asks the same question, “What 5 things do you intend to accomplish this week?”

The Team Member responds, “After reviewing all the things on my plate and the needs of the other folks around me, I intend to accomplish the following items on my 3×5 card:”
Item #1
Item #2
Item #3
Item #4
Item #5

The Manager takes the card, clarifies something about items #2 & #5, adjourns the meeting.

The next meeting, the Manager asks the question, “Of the things on the list from last week, what did you get accomplished?” The Team Member responds:
Item #1, I got finished, no problems.
Item #2, we started, but had to postpone due to inclement weather.
Item #3, we finished, no problems.
Item #4, we finished, but on inspection, noticed a defect, had to scrap the effort and start over, still incomplete.
Item #5, we finished, had to make an adjustment to the final outcome, but delivered to customer, they accepted the change.

As you review the list, is it possible that the Manager and the Team Member could have a short, but meaningful conversation about progress the previous week?

The Manager finishes with the same question from last week, always the same question, “What 5 things do you intend to accomplish this week?”

The Team Member responds, “After reviewing all the things on my plate and the needs of the other folks around me, I intend to accomplish the following items on my 3×5 card:”

This is the Five by Five system. Five items in review for five minutes per week. In the real world, I have Managers who are working 2×2, 3×3, 4×4. Whatever works for you. —TF