Where Lisa Sets a New Standard

Lisa read over the email again, and felt her blood boil.

In fact, she had read it many times over the past few days just to make sure she had gotten it right.  It was because of this email that she had been forced to work back an extra two hours every day, or risk losing her job when she needed it most.

Robert the Boss had seen her speaking with the manager of the outgoing department and somehow got permission from their CEO to offload some of his work on to her.

She read it again:

>From: Robert

>Subject: Important Information Regarding Your Job

“After speaking with our company CEO, and seeing as you obviously have time to chat with other managers, I am assigning you some additional work at his request.  If you do not want to complete this work, I will take it as the tender of your resignation.”

There was nothing she could do but stay back the extra hours each day to complete the work.  Lisa couldn’t lose her job, but she also couldn’t continue to work there without making some positive changes, and the board of directors were meeting in a week to decide the fate of 300 employees.

A sudden thump snapped Lisa out of her thoughts as a pile of paper slammed onto her desk.

“Got time for a catch-up?” It was Jerry, standing next to her with a big smile on his face.

In fact, he had been smiling like this ever since he’d agreed to help on Lisa’s journey.  Everything they did now was based on trying to reduce the waste in their process, and the results were starting to show.

They would carefully form an idea for change, noting and minimising the risks using the tools Steve had taught them, then try the new method themselves and if the change worked they documented it.  They felt like scientists, according to Jerry, and Lisa passed on all of Steve’s lessons faithfully as he taught them.

Ron joined them as well, and Jerry continued:

“I worked on them all night, Lisa.  I think this is it!  I turned our changes into a standard checklist of things to do, so that anyone can follow it.

“And I also did the numbers – if everyone on the floor follows the process this way, we will cut our process time in half.”

“Not to mention we could probably move two whole departments,” added Anne, as she sidled up to Lisa’s desk.  “Did I hear somebody say “catch-up”?” she smiled.

Anne wasn’t joking.  The way they did their job now meant that they left out two whole departments – payments and customer forms – as they were able to complete these on the initial phone call.  Even though changes like this were seriously above their pay-grade, they knew that based on the evidence they had gathered they could move those departments elsewhere, like sales or fulfilment, and bring much more value to the company.

It was beginning to be a typical type of meeting with Jerry, Anne and Ron, and Lisa smiled.  They were actually glad to be at work.

“I’ll take these down to see Steve now, guys.  He can check it to make sure we’re on the right track.

“I know it’s not ideal, but once they’re ready we will have to show them to Robert the Boss so we can try and save the company before next week’s board meeting.”

Jerry and Anne looked worried at this, but Lisa put on a brave face.

“I’ll meet you back here soon.”

She made for the elevator, pressed the button and waited.

As she did so there was a large commotion on the floor.  People began to get up from their desks and move towards the common area.  Not another announcement!  Lisa craned her neck to see.  These things never seemed to be good news.

The people around her moved faster and started to yell.

“They’re deciding today!” they said.  “The shareholder meeting is today!”

Did she hear them correctly?  The meeting can’t be today, they weren’t ready!

“I’m too late!”  Lisa thought, and a terrible feeling washed over her as she realised that she could lose her job, and all that she had worked so hard for.

There must be something she could do.  As Lisa struggled to think, there was a loud:

Ding!

The doors to the elevator opened, and standing to one side was a tall man, handsome and well-dressed apart from the fact that he looked like he had been awake for three days.  His shirt was crinkled, and it was only 10 in the morning but he had a dark five o’clock shadow across his chin.

He held the elevator doors.

“Going down, or coming up?” said the man, managing a half smile.

Going down or coming up – that was it.  Lisa realised she could go down the elevator, leave the building and never return to her job – or have no job to return to.  Or she could go up the elevator to the board meeting with the documents she held in her hand, and do everything in her power to save the employees and the company.  Considering how far she’d come already, there was only one real choice.

“I’m going up,” said Lisa, and the doors closed behind her.

As the elevator moved, the man leaned against the wall and sighed.  He looked as though he was having a very bad day.

“Is… everything ok?”  Lisa ventured cautiously.

“Let’s just say it’s been a long week, erm…” and he trailed off expectantly, waiting for a name.

“Lisa,” said Lisa.  “I work in the call centre.”

The man seemed to do a double take.

“You’re Lisa?” he said, looking up and brightening a little.  Lisa was unsure of what to say, so she said nothing.  “You’re Lisa from the call centre, the one who has been making changes in my company?”

“Yes, I -” Hang on.  Lisa’s eyes widened.  His company?  Oh my God, thought Lisa, and her stomach turned.  The nice suit, the lack of sleep before a major board meeting, it suddenly clicked.

This was Michael Pilbury, company CEO and the man she had once so admired in the early days of the business.  By going up the elevator to the board meeting they had inadvertently chosen the same path.

“It was the only thing I could do.  I’ve… been trying to save my job.”

Michael Pilbury laughed a big, bellowing laugh.  “So have I, Lisa-from-the-call-centre, so have I.

“I’ve been hearing a lot about you, Lisa,” he continued.  “People are starting to talk.  I’ve heard about your group of high performers, and the changes you made to incoming and outgoing have made a huge difference to that department.”

Michael thought for a moment, and then said:

“And even though your boss Robert has taken the credit for the new sales initiatives, I have a feeling they are related to the other changes you’ve made.  Am I right?”

“That’s right,” said Lisa.

“Did you know that in the past week, your team has outperformed the others and sales have improved by ten percent?  Ten percent, Lisa.  That is huge!  I wanted to ask, how did you do it?”

Lisa looked down at the small pile of papers in her hand.

“It’s all in here,” she said.  “We were just about to finish them and show them to my boss in the hope that it could somehow save the company.”

Michael looked sceptical.

“I wouldn’t have too much faith in that approach, Lisa-from-the-call-centre, if Robert’s past behaviour is anything to go by.”

Lisa only nodded in response.  He was right.

“I’ve got a meeting with the board of directors right now.  They’re not waiting until next week to decide the fate of my company; they want to close up shop today.  Based on the changes you’ve made and the documents you have in your hand, I’d like to try and convince them to keep us here.  No downsizing, no offshoring, just improved service and growth.  What do you say?”

Lisa felt a sudden pang of doubt as she remembered:  “They’re not ready.”

“But they are all we have,” countered Michael.

There was no other way.  Lisa handed over the documents.  “There’s an A3 summary of the whole thing on the front page,” she said.  “That will help.”

The doors to the elevator opened.  Michael stepped out to a large room with polished wooden floors and two large oak doors at one end.  Lisa quickly reached out and held the lift.

“Wait – Michael, is this why you gave me all that extra work to do?” she asked.

Michael turned and looked over his shoulder.  “I didn’t give you any extra work Lisa,” he said with a sympathetic smile, and with that the doors closed behind him leaving Lisa alone to digest what had just happened.

So, it wasn’t him?  That means Robert the Boss had lied.  He had used the CEO as an excuse to get Lisa to do his dirty work, and Lisa had had no choice but to do it, or risk losing her job.  She clenched her fists, half in anger and half in determination, and gave a silent vow to herself to somehow make things right.

Her entire future was now based on a prayer and some only just finished documents.

Selected chapters from the story within Five minute Lean:

• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Makes a Change
• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Discovers a New Way
• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Performs a Balancing Act
• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Pulls the Trigger
• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Sets a New Standard
• Lean Parable – Where Lisa Becomes a Leader

Check out these selected chapters from the teachings within Five Minute Lean:

• Five Minute Lean – Build in Quality with Error-Proofing and Autonomation
• The Five Minute Catch-up
• Five Minute Lean – Go to the Gemba
• Five Minute Lean – Value is Determined by the Customer
• Five Minute Lean – The Power of Incentives – What is Measured and Rewarded Improves
• Five Minute Lean Summary
• Five Minute Lean – Create a Future State Value Stream Map
• Five Minute Lean – Create a New Standard Procedure and Checklist for Quality Control
• Five Minute Lean – Solve the Real Cause of the Problem
• Five Minute Lean – Implement With Agile for Fast Iterations and Feedback
• Five Minute Lean – Gather Direct Feedback and Indirect Feedback
• Five Minute Lean – Create a Pull System with FIFO, Kanban Triggers and Visual Management
• Five Minute Lean – Make Feedback Meaningful with Kano Analysis
• Five Minute Lean: Glossary
• Five Minute Lean – Use Pareto to Find Where to Start
• Five Minute Lean – Put it Together With Design for Ease of Use
• Five Minute Lean – Present and Manage Your Change Using an A3 and LCA
• Five Minute Lean – Map the Value Stream to Reveal Opportunities
• Five Minute Lean – Use Feedback to Fix and Guarantee
• Five Minute Lean – Get Your Map Started with a SIPOC