At the end of the three half-days of discussions the main issue was whether both sideswould keep their promises.  The top promises were: (1) a new respect for the workers’ needs in areas ranging from tools to payroll, (2)regular company meetings at which all the workers and the owners would share information and needs, and (3) formation of Continuous Improvement Teams (CIT),comprised of the workers, that would meet weekly to discuss how to improve operations. The issue of language was a more pressing problem than had been anticipated, and the owners promised to start Spanish language lessons andprovide English lessons for the employees.

Following the offsite, our responsibility as consultants was to ensure that the promised meetings happened.  We began with CIT meetings. The fundamental step was to show employees how to analyze their work using lean management techniques. To measure impact, workers were asked to estimate benefit and costs of problems and corrections. This cost/benefit data was crucial as the team presented the results to the owners.

The initial topic chosen by the CIT was “Why Plants Die” which they divided into subtopics – weeds, disease,water, heat, etc.  In week one they researched the causes of heat deaths.  The following week’s meeting yielded fairly easy, low cost fixes that would prevent significant losses due to excessive heat. In the next two weeks, focusing on weeds and diseases, the CIT identified how to prevent  thousands of plant deaths for minimal investment.

This processis not without challenges.  When three employees failed to attend the first CIT meeting, we learned they had quit. We were prepared for some attrition  – a normal development when a company begins transformation process.  That experience led owners to search for competent, enthusiastic employees on Craig’s list (rather than from the local labor pool). The remaining staff advised them that two new workers, rather than three, would be enough. Despite mixing ethnic groups, the  CIT process has facilitated communications: the senior workers have both educated the new ones, and impressed them with their genuine acumen.

 Why was I elated yesterday? The employees had just reported on their findings: estimates of costs and returns, anticipating that the owners would mentally double the cost estimates and halve the predictions of benefits. The owners welcomed these results, promised to pursue them, and literally applauded their work. During this process the owners also gave the employees pay raises. I feel like a nursery worker who has completed a graft and seen signs of growth on the new scion; it may not be done yet, but it is showing evidence of healthy life.

JimNewcomer, Ph.D.

Partner, ConfluencePoint

Blog forFriday, August 15, 2008: Miracle in Progress at Dieringer’s

I returned from a trip down the Willamette Valley yesterday excited and pleased. Our client, Dieringer Nursery Company (DNC), one of the world’s leading rhododendron growers, had just experienced a whole company meeting where the employees revealed operational changes that could boost pretax profit by 40% in the coming year. And that’s just the low-hanging fruit.

Our engagement has taken some surprising turns.  The original scope had been to uncover, create and instill sus-tainability policies - people, profits and planet - for triple bottom line gains.  But the owners were already advanced practitioners of environmental stewardship.  The real need was for a way to involve employees so that their progressive ideas would fall on fertile soil and take root.  Concurrently, their employees wanted to know what the changes would mean for them. The financial situation also deserved our attention.

At the heart of the launch were smart leaders. The owner-managers knew they wanted change; if change were easy, they would already have made it happen. So they reached outside the company for a new perspective. Wise managers are not afraid to seek outside help; it’s the less successful ones who repeat the same flawed practices expecting different outcomes.

Having read our partner, Gary Langenwalter’s book The Squeeze, a business novel describing our approach to organizational transformation, DNC asked us to help transform theirs. We began carefully: clarifying and confirming the owners’ goals, their assumptions about managing the business, and what elements of our program were culturally appropriate.Then we began stage one: a fast, informative survey of the company’s financial situation and leadership strengths and weaknesses, culture and communication.

Several issues surfaced that warranted careful consideration.  We established a basis for working together and clear criteria for success. We knew what would improve the way DNC could work, and they understood our role as consultants and project scope.  None of it depended on our knowledge of the nursery business; they would provide that.  Management would also have final say about any policy decisions that emerged from the process.

Our first major event was the offsite meeting – three half-day sessions that would allow workers to keep watering plants in the fields.  DNC decided to include all employees, an interpreter, all managers, key customers and suppliers, transportation contractors, their banker, and representatives of the Oregon Nursery Association and the Oregon Departmentof Agriculture.  At the first session what we heard was an appreciation of the best experiences each participant had with DNC, some in English and some in Spanish. On the two following mornings DNC employees and owners jointly crafted (also in English and Spanish) a new vision of  DNC.  The vision accounted for potential obstacles in attaining the new goals, and ended in mutual promises from the owners and the employees to perform in a substantially different ways in the future. The owners trusted the employees with information about DNC’s financial situation as well as with their personal goals.

We made two presentations on sustainability during the offsite sessions. The company culture, it turned out, was ahead of us;  the real needs were in rectifying labor-management relations– chiefly bi-directional communications – and learning to keep promises on both sides. The environmental issues would be covered in the new context they werecreating.