process improvement

One of my recent clients that had me analyze the design of their products also asked to me assess the human factors of the brand and associated marketing and instructional material.  What was very interesting for me was to learn about the process they undertook when developing a brand campaign for their products.  That experience serves as part of the basis for this blog.  There is much to be learned and can be applied from an external customer focused branding/marketing campaign to an internal project branding/marketing campaign.  The framework and phases involved serve as the foundation o

“Image Is Everything!”  That was the branding/marketing message for Canon cameras back in the early 90s.  Tennis star Andre Agassi was their spokesman for TV and print ads.  In writing this second part of my blog series on branding this branding message immediately came to mind.  Why?  Because more often than not the approval and success of a project depends on its image—whether inside or outside an organization.

Brands.  All organizations have them.  Every product has one.  Nearly every service has one.  Even some people have them (think Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey).  I’ve worked in some companies and some of their customer service and wellness programs have them.  But rarely, if ever, do ergonomics projects have them.  Why is that and why is it important?

What is ergonomics?  What is human factors?  How can human factors and ergonomics (HF/E) help my business?

“Safety is an attitude.  How’s yours?”  That tagline was one I created for one of my clients as a way to get the staff and management excited and bought into the new injury prevention system that I was assisting in design and implementation.  Attitude is vitally important to success whether it’s in regards to safety, sales, marketing or performance.  A company’s attitude towards employee health, wellness and safety will go a long way into attaining zero work-related injuries.

Do you think it’s possible to eliminate work-related injuries (in your company)?  Is your (company) goal to have zero work-related injuries?  I frequently ask these two questions to my clients.  The answers (and looks on their faces) are quite varied.  There are those who immediately answer the first one by saying it’s “impossible” to have no injuries.  I’ve sometimes gotten the sense that they think I’m nuts for even asking the question and thinking that it is possible.  With the given response to the first question, their obvious answer to the second question is “No”.

Have you ever had an experience with a product or a machine in which you said to yourself, “This is a poor design”?  Or, have you ever walked into a space (office, store, restaurant, etc.) find yourself saying, “Why is this here and not over there?” or “What were they thinking (when they designed this)”?

“It’s impossible for me to this because….”

“There’s no way I can do it that way”

“It’s difficult for me to do it that way because…”

“If I did it that way, ____ would happen”

If you’ve heard statements similar to these it’s probably because your employees have obstacles or barriers in their way of performing and doing things the way they’ve been trained or instructed.  In this final blog series I’m going to discuss how to approach obstacles and barriers that get in the way of employees doing what they’ve been trained to do.

The last of the four common reasons for why employees don’t do what they’ve been trained to do are barriers.  Think of barriers as a thick and high brick wall.  There is no way for a worker to do what you’ve told them because a wall is in their way.  The workers lack the equipment and tools or authority to they need to do their job as they’ve told.  Barriers must be addressed and removed as soon as possible as they prevent the ability to perform the task, perform the task safety and/or take safety precautions that control their and their coworkers’ exposure to risk.

Part 2 of They’ve Been Trained, So Why Do They Still Not Do (fill in the blank)?

In my previous blog I asked the question, “Why Do Employees Still Not Do What They’ve Been Trained?”  It’s been my experience that they are at least four common reasons why employees don’t do what they’ve been told.  The first one I want to focus on is habits. Habits are a behavior that we repeat and repeat without even thinking.  For all habits, the brain-body connection is well worn in.  We do it without thinking so to stop doing it requires us to think about it.