G8D - Proactive or Reactive?
Authored by Graham Cripps | Director of Results
Do you panic when asked for “an 8D by the end of the day”?
Is problem solving a discipline that you and your staff have in your “skills tool box“?
Is Global 8D problem solving something you engage with only when you have a serious problem?
Are you able to solve all your problems permanently, efficiently and with confidence?
Problem solving is often only thought to be a reactive process, reactive in the sense that we only need Global 8D when we have a problem.
Let us look at why we should also be thinking of problem solving proactively.
The reactive approach
Problem solving should be like fire prevention.
Although you do not plan to have a fire in the workplace, your organisation will have a number of things in place including: -
- Fire Marshalls
- Fire assembly point
- Evacuation procedure
- Fire extinguishers
- Sprinkler system
- Fire drill
So, if all preventative measures should fail, everyone in your business knows what to do in the event of a fire.
This is an apt analogy in that problem solving is often referred to as “fire fighting”. Well this style of problem solving costs the business, and more than just money. Fire fighting: -
- Does not provide a permanent solution
- Is inefficient
- Is predominantly left to very few individuals (the fire fighting heroes)
- Is stressful for both the business and the individual’s concerned
Global 8D|The proactive approach
So why don’t we approach problem solving the same way as we do fire prevention and emergency procedures?
We need to be prepared to be able to solve problems in the best way possible to protect our customers, minimise losses to the business, get to root cause as quick as possible and be flexible enough to be able to respond to problems across the whole business.
Using the above analogy: -
Fire Marshalls – in problem solving terms, these are the trained 8D team members that have all the tools and necessary skills to hand - ready to support any problem solving effort
Fire Assembly Point/evacuation procedure – the focus of problem solving is the methodology, the Global 8D Problem Solving methodology
Fire extinguishers – the knowledge, skills and tools to be able to protect the customer from the effects of the problem
Sprinkler system – management commitment to be able to cover the time required for people to be released for the problem solving effort
Fire Drill – this is the process of effective problem solving at root cause level.
G8D Benefits
The benefits for taking a combined approach can be summarised as follows: -
- Skilled and aware work force
- Can react immediately and affectively to any problem
- Good communication and companywide awareness of the problem solving effort
- Problems solved at root cause
- Problems do not come back
- Business confidence in problem solving ability
- Customer confidence in problem solving ability
- All problems are approached the same effective way
- Lessons learnt are shared across the organisation
Graham Cripps
Results Consortium Ltd