Teams

A Whitepaper from Juran

The Source for Breakthrough

The OperationalPower of ValueEngagementTeams©

Juran

Our expertise has been developed over more than six decades of real-world experience, and our methods are universal and have been applied in nearly every industry and culture around the world. Our mission is to prepare a new generation of business leaders who will build greater prosperity for our society through the application of the operational excellence methods and values of Dr. Joseph M. Juran in the context of new technologies, advanced applications, and expanding lessons learned. We want to be seen as trusted

advisers, enabling global leaders to achieve measureable, breakthrough results.

2 The Operational Power of Value Engagement Teams

The Operational Power ofValue Engagement Teams©

Over the last several decades,numerous studies have shown thecriticality of engaged employees onthe success of a business. So much sothat an entire industry of business andH.R. consultants has developed aroundthe tenet that engaged employeesprovide a competitive marketadvantage. Yet, despite all the work inthis area, employees globally are“checking out” in record numbers. Infact, the 2014 Towers Watson GlobalWorkforce Study concluded that 60%of all employees globally are not highlyengaged.

Many companies have focused onengaging employees by driving qualityimprovement initiatives down to thefront-line, so that all employeesbecame “quality experts,” evolvingquality improvement from a focus onsporadic events to continuousimprovement activities. These effortshave taken the form of Lean events, SixSigma projects, Root Cause CorrectiveAction teams, and more.

Yet, by and large, employees are stillnot highly engaged.

In fact, the Towers Watson study foundthat only four in 10 employees globallyare highly engaged workers. Twenty-four percent were disengaged, and theremaining 36% were eitherunsupported or detached. How didthis happen? More important, how docompanies overcome these dismalstatistics.

The answer, we believe, is to movefrom traditional quality improvement,Lean, and Six Sigma teams to the

deployment of Value EngagementTeams. A Value Engagement Teamimplements and sustains solutions thatmove beyond the traditionaldepartmental quality team by aligningits work with the company’s short- andlong-term business goals andobjectives.

Historically, departmental-based teams– whether they were employeeinvolvement teams, employeeengagement teams, self-directed workteams, self-control teams, ordepartmental work groups – have hada great deal of autonomy in selectingthe projects to work on.

More often than not, these teams pickprojects that are important to thedepartment, rather than what areimportant to the organization. This, inturn, creates an organizational schismthat can easily undermine effectivenessand efficiency not only within thedepartment, but also across thecompany.

Value Engagement Teams, on theother hand, are functional teamsfocused on the sustainment ofimproved and standardized workprocesses that have been developedby higher-level, multi-functionalimprovement teams, rather thanselected at the department level. Assuch, Value Engagement Teamssupport higher-level qualityimprovement projects and, by design,maintain alignment with corporatestrategy. In other words, ValueEngagement Teams are engaged inthe strategic direction of the businessby providing value as defined by thecompany.

Juran Global has helpedhundreds of organizations

align corporate strategywith departmental

performance improvementprograms through the

deployment of ValueEngagement Teams. To

learn more about ourimplementation roadmap,

call us at 800-338-7726.

3 The Operational Power of Value Engagement Teams

As such, Value Engagement Teams cancreate the level of employeeengagement required for companiesto maintain a competitive edge intoday’s global market. These teamsenable employees at the functional ordepartmental level to integrate theirimprovement activities with the largercorporate strategy to create value –whether value is defined as externalvalue to the customer or internal valueto other functions or departments.

How Structure Gets in the Way

In a typical organization, there are aset of functions that report to mid-levelleaders who report to executives. Ifthere is a problem in one function, thecause is typically found somewherewithin the company.

To correct the defect, the organizationusually assembles a multi-functionalteam of people who have a vestedinterest in the outcome. This team isled by someone with advancedtraining in performance improvementand is championed by a leader. Whilethese teams might be outstanding inidentifying root causes, they also oftenhave difficulty in getting teammembers involved in embracing andlaunching solutions that will eradicatethe problem being addressed.

This is where the Value EngagementTeam comes in and why these teamsare strategically important, as one roleof the Value Engagement Team is tohelp multi-functional teams implementsolutions locally. The easiest andsimplest way to do this is to have allmembers of the multi-functional teamform Value Engagement Teams in theirdepartments for the purpose ofimplementing and sustaining theidentified improvement solution.

Consequently, these ValueEngagement Teams implementsolutions that are aligned with – andaddress – corporate strategy, ratherthan merely focusing on issues at thelocal level that may not have an impactoutside the team’s own department.

It ensures that all Value EngagementTeams on working on things that aretruly important.

The Question of What is Important?

A department whose performanceimprovement projects aren’t alignedwith corporate strategy may have thegreatest of intentions, but actuallymight be undermining the company’sability to achieve its goals andobjectives. Lacking this much-neededcollaboration, the department mayfocus on the wrong things, selectingimprovement projects that could easilysub-optimize other businessprocesses.

Even worse, the department may err inits definition of “value.” For example, acompany may elect a market strategythat focuses on responding tocustomer needs. If the company’s callcenter defines value as two-minute callcycle times, but the corporate strategydefines value as making sure thecustomer gets the right answer nomatter how long it takes, the callcenter will actually be working against– and undermining – the biggercorporate strategy.

However, because the ValueEngagement Team is working locallyon behalf of the larger, multi-functionalimprovement team, the previousscenario is prevented from happening.If the larger team has defined value,and that definition is effectivelytranslated to the Value EngagementTeam as part of a solutionimplementation, then the local team –

Value Engagement Teamsremove the question of

“what is important?” at thefunctional and

departmental levels,ensuring strategic

alignment from thecorporate office to the front

line.

4 The Operational Power of Value Engagement Teams

or functional team – can now measureits performance against criteria that isin alignment with corporate goals andobjectives.

Hence, the Value Engagement Teamwill never have to wonder what isimportant and whether the work of theteam is meaningful to the organizationas a whole. Value Engagement Teamsthat are armed with this knowledgeresults in more engaged employeeswho work in a heightened state of self-control. This, in turn, produces betterand more sustainable results.

The Element of Self-Control

Early studies conducted by Dr. JosephJuran showed that the most motivated,engaged, and successful employeeshave three elements of self-controlbuilt into their jobs:

1. They know exactly what isexpected (standards and critical-to-quality requirements)

2. They know how they are doingcompared to the standards(timely feedback)

3. They have the ability to changeand sustain the process (capableprocess, tools, authority)

The reason Value Engagement Teamsare so effective is that they aredesigned with the above criteria inmind. Because the Value EngagementTeam’s improvement project isdirected from a global, multi-functionalteam – with value clearly defined,standards and critical-to-qualityrequirements are clear. There is noguessing about what is important.

Critical-to-quality requirements – bytheir very nature – are metric based,which allow the Value EngagementTeam to compare its results againstthe standards that have been put forth,providing much-needed timely

feedback. Finally, because the ValueEngagement Team has beenempowered to change the process tomeet or exceed the critical-to-qualityrequirements, the team is operatingwithin a prescribed authority.

Requirements for StartingValue Engagement Teams

There is no standard prescription ofwhat a Value Engagement Team mayneed, as it is wholly dependent on thematurity of the organization’s qualityimprovement program. Mostimportant, though, Value EngagementTeams require a fundamentalknowledge of the goals, objectives,and strategies of the organization.Second, Value Engagement Teamsneed to know what process changesthey are being asked to implementand how those changes align to thebigger corporate strategy. These twothings are the core requirements ofany Value Engagement Team.

Beyond understanding the overallorganizational strategy and how theirValue Engagement Team aligns withhigher-order initiatives, it may bebeneficial to provide members of theteam with the following:

Training on overcomingresistance to change

Team skills, such as workingtogether and collaboration

Basic quality improvementmethods, such as Six SigmaDMAIC, Quality by Design, orroot cause analysis

Value-based tools, such as value-stream mapping and cost-of-poor-quality analysis

Lean tools, such as 6S andmistake-proofing

Training on how to read graphsand charts

Dr. Joseph Juran identifiedthree elements that

produce highly motivated,engaged, and successful

employees. These threeelements are the

foundation of ValueEngagement Teams.

5 The Operational Power of Value Engagement Teams

The Goal of Engaging Employees

Engaging employees, in and of itself, isnot the goal. The true goal is toengage employees in something ofvalue – something the organizationdeems of value – such as satisfyingcustomers, improving productivity, orcreating greater efficiencies. Engagingemployees in this way is what ValueEngagement Teams are designed todo.

Imagine having this type of engagedwork force, complete with ValueEngagement Teams whose work arealigned with corporate goals andobjectives. Then, when faced with amajor market shift that forces yourexecutive team to restate itsmarketplace targets – which requiresrapid and immediate changes tovarious processes across theorganization – your Value EngagementTeams can help you react morequickly, maintain an advantage overthe competition, or quickly catch up toyour competitors, if that is what youneed to do.

On the other hand, if functional areasand departments don’t know what’scritical to the business, they’ll simplyguess – and most of the time, they’llguess wrong. Furthermore, if theydon't know what's critical, then they'realso not measuring what matters.Should that occur, it is a sure bet thatdepartments are not sustaining theirgains – nor or they achievingmeasurable breakthrough results.

However, it doesn’t have to be thatway. It certainly won’t be if you harnessthe power of Value EngagementTeams.

Juran Global Assessments

Organization Health Check: Withover 1,000 assessments completed, we

can jump start your journey tobecoming a world-class organization.The Organization Health Checkprovides a quick qualitative review or“fitness test” against industry bestpractices.

COPQ Assessment: The cost of poorquality is the difference between thecosts of a perfectly performing processand versus the actual costs. The JuranCOPQ assessment results in thequantification of the potential dollarsthat are lost due to ineffective andinefficient processes. This includesunderstanding the customer needsthrough the design, development,production, transportation, installation,and servicing of those goods to meetcustomer needs.

Employee Engagement: We focus onthe practices, shared mindset, andethos of your organization to identifythe willingness and ability ofemployees to contribute to thesuccess of the company and the extentto which employees put discretionaryeffort into their work in the form ofextra time, brainpower, and energy.

Quality Management System (ISO): AQuality Management System allowsyou to maintain stable internalprocesses. It enables quick adaptationto new customer demands, all thewhile delivering superior products andservices in an ever-changing market.

To learn more about our assessments,or to take the Organization HealthCheck, please visit our website athttp://juran.com, or contact us at:

Juran Global800.338.7726info@juran.comhttp://www.juran.com/contact-us

Copyright © 2015 Juran Global.All rights reserved.

Juran Global offers manytypes of assessments and

services that enableorganizations to become

more effective andefficient, thereby making

them more competitive. Formore information, call us at

800-338-7726.