As our businesses enter the new phases of a return to post-pandemic life, it will be critically important for leaders to be proactive with their employees and customers – for the sake of the health of our people and our organizations.
By the end of this webinar, you will:
- Recognize the difference between merely containing a COVID-19 related problems and preventing them from occurring again, especially if we see a fall resurgence.
- Learn why it’s important to see problems, solve problems, and share problems in your organization.
- Understand how to use methods like FMEA (“Failure Mode Effects Analysis”) and root-cause problem solving to be more proactive in your management and improvement efforts post crisis.
Hosted by Mark Graban, M.B.A., M.S., a top expert in Lean Management. Graban is the author of “Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More” a book about using simple, yet practical statistical methods that help leaders overreact less to their metrics, which frees up time for real, focused, sustainable improvement. While he works with startups, entrepreneurs and midsized businesses, Mark previously worked for General Motors, Dell, Honeywell, and divisions of Johnson & Johnson. Graban is a guest lecturer at MIT, Wharton, Ohio State University, and several international universities.
8. How We Put Fires Out Matters
1. Put the fire out (or at least contain it)
2. Understand the root cause
3. Put preventive measures in place, so you
don’t keep fighting the same fire
9. Let’s Be More Effective
Firefighting
Root cause
corrective
action
Proactive
problem
prevention
12. Being Proactive
• Swept the building looking for “vectors”
– Racks of balls
– Shelves of towels
– Containers of gum
– Bottles of soap
– Faucets and toilets
– Fingerprint scanners for entry
13. Proactive Improvements
• Each player gets their own table around the
practice court (drinks, towels, gum, etc.)
• Touchless faucets and toilets?
• Touchless ID verification / entry?
• Doors / screens to allow fresh air to circulate
• Disinfecting the ball during timeouts
14. Rigorous Proactivity: FMEA
• Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
– Reliability engineers (1950s)
– Military, NASA, aviation, auto industry
• Old doesn’t mean outdated
16. FMEA: High-Level View
• Brainstorm potential failure modes
– In a cross-functional, diverse team
– Don’t jump to solutions yet
• Rank / Score failure modes by expected:
– Probability
– Severity
– Detectability
17. FMEA: Failure Modes
• How might employees pick up or spread Covid?
– Gets coughed or sneezed on
– Passes virus across hands
– Proximity via close desks
– Proximity via meetings
– Contact with office door handle
– Contact with break room sink
– Contact with shared printer
– Contact with cell phone
18. Risk Priority Number (RPN)
• Score these from 1 to 10
– Probability
• 10 is most likely to occur
– Severity
• 10 is most severe
– Detectability
• 10 is hardest to detect
19. Typical FMEA Template
Process Step/Input Potential Failure Mode
SEVERITY
(1-10)
Potential Causes
OCCURRENCE
(1-10)
Current Controls
DETECTION
(1-10)
RPN
What is the process
step, change or
feature under
investigation?
In what ways could the step, change or feature go
wrong?
What causes the step, change or feature to go wrong? (how
could it occur?)
What controls exist that
either prevent or detect
the failure?
Covid spread Cough or sneeze on co-worker
10
Just happens
2
None
2 40
Spreads from hand to hand
9
Hand shakes
6
None
6 324
Proximity via close desks
6
Droplets
9
None
1 54
Proximity via meetings
7
Droplets
9
None
1 63
Contact with office door handle
5
Required to get in or out
9
None
1 45
Contact with break room sink or items
5
Spread from touching surfaces
7
None
3 105
Contact with shared printer
3
Touching the printer
2
None
2 12
Contact with shared "hotel" desk / computer
8
Touching those items
8
None
2 128
Contact with cell phone Transferring droplets to phone None
20. Sorted by RPN
Process Step/Input Potential Failure Mode
SEVERITY(1-10)
Potential Causes
OCCURRENCE
(1-10)
Current Controls
DETECTION
(1-10)
RPN
What is the process
step, change or
feature under
investigation?
In what ways could the step, change or feature go
wrong?
What causes the step, change or feature to go wrong? (how
could it occur?)
What controls exist that
either prevent or detect
the failure?
Spreads from hand to hand
9
Hand shakes
6
None
6 324
Contact with cell phone
6
Transferring droplets to phone
9
None
6 324
Contact with shared "hotel" desk / computer
8
Touching those items
8
None
2 128
Contact with break room sink or items
5
Spread from touching surfaces
7
None
3 105
Proximity via meetings
7
Droplets
9
None
1 63
Proximity via close desks
6
Droplets
9
None
1 54
Contact with office door handle
5
Required to get in or out
9
None
1 45
Covid spread Cough or sneeze on co-worker
10
Just happens
2
None
2 40
Contact with shared printer Touching the printer None
21. Propose & Test Countermeasures
Process Step/Input Potential Failure Mode
SEVERITY
(1-10)
Potential Causes
OCCURRENCE
(1-10)
DETECTION
(1-10)
RPN
Action Recommended
What is the process
step, change or
feature under
investigation?
In what ways could the step, change or feature go
wrong?
What causes the step, change or feature to go wrong? (how
could it occur?)
What are the recommended
actions for reducing the
occurrence of the cause or
improving detection?
Spreads from hand to hand
9
Hand shakes
6 6 324
Eliminate hand shaking &
fist bumps
Contact with cell phone
6
Transferring droplets to phone
9 6 324
Frequent use of
disinfectant wipes on
phone
Contact with shared "hotel" desk / computer
8
Touching those items
8 2 128
Stop sharing desks and
equipment
Contact with break room sink or items
5
Spread from touching surfaces
7 3 105
One at a time in there.
Mandate Lysol wipes after
each use
Proximity via meetings
7
Droplets
9 1 63
6' spacing required in
meetings; do you really
need to be there?
Proximity via close desks
6
Droplets
9 1 54
Move desks; put up plastic
partitions
Contact with office door handle
5
Required to get in or out
9 1 45
Add automatic door
mechanism
Covid spread Cough or sneeze on co-worker 10 Just happens 2 2 40 Wearing masks, distancing
Contact with shared printer 3 Touching the printer 2 2 12 Get individual printers
22. Can Do Informal FMEAs
• If quantifying is difficult (or impossible), use a
more qualitative approach
• The mindset matters more than the math
23. Proactive Changes to a Clinic
• Increased telemedicine & video visits
• Remove items from waiting room
• Electronic check in through phone
• Patient waits in car until they can be seen
• Call or text patient when they should come in
• Direct patient straight to exam room (self rooming)
• Spread out appointment times
• Wearing of masks
• Limiting visitors
• Implementing Apple Pay / Google Pay
24. Should We Go Back to Our
KaiNexus Offices?
• Is the office large enough so that social distancing can
be maintained in the office?
– Is it acceptable for workers to share a refrigerator or amenities?
• How important is it that you go back to the office at all?
– Is being in an office really required, or can the work you are doing be
accomplished remotely just as effectively?
• What is the risk to your employees and their families?
– Are the people who work in your office young and healthy, are they
caring for elderly family members, etc.?
• Do your employees think going back is worth the risk?
• Does your office provide access to a sink and/or hand
sanitizer? How will bathrooms and office be cleaned or
maintained or sanitized?
• What will happen if there is a confirmed case in office?
Jeff Roussel
Chief Revenue Officer
25. Should We Go Back to Our
KaiNexus Offices?
• Risk / Reward: Currently 90-95% effective remotely
• As small company a high degree of asymptomatic
transmission could be catastrophic in our offices
– One or more people getting sick is far more harmful than everybody
working from home
• Team has discussed working at a proper distance,
wiping down surfaces you touch in the office upon a
return
• “The most proactive thing we have done is to be open
and share operational and financial news within the
company.”
– We continue to overcommunicate about successes and failures
Matt Paliulis
Chief Operating Officer
26. Should We Go Back to Our
KaiNexus Offices?
• “Our team is young and healthy so the likelihood of a
bad outcome is low.
• BUT our team interacts with lots of other people so this
is the real risk – are we a part of the problem or part of
the solution?
• As long as people continue to get their work done, then
the benefit of going to the office is low and therefore our
risk/benefit ratio will be on the side of remote work.
• We have a much easier decision than some companies.”
Greg Jacobson, MD
Chief Executive Officer
27. For an Uncertain Future
• Think experimentally
• What assumptions must be true?
• Plan, Test, Study, Adjust
29. Final Thought
• Being proactive doesn’t mean you’ll get it perfect
• “What we thought we knew, we don’t know,”
– said Dr. Nile Cemalovic, an intensive care physician
at Lincoln Medical Center in the Bronx.
• Plan, Test, Study, Adjust
6/3/2020 35
Focusing on safety and success – getting back to work in the Covid-19 era
My background and experience are with the “Lean” methodology. To me, it was originally “lean manufacturing” – then I pivoted to “lean healthcare work” over the past 15 years. But, I’ve also been a student of the “lean startup” methodology (shout out to Eric Ries and Steve Blank) – there are common themes around Lean in any of these industries or disciplines… and a lot of it comes down to problem solving
When I work with clients, one of the main topics for learning and coaching is problem solving – structured problem solving. Some cringe or pushback at the idea of learning problem solving. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard somebody exclaim “but we’re great problem solvers!”
As we get back to work, a proverbial ”fire” might be an employee who contracts Covid-19 after we’re back in an office.
We don’t want to just have a plan for responding to a colleague getting sick…
We don’t want to just get better at RESPONDING to Covid-19, humankind has been working to be better about proactively PREVENTING it
Friend from HS is a fire fighter in Nevada. I had a chance to visit his station and we talked a lot about how his job is really fire PREVENTION – he spends way more time on that than actually fighting a fire…
So analogy of “organizational fire fighting” might be unfair to actual professional fire fighters.
We think the fire has been put out, but there are embers…