If you keep doing what you've been doing...

There is an old truism that "If you keep doing what you've been doing you'll keep getting what you've been getting". Most leaders, owners or managers have not yet tapped the full potential of their workforce, and yet they won't do so by doing more or even better of what they've done in the past. Research and experience indicate that companies organized by principles of high performance consistently outperform their more traditional counterparts. In fact, a recent review of 100 companies that have recently redesigned their work environments consistent with these principles showed improvements of between 25 and 60%. Pretty remarkable!

Consider these facts:

• A Corning mold machine shop realized 100% improvements in quality and delivery while reducing costs from 15% above to 15% below the competition.

• Rocky Mountain Labs reduced turnaround time from 28 to 14 days, reduced internal handoffs by 500%,  thereby improving productivity by 50% and profits by 25%.

• Tektronix Portables Division reduced inventory from $40 million to $15 million and reduced cycle time from 12 weeks to 4 weeks.

• A Sherwin Williams auto paint plant boasts of 30% higher productivity, 45% lower costs, and 25% fewer employees for equivalent volume over a sister plant.

• Coach Leatherware improved plant efficiency from 88 to 100%, improved leather utilization by 48%, and decreased overhead spending by 10%.

These are just a few of literally hundreds of businesses that are achieving outstanding results in this country. They are doing so by changing the way work is organized and empowering the people who do that work. This is known as high performance work systems!