How to change mindsets and improve team productivity
Achieving the ‘impossible’ through coaching and possibility thinking
Go MAD Thinking have been working with Owen Mumford, industry leaders in the medical device market, for just over 6 months to improve teamwork and productivity.
The organisation recognised the need for a mindset shift influencing how quickly and efficiently problems and day-to-day work were addressed along with the potential for increased productivity.
Here’s what Jon Byrne, General Manager at Owen Mumford had to say of the programme:
Four managers were involved in our Team Productivity Programme which kicked off with a 4-day Solution Focused Thinking Programme. The programme provides the foundations of the Go MAD Thinking methodology and introduces a number of tools and techniques to increase personal effectiveness and workplace skills.
Defining clear goals
On the last day of the programme the team worked together to define several challenges for the coming months. Tools and techniques learned on the programme were put into practice to define ‘crystal clear’ goals, determine how performance would be measured, and share how they could spread and embed the approach throughout the organisation for further productivity hikes.
Coaching for success
As part of the Team Productivity Programme the managers took part in individual monthly coaching calls and were provided with resources to draw upon throughout the programme including videos, Go MAD Thinking books and access to an app which retained learning, provoked more helpful thinking and better decision making.
Coaching calls took place with one of our Thinking Engineers to develop the managers on an ongoing basis and coach them in how to introduce the Go MAD Thinking tools within their own internal teams.
Achieving the ‘impossible’
The coaching programme ran for 6 months with a number of significant results achieved in line with the challenges set as part of the programme. By using the Go MAD Thinking methodology and techniques, such as possibility thinking, the multi-disciplinary teams were able to think differently and challenge their existing mindsets around several problem areas, to help reach solutions previously not identified.
To date the impacts have included:
- Reducing the complexity of one manufacturing batch file from 200 pages (which took 2 hours to review and resulted in typically 30% right first time) to 50 pages long (with a checking time of 30 minutes and achieving between 85% -100% right first time)
- Increasing the productivity on three different production lines by 7%, 26% and over 30%
- Reduced the changeover time of one line from 90 minutes to less than 5 minutes
- Reduced waste and increased capacity across a number of production lines
A vehicle for culture change
The programme has involved Owen Mumford team leaders coaching their own teams in the use of the Go MAD Thinking approach, how and when to use specific tools. This has not only spread the effect but also embedded the methodology within the organisation creating tangible results and a change of mindset and culture. The adoption of the tools by the teams has resulted in improved teamwork, increased team morale, clearer communications and an increase in confidence of individual team members.