Comments on: Hidden Project Factory http://www.reformingprojectmanagement.com/2006/10/30/677/ The magazine for the project age Sat, 30 Aug 2008 05:18:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.5 by: David Schmaltz http://www.reformingprojectmanagement.com/2006/10/30/677/#comment-10891 Tue, 31 Oct 2006 17:35:04 +0000 http://www.reformingprojectmanagement.com/2006/10/30/677/#comment-10891 I am exchanging emails with the CEO of a major aerospace contractor, and he claims that the hidden factory (not his words) is fear. The fear that comes from suspecting that your latest innovation will evaporate your job. So, he's working hard, if not to eliminate fear from the workplace (an impossibility- there are no guarantees) but to elicit trust. When conditions dictated that a plant be merged with another 30 miles away, he provided free transportation for three years for the displaced workers. Time enough for them to decide if they wanted to move closer, commute themselves, or find another employeer. So many companies are leaning up through anoexoria that they encourage people to bulk up. The resulting bloat is perfectly understandable. As this CEO says, "My people aren't stupid. They won't suggest improvements if they mean they might lose their job." He also claims one stunning insight. He believes that lean is a journey, one that properly engaged in, should take decade-if ever-to complete. Shifting the mindset from achieving a position to traveling continually, he says, is the chief challenge. If you knew you would never arrive at a destination, would you ever embark? david schmaltz I am exchanging emails with the CEO of a major aerospace contractor, and he claims that the hidden factory (not his words) is fear. The fear that comes from suspecting that your latest innovation will evaporate your job. So, he’s working hard, if not to eliminate fear from the workplace (an impossibility- there are no guarantees) but to elicit trust. When conditions dictated that a plant be merged with another 30 miles away, he provided free transportation for three years for the displaced workers. Time enough for them to decide if they wanted to move closer, commute themselves, or find another employeer.

So many companies are leaning up through anoexoria that they encourage people to bulk up. The resulting bloat is perfectly understandable. As this CEO says, “My people aren’t stupid. They won’t suggest improvements if they mean they might lose their job.”

He also claims one stunning insight. He believes that lean is a journey, one that properly engaged in, should take decade-if ever-to complete. Shifting the mindset from achieving a position to traveling continually, he says, is the chief challenge.

If you knew you would never arrive at a destination, would you ever embark?

david schmaltz

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