Work-Out

Work-Out has become a Powerful tool for organizations to quickly streamline their internal business processes and to eliminate non-value added activities. It engages those directly impacted in a process resulting in increased organizational efficiency, greater employee commitment, and enhanced productivity. It can be applied in any organization: for profit and non-profit, manufacturing or, professional services firm, large or small. Ultimately it can be run and managed by internal staff.

History of Work-Out

What put Work-Out on the map was its use by GE starting in the late 1980s. GE used Work-Out across the entire organization and its many business units to change the culture of the company. Jack Welch describes Work-Out as patterned after the traditional New England town meeting. Groups of 40 to 100 employees were invited to share their views on the business and the bureaucracy that got in their way, particularly approvals, reports, meetings, and measurements. Work-Out meant just what the words implied: taking unnecessary work out of the system. Toward this end, Welch expected every business to hold hundreds of Work-Outs.

Work-Out Applications

At its core, the concept of Work-Out is simple yet powerful. Get all the people together who work in, or are affected by, the work process; have them focus on developing recommendations to eliminate bottlenecks and improve the identified work process, present these recommendations to managers who make decision on the spot to accept and implement their recommendations; do all this in a rapid paced two-day workshop.

Potentia’s consultants have facilitated many Work-Out sessions across numerous industries. We have used the Work-Out process for:

• Reducing the time to publish clinical research studies by 2/3.
• Improving plant operational efficiency and eliminating non-value added activities
• Shifting an organization’s culture from a hierarchical model to a team-based one
• Managing an increased work load with out adding additional head count
• Streamlining expense reporting and customer relations management processes

We have used Work Out in the life sciences, chemical, financial, and high tech industries. The approach is adaptable and flexible, and can address any significant business challenge.

How Does Work-Out Work?

The key to Work-Outs success is a clear performance issue or challenge that affects the business, and a commitment by the senior manager or the senior management team to address and resolve it. Both the clarity of the issue and the commitment to addressing it are essential. To implement Work-Out successfully requires the following:

Preparation

• Working with the Work-Out sponsor to clarify the performance issue/challenge for the Work-Out session and to identify key participants to be invited.
• Working with a design team to determine the specific areas for the Work-Out sub-teams to address
• Identifying and training sub-team internal facilitators
• Preparing the Work-Out sponsor and other key executives to conduct their roles flawlessly.

Conducting Work-Out

• A compelling challenge presented by the Work-Out Management Sponsor
• Work in sub-team to generate ideas for addressing the business challenge
• Review of ideas by all attendees and establishing those ideas that should be developed further and presented to the Work-Out sponsor
• Presentation of recommendations to the Sponsor and other key executives
• Decisions by the sponsor and key executives regarding the Work-Out recommendations are made on the spot.

Implementation and Follow-up

• Work-Out session debrief and review by sponsor and facilitators
• Confirmation of recommendation team membership
• Establishment of recommendation tracking system
• Periodic reviews by sponsor and key executives of all recommendations and their implementation status

Work-Out Outcomes

Work-Out Participant – “It allowed us to eliminate areas that have been troublesome for years. Best of all senior management asked for our ideas, listened to them and then immediately acted on them.”

Work-Out Sponsor – “We were able to address and resolve critical issues in two days. The implementation went much quicker than I anticipated. A good process. I’d use it again.”

Case Studies

• Work-Out Case Study #1
• Work-Out Case Study #2

For further information about Work-Out or to talk to someone about implementing this process in your organization, please contact us.