The first critical step in every rapid cycle improvement project is selecting the project team. It should be made up of the departmental staff who actually do the work. Who better understands the process and is in a position to suggest and make changes than those who actually do the work? This is leveraging empowerment. It makes them accountable for developing, recommending and implementing the changes. It is the very definition of LEAN: Leveraging Empowerment and Accountability NowTM.
Team members should be chosen on the strengths they bring to,the team. The more diverse the team, the more effective the team.
The ideal team has the same number of members as there were people on Gilligan’s Island. In case you’ve forgotten, there were seven.
“The ship set ground on the shore of this deserted isle, with Gilligan, the Skipper too, the millionaire and his wife, the movie star, the professor and Mary Ann, here on Gilligan’s isle.”
While it’s important that the team members are part of the process, there may be a problem. Because we are involved in the process, we may bring our bias to the project that could result in less than optimum results.
How can we ensure that bias does not influence our project? On Gilligan’s Island, every once in a while, someone, an eighth person, would appear on the island, create havoc and escape leaving everyone on the island. Every team needs that eighth person. They should be from outside the department and have no knowledge of the process. Their function on the team is to ask the questions about the process we take for granted. It requires us to explain what we are doing so it makes sense to them. In the explaining, we realize the issues and processes that don’t make sense and cause waste that we have blindly accepted. It puts us in a position to drill down, determine root cause and develop sound solutions