Two of the often overused, mis-used, and mis-understood words in plants today are "reliability" and "leadership." Businesses that have not fully understood and defined what these two words mean in their organizations and the way they are operationalized on their plant floors are taking a serious gamble in their reliability improvement journey. Selecting the right "Reliability Leader" will surely guide your
reliability journey down the right path.
Making a mistake can set any reliability-improvement process in an unrecoverable tailspin. Here are a few thoughts and experiences that should help in selecting the right Reliability Leader for your operation.
FIRST: Define the strategic business goals and objectives associated with reliability improvement in your organization. All too often the desired outcomes are left up to the new leader to define. Who better to define strategic business goals than the current C-level executives and top management?
SECOND: Define what “reliability” means to your organization. Used alone, the term “reliability” is the same as using the term “quality” alone. The problem is, "quality" can be good or bad, on target or off, a process or a department, a banner or a mission. The term "reliability" is no different. Accordingly, it's important to define “reliability” with an action and a target, such as "reliability improvement," and
associate the resulting term with strategic business goals and objectives.
THIRD: Develop a compelling position description using the strategic business goals and objectives with the specifics of your reliability-improvement actions and
targets.
FOURTH: Make filling the reliability-leadership position a strategic priority. Merely filling the position can lead to hasty and compromised decision-making. Actively recruit
qualified candidates. Look outside your own neighborhood. Use broad-based market study data to offer a competitive compensation package.
LOOKING FOR THE RIGHT FIT
Reliability improvement is a “team sport.” Thus, strive to align the characteristics of
your new "Reliability Improvement Leader" with those of your other best leaders. A Reliability Improvement Leader must be in a position equivalent to that of his or her peers, and be able to work with them on a leadership team. This includes sharing hiring or promotion decisions with others in maintenance, operations engineering, procurement, continuous improvement/lean, et al.
PROMOTING FROM WITHIN
Note that a top technician may NOT be the best leader. Sure, a this type of individual
will be a known quantity and have demonstrated his or her capabilities as a technician. On the other hand, while a top technician may be excellent with tools of the trade and solving problems, he or she may not have what it takes to be a leader.
Keep in mind that it can be awkward for newly promoted leaders to gain the required trust and respect from others in their organizations. In the case of technicians, they may more closely identify with the plant-floor world of work than the strategic intent of reliability improvement. They may also be prone to roll up their sleeves and do the technical work rather than lead others down a new and different path of reliability
improvement.
PREPARING FOR CHANGE
In many cases, a new Reliability-Improvement Leader is expected to lead the
organization on a new path to more reliable equipment and processes, yet do so under a cloud of “we don’t do it that way here.” Changing habits, behaviors, and past practice can be difficult for many people in an organization. C-level executives and top management must have the new leader’s back in the relentless pursuit of reliability improvement and keep the discussion open and positive when it comes to changing for the right business
reasons.
In the end, it's crucial to ensure that employees at all levels are kept up to speed on the organization's reliability-improvement goals, progress, and, reliability-improvement-leadership expectations. After all, reliability improvement is more about people than it is about machines, technology, and tools.
bwilliamson@theramreview.com
