"Fix the System, First!"

When the Anson County schools began in earnest the journey of continuous improvement the need to focus on fixing the system rather than fixing people was introduced. Now, nearly four years later, it is time to remind us that staff, all staff “do things” (their work) in ways that make sense to them – not necessarily the most effective and efficient way. Another way of thinking about this is that staff, all staff perform their work within the parameters that the system allows.

So, if a staff is performing a process, procedure in a manner that is not effective or efficient the response is not “what is wrong with that person?” Rather, the response needs to be “what is it about the system that allows, causes the person to do it that way?”

We have way too many people being thrown, dragged under the proverbial bus because the system is not at a point where corrective action let alone preventive action is the norm. We are still blaming people rather than inefficient and ineffective processes or procedures.

What part of continuous improvement is not continuous?

Corrective action is one very important step towards continuous improvement because it mitigates the practice of blaming, judging, or condemning people. Corrective action requests are objective not subjective. They are a sincere attempt to correct inefficiencies and ineffectiveness through improving the way we do our work.

There are assumptions underpinning corrective action. The first is that no one comes to work to do his or her worse work – to be ineffective and inefficient. The second assumption is that each of us wants to be competent as well as effective in our work. The third assumption is that we probably know more than we think about being effective and efficient but have not been empowered to correct it.

I can recall a situation in a different district where teachers were furious at our facilities and grounds maintenance staff for mowing during the instructional day. Teachers were livid and rightfully so. The grounds crew had no idea of how angry the teachers were. The teachers went to their principals and communicated their frustration about the weekly disruptions to teaching and learning. The principals called the maintenance director and really let him have it about how upset the teachers were, the students were and for added insult how upset the parents were. The maintenance director called me and vented about how hard he and his staff work to maintain the grounds and how rude the principals were. A big mess!

I had just about everyone upset – mad at each other – blaming each other – questioning integrity, character, commitment, and work ethic.

What was the real issue?

Mowing during the instructional day!

I met with the grounds crew. I asked, “Do you like everyone being mad at you?” In Homer Simpson fashion, “dah” – NO!

They talked; I listened.

After they communicated their frustration I asked, “What do you see as a solution?

It got really quiet – uncomfortably quiet.

And then, one staff said, “We’ve talked about this before and our solution was to change our mowing schedule to afterschool and Saturday.” They went on to say, “There is more than mowing we need and want to do.”

I asked, “Why not change the schedule?”

They said, “We didn’t know we could?”

I asked them to provide me a schedule of what this could look like.

The result, looking back, was so simple. The grounds crew wanted to do great work. They had a great deal of pride in their work and wanted the schools to look their best. They ended up modifying their work schedule so they could not only mow but also do whole lot more when students and staff were not in session.

The solution if you will was not only simple but powerful.

In fact, the grounds crew became more committed to the work – they were empowered to solve what they knew was a problem all along. They would go on to identify and correct several other ineffective and inefficient practices in their department.

Staff were happy. Principals were happy. The Director was happy. The grounds crew was happy! I was happy!

The grounds crew was only doing what the system permitted. Once we got past the “feelings” to focus on the problem and possible solutions – the blaming stopped.

The point? – fix the system.

This is the intent of corrective action – we must use it to make improvement continuous.