Eliminating communication "waste"

Social Styles Model helps companies improve communication, efficiency, and productivity

Jan Hepola wants you to think about the number of one-hour company meetings that you attend every week. Now ask yourself: how much time in each of those meetings is actually productive? Fifteen minutes? Twenty minutes? Now ask yourself to compare that efficiency to your shop floor: would you put up with an hour-long machine process that's only productive for 15 minutes? Not a chance.

That's why Hepola, a business specialist at Enterprise Minnesota, is organizing an effort to help Minnesota manufacturers eliminate communication "waste."

Using a shop-floor example, she says, helps companies understand that leaning up their communication inefficiencies will also help increase productivity.

Hepola and Enterprise Minnesota are helping manufacturers address this problem through a Social Styles Model and Versatility process initially developed by the Tracom Group. Its base assumption, she says, is that inefficient communication stems from individuals not fully understanding and adapting to how others receive and absorb information.

Among Hepola's first projects was Water Heater Innovations in Eagan, which manufactures the Marathon water heater featuring a lightweight, blow molded plastic tank that can be used in electric, solar and geothermal applications. The company had 19 employees recently participate in the social styles process. Having seen the benefits of a communication improvement program at a previous job, general manager Jeff Scholten brought the idea to their sales team as a tool for better communicating with customers, and then expanded to additional employees to improve overall communications.

Participants filled out an evaluation on both themselves and their coworkers' communication styles. Information from evaluations was compiled and presented to each person as a multi-rater perception about them. From that process, participants better understand their own communication style, how others respond to that style, and then steps to improve communication versatility says Hepola.

Scholten says that within two weeks following the evaluation process, his team showed a marked improvement in the way they would approach each other to communicate and solve problems.

"Any time you communicate better and more effectively, you improve productivity," Scholten said. "The key thing is to improve relationships."

Water Heater Innovations is in the final phase of the social styles process, which involves moving from understanding how others receive information to being versatile in relaying, or communicating an issue. As a group and individually, participants receive coaching on how to adapt their communication style to be more efficient and productive says Hepola.

Shirley Bonawitz, the company's human resources manager, sees positives from the social styles program already. She says that the process has opened the company's eyes to communicating in new ways and eliminating needless waste.

"We've become more productive and effective one-to-one," Bonawitz said. "We're communicating something the first time and not the second, third, or fourth time."

For more information about Social Styles, contact Enterprise Minnesota.

The Next Generation of Lean

When: April 29, 2009, 8:00am - 11:30am
Where: Elk River City Hall - Upper Town Conference Room
Cost: Early Bird Rate $79 (before April 15), Group Rate 4 for $237, or Regular $110
*Continental breakfast provided.



Who should attend:
CEOs, General Managers, CFOs, CIOs, VPs, Mid Level Managers, & Supervisors

• Continuous improvement directors/managers
• Plant managers
• Manufacturing engineers/supervisors
• Production supervisors
• Process development managers/engineers
• Business development managers
• Corporate financial analysts

What to expect:
Competing and winning today in business requires foresight that includes Green (environmental sustainability) and Lean (reduced costs and increased efficiency) to create strategies that deliver clear, measurable, and rapid returns. Come learn how today's successful organizations are combining Lean and Green practices to improve productivity, competitiveness and opportunities for growth.

Presenters:

Register online at www.enterpriseminnesota.org
 
For questions or more information email events@enterpriseminnesota.org or call our events line at 612.455.4239.