1st September 2008
Shifting from a Reactive to a Proactive culture
Angelo Agresti - September 2008
Pundits suggest that establishing a proactive operation culture where maintenance and production people work in cooperation is the Holy Grail [*]. You’ve got to be kidding! Production and maintenance working in cooperation is fundamental to operational performance.
Management commitment and leadership is essential so production and maintenance can cooperate; it was necessary in the past and still is today. The difference is that today an operation is far more automated and relies on less people to deliver increased levels of output creating a greater need for cooperation of production and maintenance.
One of the reasons why a reactive culture is prevalent in so many operations is because management apply logic associated with the division of labour and management theory derived from the industrial age. Managers today are under the same pressure to achieve profit targets as their predecessors were and similarly demand action from their personnel. The problem, both then and now, is that the resources and support essential to long term, stable operation performance are not provided.
Operational goals are more often associated with production activity (output) without proper regard to maintenance activity; personnel are driven to focus their actions to minimise the duration of any operational delay. These repeated actions become habit and ultimately define the prevailing culture; “we have the best response and recovery time in the industry”.
Managers become aware their operation is reactive and recognise this needs to change. They recognise that a proactive culture is fundamental to achieving Operational Excellence. They attempt to improve performance by introducing key performance indicators (KPI) and then set goals along with orders that people must achieve performance considered consistent with Operational Excellence. This is where the effort to shift from a reactive to proactive culture fails; despite even more attention, the situation does not improve or the problem becomes worse!
Culture is defined by attitude and habits; habits are displayed as actions; actions are shaped by managing performance to achieve outcomes. Management leadership and commitment of resources is the essential ingredient in empowering people to break reactive habits and stay focused on proactive actions. Establishing leadership and providing necessary resources is hardest when output is below target and budgets are tight.
If your operation culture seems to be stuck in the reactive domain then appropriate management commitment and leadership is what you need. What does management commitment and leadership mean? Stay tuned for the answer and how you know if it exists within your operation.
* S Badman, The Holy Grail of Maintenance Planning: Integrating with Operations, Originally presented at ICOMS 2007 and published in Asset Management & Maintenance Journal, Vol 21 No 2 pp 8 - 15
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