Facilitating Root Cause Analysis at Satellite Locations?

When you help facilitate a root cause analysis or investigation at a company site removed from the corporate headquarters, do you ever experience things like this?

• Being used to their autonomy, people are suspicious and resistant when folks from headquarters come waltzing in.
• They don't really want their problems to be in the spotlight, nor the causes to be revealed -- especially not to upper management.
• Site leaders feel like they're losing control of their domain, and that their authority is being undermined.
• They worry that they won't be able to discipline their people within their usual discretion.

 

So, it is possible to improve on that scenario?  From my 26 years performing corrective action in a large industrial organization, yes.  But it takes a well-planned and deliberate approach.  Following are practices that worked for me and my team.

 

• Recognize that every satellite location has a culture of its own - unique from corporate and from other satellite locations. Be humble and open-minded enough to understand and adapt to each site.
• Recognize that each satellite location is much like a family. Even though they may bicker, when push comes to shove they will be more loyal to each other than to anyone else.
• To effectively communicate with the people directly involved in problem incidents, you must have a solid relationship with them beforehand. Seek ways to build tangible trust.
• To change inaccurate perceptions, you first need to know what their perceptions are. Genuine motives, face-to-face contact, direct questions, and careful listening are critical.
• Communicate your motives clearly. If you don't tell them, they will draw their own conclusions, filling in the blanks with a negative attitude like, "what are you trying to do to me, make my job harder?"
• Demonstrate that the intention is to eliminate problems they relate to, that directly affect them -- and to make sure that the problem doesn't happen again to someone else.
• Give them credit. Acknowledge what they do to create results that improve the workplace. Be specific and refer to tangible results. Demonstrate that you really understand and notice.
• Don't ever revert to blame.
• Emphasize that solutions - which often will represent changes in their processes/procedures -- will benefit them, the workplace, the bottom line, etc.
• People who work in the area where the problem occurred may think they know the causes better than anyone. Indeed, they work most directly with the causes and effects. How can their experience be respected, tapped and utilized to identify the true causes?
• Quietly realize, though, that the people directly involved may not really have the big-picture perspective on the processes and systems, or on the materials/parts.
• When you use the Apollo RCA method correctly, you will make a sincere and concerted effort to glean their input through a structured process of productive input-gathering - avoiding any personal opinion, speculation, negativity, finger-pointing, excuse-making, etc.

If management buy-in could use some improvement, too, see my previous entry titled, "Feel expendable to upper management? Improve the corporate quality culture."

John Stiller | 13 April 2010

 

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