The following articles are designed as teaching/promotional pieces. They will help you understand more about the LAB Profile and how the LAB Profile might be used to address issues in your organization. The first article is about Warehouse Workers. The second article is about Reservation Agents for a motel chain.
Warehouse Workers
The following conversations are presented as email notes. These notes are created using written and verbal conversations, training situations, and consulting work in which the LAB Profile technology was used to solve business problems. For privacy, the client name and address has been changed, but the type of business is maintained.
Return-Path: <rodger.bailey@gotofocus.com>
To: Archie Sampsom <archsam@bigger.sys.com>
From: Rodger Bailey <rodger.bailey@gotofocus.com>
Subject: Company Problem
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 89 10:32:41 EST
Archie: on 15 Mar, you wrote:
>. . . the norm for the kind of distribution business we have is about 1 warehouse
>employee for each $1.5 million in annual sales and we have double that number of
>employees. Now, maybe the new warehouse facility will get our productivity up so
>that we are more in line with the industry. But, I'm worried that it may be something
>else. Bill told me that you might be able to help, so that why I got in touch with you.
Archie, I've encountered this before. But, I need to gather a little information to make sure, so I've faxed a master of the two-page LAB Profile survey to you. Make all the copies you need and give it to all your warehouse employees. Also give it to your warehouse manager, the new GM you've hired, and take it yourself. It will help me understand more about what is happening. After they finish the survey, fax the answer sheets to the number on the survey.
I also want to have a phone conversation with someone who works daily in the warehouse with the inventory. Maybe it is the manager or the supervisor or one of the employees. I'm going to ask some specific questions about the task.
I'll get back to you in within a couple of days of receiving those completed surveys.--
Sincerely,
Rodger Bailey
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To: Archie Sampsom <archsam@bigger.sys.com>
From: Rodger Bailey <rodger.bailey@gotofocus.com>
Subject: Company Problem
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 89 15:15:25 EST
Archie:
I have talked with Jimmy in the warehouse and I have processed the LAB Profiles you sent. I have important information for you about the current state of the warehouse and about how things will be after you create the new, automated warehouse. But, first, I want to explain something about the information I use for this report.
One of the scales of the LAB Profile is called "Possibilities". When someone scores high on this scale they are compulsive about finding other ways of doing things. They are constantly searching for other options. They are very good at creating new procedures for others, but they have great difficulty following procedures.
When someone scores low on this scale, they are compulsive about following procedures and doing things the correct way. If they have a procedure to follow, they are motivated to do it and successfully reach the end of that procedure. If they don't have a procedure to follow, they get 'stuck'; they don't know what to do.
When someone scores in the middle on this scale, they are able to do both. They can follow procedures and they can create new ways. But, they are not compulsive about either following procedures or finding alternatives.
Of the seven employees you have in the warehouse, five of them score high on the "Possibilities" scale (and two are in the middle). This is very unusual for workers in this type of job. Normally, I find that warehouse workers are low on the "Possibilities" scale. They like to know what the procedure is and they like to follow it.
When I talked with Jimmy he told me about your warehouse. It is really a barn that you use as a warehouse. It is not very well organized (in modern warehousing terms). As you evolve your product offerings, the workers evolve the use of the warehouse space and they fix the procedures to keep it functioning.
So, this constant need to fix the warehouse procedures means that only those who score high on the "Possibilities" scale will be comfortable at the task. If they were low on the scale, they would get 'stuck' whenever they didn't already know the procedure for whatever new comes along. But, by being high on that scale, they are happy to have something new come along, because they get to modify the procedures.
It works for you in your current situation. You have a high ratio of employees/sales volume, but overall it will continue to function. But, when you create the new warehouse with the modern, automated inventory system, those employees who score high on the "Possibilities" scale will have some difficulty.
They will be very happy to help with the design of the new warehouse. They will be happy to help with the transfer of your current inventory into the new inventory system.
But, after it is working, they will begin to become dissatisfied with their jobs. They will not have much opportunity to fix procedures. After everything is installed correctly and functioning smoothly, there will no longer be the overwhelming need to modify how you use the warehouse space. The procedures will become much more stable. And those who score high on the "Possibilities" scale will not like being in this situation.
So, you can expect the five who score high on that scale to leave voluntarily within the first year in the new warehouse. This leaves you with two employees who can follow procedures. My guess is that you will need to hire only one person to fill in the gap left by those five who leave. This will put you back into your industry standard warehouse employee/sales volume ratio.
I have mailed a report with details and my invoice,--
Sincerely,
Rodger Bailey
Return-Path: <rodger.bailey@gotofocus.com>
To: Archie Sampsom <archsam@bigger.sys.com>
From: Rodger Bailey <rodger.bailey@gotofocus.com>
Subject: Company Problem
Date: Mon, 2 Apr 89 5:18:02 EST
Archie: on 29 Mar, you wrote:
>How can one person do the work of five?
Those automated inventory systems are designed to be operated by people who like to follow procedures (who would score low on the "Possibilities" scale). When your new warehouse is running smoothly, you will notice that you can push much more product through the system than you can now.
The only problem you will have to face with respect to warehouse employees is making sure that the new person you hire score low on the "Possibilities" scale. You do not want to hire people like those who will leave.
If you do not know how to recognize if an applicant likes to follow procedures, give them the LAB Profile survey, fax me the answer sheets, and I will tell you how they stack up on that scale.
>I notice that the warehouse manager and the General Manager both score high on
>the "Possibilities" scale. Will this cause me any problems?
No problem, Archie. In fact it is an asset. Let me explain a little more about the behavior patterns associated with this scale.
We have archaeological evidence that in the Four Corners region (where Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah meet) an Indian culture came into being around 500 AD. We call them the Cliff Dwellers. This was a desert land and they built stone houses on the tops of the mesas. They hunted and grew beans and squash.
They were a peaceful people and they lived on the mesa tops for protection from other more violent groups. But, living there presented problems. For instance, they had to bring water up from the valleys for drinking, cooking and for their crops.
Around the 1100's, these people started moving their homes into shallow caves which occur naturally on the faces of the mesas. And around 1300, for some unknown reason, they disappeared (no more new evidence of their life style).
Around 800 AD, as a result of trading contacts, they obtained maize (corn) and started growing it on the mesa tops. They learned how to grind the maize between two stones and make a mush they would eat with the beans (beans and corn eaten together makes a complete protein). But they had one problem:
The only stone they had was tuf (pumice). And when you grind two pieces of pumice together you get a grit. They would grind the maize and it was filled with this grit. The result was that by the time they became adult, all Cliff Dwellers had ground their teeth flat to the gums. All the paleontological evidence for adult Cliff Dwellers, from 800 AD to 1300 AD shows their teeth ground flat to the gums.
Before they obtained maize, their teeth were not ground flat to the gums; they were what you and I would recognize as 'normal'. There is a lot of evidence that these people had continuing trading contact with other Indian cultures. And those people in those other cultures had 'normal' teeth. So, we know that they could see that their teeth were different. We know that they hunted and that the animals they caught had 'normal' teeth. And their children grew 'normal' teeth, which slowly became flat. We can assume that they could see this other evidence.
At Mesa Verde, I took some time to study the evidence and I was amazed that granite was only 20 miles away, but they did not try to find an alternative to the pumice they used to grind the maize. They continued to grind their teeth flat to the gums.
I talk about this as a way to understand the patterns of those who would score low on the "Possibilities" scale. They are compulsive about following procedures. When they know the procedure, that is what they are motivated to do.
But, another aspect of them is that they do not know how to recognize that the procedure is not working. They do not know how to recognize that the market has changed or that technology has changed and that the procedure they are following is no longer functional. They will continue to grind their teeth flat to the gums.
To recognize that there is a problem with the procedure is an ability of those who score high on the "Possibilities" scale. Those who score high, are automatically gathering the evidence that indicates that the procedure is not working (or will not be working).
So, you want your managers to be high on that scale. Their job is to monitor the procedures, the results, and those outside conditions (marketplace, technology, etc. .) to recognize if the procedure continues to function. Otherwise, the successful procedures of today could be perpetuated into a future where you would be grinding your teeth flat to the gums.
Your General Manager and your warehouse manager are both high on the "Possibilities" scale and that is good. They have that ability to notice that the procedure needs to be changed.
If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact me.--
Sincerely,
Rodger Bailey
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To: Archie Sampsom <archsam@bigger.sys.com>
From: Rodger Bailey <rodger.bailey@gotofocus.com>
Subject: Company Problem
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 90 12:22:19 EST
Archie: on 12 June, you wrote:
>We were talking today about how your predictions have been so accurate. Four of
>the five workers we had had in the warehouse have gone. One joined the Navy,
>another returned to university full-time, another moved to another city because his
>wife got a better job there, and the other joined his father's business. Jimmy
>(remember, you talked with him on the phone) did not leave. He had been studying
>marketing at night school, finished his degree, and has joined our Marketing
>Department.>In fact, Jimmy has developed two more market channels for us, and we have
>almost doubled our overall sales volume. The new channels are direct marketing via
>catalog, so our revenue per unit sale is dramatically lower in those sales than our
>distribution business alone.>But we are very happy with how the new warehouse system functions. We did not
>need to replace the five employees who left to maintain out normal sales volume of
>$4.5 million. And, we have doubled our sales and we have only needed to add two
>new people to handle the new shipping requirements. AND, we are doing much
>better than the industry standard for number of warehouse employees.>Thanks for helping us understand and plan for this transition.
>Archie Sampson
Achie:
I'm glad that everything is running so smoothly. Those high "Possibilities" patterns of Jimmy's are really an asset in your Marketing Department.
It is also very important to respect those who score low on the "Possibilities" scale. It is important because, as you know, all money in business is made following procedures. Those who are comfortable doing it that same way every time, every day, are the ones who actually make the money in your company. Jimmy can create a new way to make money, but those people in shipping who follow the procedures are the ones who make it possible to have that revenue. Without them following procedures it's only a good idea. Good ideas are wonderful, but those who follow the procedures and get those boxes out the door are the ones who make the money for your company.
It seems to me that success in business is that balance between some people who are high and some people who are low on the "Possibilities" scale. One group to come up with the ideas and the other group does the followthrough.
Keep up the good work and let me know if I can help you in the future,--
Sincerely,
Rodger Bailey
Reservations Agents
The following conversations are presented as email notes. These notes are created using written and verbal conversations, training situations, and consulting work in which the LAB Profile technology was used to solve business problems. For privacy, the client name and address has been changed, but the type of business is maintained.
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<rodger.bailey@gotofocus.com>
To: "Mr Steve Johnson" <sjohnson@laquatro.com>
From: Rodger Bailey <rodger.bailey@gotofocus.com>
Subject: High error rate
Date: Mon, 07 Aug 83 17:45:51 EST
Mr Johnson, on Aug 3, you wrote:
>We have a very high error rate in our nationwide telephone reservation system. We
>are a medium priced Motel chain. At present we have 250 motels in the southeast
>and southwest. Our reservation error rate is over 5% (this means that one out of
>every twenty hotel guests has some problem with their reservation); our goal is to
>be less than .5% (one out of every 200).>When agents make mistakes, we take them offline and teach them the procedures
>again, and put them back on the phones and they continue to make the same
>mistakes. So we let them go and hire more and the same thing happens. We have
>70 agents in our reservations center and we hire about 10 to 12 new ones every
>month. Can you help us with this?Mr Johnson, I'll be glad to help you understand what is happening and help you design a way to stop the errors and the employment 'revolving door' for your agents.
I've faxed a master of the LAB Profile survey to you. Please make copies of this and administer it to about 20 randomly selected agents (not your very best and not your very worst). I also need for you to give the LAB Profile to the manager of the reservations center and to the training staff. You can overnight the completed surveys to the address on the form.
I also need to talk with one or two of your agents (and maybe your trainer). It will be helpful if they are not one of the newest employees and it will also be helpful if they have taken the LAB Profile survey and it is among those you send me. Please include their names and how to reach them in the package of profiles you send.
I'll get back to you in a couple of days after I receive those completed survey forms.
--
Sincerely,
Rodger Bailey
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To: "Mr Steve Johnson" <sjohnson@laquatro.com>
From: Rodger Bailey <rodger.bailey@gotofocus.com>
Subject: High error rate
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 83 13:31:09 EST
Mr Johnson:
I have completed processing the LAB Profile surveys you sent me. And, I have talked with both Brenda and Claudia. I have an idea about what is happening and I want you to try an experimental intervention.
If the intervention works, your reservation error rate will correct itself and you will not have the employment 'revolving door' for your reservations agents.
I have talked with the trainer and asked her to prepare some things to be posted at each of the reservations telephone workspaces. They are examples of correctly completed reservations cards and a checklist. If you post them, you should start seeing a drop in the reservations errors.
Please contact me in 4 to 6 weeks, after you have compiled statistics which shows the error rate after this intervention. If this solves the problem, I'll tell you what I think is happening in your organization.
--
Sincerely,
Rodger Bailey
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To: "Mr Steve Johnson" <sjohnson@laquatro.com>
From: Rodger Bailey <rodger.bailey@gotofocus.com>
Subject: High error rate
Date: Mon, 08 Oct 83 09:17:27 EST
Mr Johnson:
On 05 Oct 83, you wrote:
>The reservation error rate has dropped dramatically. For the last 5 weeks it is only
>.8%. This means that we are very close to our goal (.5%).>Why did putting up those examples of reservations cards make the difference?
Mr Johnson,
Those completed LAB Profiles gave me information about the thinking processes of your reservations agents. I talked with a few of them to determine some attributes of the work space. As a result of this investigation, I recognized that your reservation agents need an external "guide" to help them make the proper decisions at their task. Let me explain this:
We all make evaluations (decisions) by comparing. We compare something to be evaluated against some "standard" we have for excellence (correct, good, appropriate, useful, helpful, functional, or whatever term we use). Some of us carry our "standards" in our head and some of us need for the "standard" to be in an external form.
For those of us who carry our "standards" in our heads, we evaluate all the things we evaluate using that "standard". Because it is in our heads (and it is very handy for use) we can become compulsive about deciding. We can decide about things that we do not need to decide about; we might get carried away with our speedy, efficient decision process.
We must have a "standard" to be able to evaluate if something is "correct" or not. If we need our "standards" to be external, and we do not have those external "standards", we will not be able to recognize that something is "correct" or not. So, we either ask others to decide for us or we make mistakes.
The data from the LAB Profiles tell me that your reservation agents need that external "standard". If they do not have some external "standard" about what is correct, they will make a lot of mistakes (or they need to ask someone to decide for them, but your work procedures do not allow that - and it would require many more supervisors to decide for all your agents, and that would be an expensive solution).
So, I asked your trainer to make examples of correctly filled out reservations cards to be pinned up in the workspace of all reservation agents. I also asked the trainer to make a checklist for the steps of the task (what things to do in what order to successfully make a reservation) and pin that up in each workspace also.
I have seen this same problem (too many errors) in other work situations. I once did a consultation with a bank. Their cashiers were making too many mistakes in the codes they input with each transaction. The funny thing was that these errors started within a few weeks of when a new President started at the bank. I found that the cashiers needed their "standards" to be external, so I asked about the workspace. I was told that the new President demanded a "clean desk" policy at the bank. He wanted "no clutter" in any workspace.
Now, my experience is that cashiers all have little notes stuck all around their workstations with information about what codes to use for what types of transactions. I would expect that if they must have a clean work area, they would make mistakes. It took a while for the President of the bank to understand that these people needed their external "standards" or they would make mistakes.
The solution for the bank was to permit the cashiers to put their notes back up (temporarily). We waited for the error rate to drop and to stabilize. After a month with an appropriate (low) error rate, we had a graphic artist go to all the cashier workstations of the bank and make a list of all the codes that were up on the walls and windows. Then the graphic artist made a pretty page that had all the codes the cashiers needed. We reproduced it, laminated it and put it up at every cashier workstation in the bank. The cashiers and the President all accepted this form of external "standard" for that work task.
I hope this helps you understand why the intervention we used with your reservation agents was successful.
--
Sincerely,
Rodger Bailey
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To: "Mr Steve Johnson" <sjohnson@laquatro.com>
From: Rodger Bailey <rodger.bailey@gotofocus.com>
Subject: High error rate
Date: Tue, 06 Nov 83 15:20:59 EST
Mr Johnson:
On 02 Nov, you wrote:
>Well, our error rate is .3% now. Well below our target. Thanks for your help
>with this. And, thanks for explaining to me what was happening. It was very
>helpful to understand, because I used that idea to solve another problem.
>We have always had a problem with mis-filing. For some reason, that we did not
>understand, the file clerks put file folders in the drawers in the wrong order.
>So, I typeset the alphabet as one long strip and pasted it on the face of all
>the drawers of the file cabinets, so that it was visible whenever a drawer is
>open. These have been up for a couple of months and we are finding fewer
>and fewer folders out of order.
>BTW: We no longer have to hire new people constantly. We haven't had to hire
>a new reservation agent in two months.
I'm happy to be of service. I'm glad that you have reduced your revolving-door hiring and your error rates.
Sometimes we have small problems, but because we do not know what is happening, our solutions make it worse. This is the part of my work that I find most interesting; discovering what is really happening and designing simple, functional solutions.
Keep up the good work,
--
Sincerely,
Rodger Bailey
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