As I talk to many organizations on the topic of how they feel about their relationships within a site, it’s very clear that a large number of them feel their interactions in support of improving reliability are lacking. Often this has surfaced via the old way of managing the functions of maintenance and reliability by having maintenance work on their own to improve what they bring to the table and operations sitting on the sideline feeling they are the customer, not a partner. While sometimes Operations can be quick to criticize what isn’t going well, and slow to show a willingness to understand the existing issues, the best option is to work together to get back on track.

It’s all about teamwork. Reliability simply can’t be improved unless all parties understand the goals and work together to help make it happen.

In my opinion, this starts with leadership from both operations and maintenance being brought together to redefine what the needs of the site are as they relate to future health and success. Once there is agreement on these goals, then they have to lead by example which means ‘show by example’ to the rest of the organization. Jointly convey the agreed to goals to everyone at the site and explain why it’s so very important for everyone to join forces to drive improvement. It should also be made clear that it’s part of everyone’s job to help make this happen. By jointly working on improvement projects impacting asset performance and health, the climate will only get better and the culture stronger in helping form lasting improvements.

 Good luck with this vital initiative.

May 21st, 2010   Al Weber   Strategy & Leadership   Leave a Comment »