ABSTRACT
After the diagnostic phase, you will have a good idea of the key areas for improvement in the maintenance department and at the interface with production. But before starting the first implementation wave, you should take some time to prepare a proper implementation strategy. Because let’s face it: the project at hand is a large-scale change project, with all the related challenges. Some employees will welcome change, others will fear it, and others still will resist on principle. You will face resistance for several different reasons:
The need for change in a changing market environment is not understood—or suppressed.
Optimizing one’s working environment is feared because of the possibility of eliminating one’s own job.
Some people feel offended by changes in the processes they have been following for years: “Did we do everything wrong in the last years?”
New processes must replace the old ones not only on paper but also, most importantly, in people’s minds. Some people will fall back to old behaviors easily.
Poor visibility of and lack of persistence of the management team cause the organization fall to back to the old behaviors.
Lack of belief in the success of the improvement hinders people from using all their resources and capabilities.
A high workload of day-to-day business and project work is used as an argument against your improvement project.
