The GE Work-Out guidebook

Steven Tseng 曾憲鈺

http://innofaci.com 創新與引導

November 2011, version 1.0

contents

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CONTENTS ----------------------------------------------- 1

INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS WORK-OUT ----------------------------- 2

WHY WORK-OUT ----------------------------------- 3

THE ROLES

LEADERSHIP ----------------------------------------- 5

FACILITATION --------------------------------------7

PARTICIPATION ---------------------------------- 11

THE PROCES

PLAN -------------------------------------------------- 15

CONDUCT ------------------------------------------ 16

IMPLEMENT ---------------------------------------- 17

REFERENCE GUIDE

PLAN -------------------------------------------------- 19

CONDUCT ------------------------------------------ 20

IMPLEMENT ---------------------------------------- 21

APPENDIX

THE GROUND RULE ----------------------------- 22

PAY-OFF MATRIX --------------------------------- 23

TOWN MEETING PRESENTATION ----------- 24

8 STEPS for DESIGN WORK-OUT ----------- 25

REFERENCE --------------------------------------------- 26

ABOUT ME ---------------------------------------------- 27

introduction

What is Work-Out?

Work-Out is a process for addressing and solving organizational problems – quickly,

simply, and with the involvement of people who will ultimately carry out the

decision.

Small groups of managers and employees, cross-functional or cross-level or both,

address critical business issues, develop recommendations, and present them to a

senior leader at a Town Meeting. After open dialogue, the leader makes “on-the-

spot,” yes-or-no decisions on those recommendations, empowers people to carry

out the ones that are approved, and afterwards reviews progress regularly to make

sure that results are actually achieved.

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introduction

Why Work-Out?

Every organization has it‟s own “organizational boundaries”. These boundaries give the

firm substance and structure. They create the hierarchical, functional, and

psychological dimensions the organizations require.

Like a two-edged sword, however, these boundaries also become dangerous. People „s

scope becomes limited by job level, and they become more narrowly focused on

their own functional expertise. They gradually lose perspective on each other‟s jobs.

More importantly, they lose the big picture. They can no longer see the various

tasks, activities, and functions fit together to achieve the organization‟s overall

purpose. The boundaries become more rigid and fixed.

As boundaries become more rigid, organizations lose their elasticity – their ability to

change quickly and creatively in response to change in the external environment.

It is in this setting that Work-Out shows its power.

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The Work-Out cast includes Leaders, Facilitators, and Participants.

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Leadership roles

Sponsor

Champion

Facilitation roles

Lead Facilitator

Facilitators

Expert Resources

Administrator

Participation roles

Team Leaders

Team Members

Town Meeting Participants

leadership

Sponsor

The Sponsor is the senior manager responsible for all the parts of the organization that

are involved in the Work-Out.

The Sponsor selects the focus area – the business topic and goal – and essentially

commissions the Work-Out. The Sponsor then attend the Town Meeting, make the

final yes-or-no decisions o each idea proposed, and holds people accountable for

follow-up implementation.

The Sponsor also selects the champion, and helps select the other participants.

Finally, the Sponsor issues the formal invitations to participants asking them to take

part in the Work-Out.

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the role

Champion

The champion is a business manager who represents the Sponsor at the Work-Out,

taking responsibility for the detailed preparation and follow-up to the Work-Out

session.

The champion plans the agenda, works with the design team to develop the overall plan

for the session, and coordinates and oversees the preparations.

After the Work-Out, the champion organizes review sessions at regular interval, helps

overcome barriers to implementation, and track the progress of the Work-Out ideas.

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leadership

the role

Lead Facilitator

The lead facilitator is a person with experience in the Work-Out process who helps the

Sponsor make the initial decisions about the objectives, then works with the

Sponsor and champion to design the Work-Out and organize its logistics.

The Work-Out lead facilitator also works with the team leaders, facilitators, and other

members of the supporting cast, to run and follow up on the Work-Out session.

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facilitation

the role

Facilitators

The facilitators prepare for and run the Work-Out session. They should be trained in

Work-Out methods and have strong skills in facilitating group processes.

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facilitation

the role

Expert Resources

The expert resources are people who are available during the Work-Out session to

provide background to the team in particular functional or technical areas (for

example, IT, finance, or marketing). They are not members of the team but are

expected to prepare data for the teams to use during the Work-Out.

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facilitation

the role

Administrator

The administrator organizes the logistics of the Work-Out event. This is a highly

detailed but crucial role – time frames are short and deadlines have to be met.

The administrator has the responsibility of sending out invitations, organizing venues,

helping with the Town Meeting presentation, ensuring all documentation is

recorded and distributed, and dealing with the many other tasks involved in making

a large gathering run smoothly.

The administrator works closely with the lead facilitator to ensure that all information is

shared.

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facilitation

the role

Team Leaders

The team leaders take responsibility for preparing each team for the Work-Out,

leading it through the process of idea generation, action planning, and Town

Meeting presentation, as well as ensuring the implementation of the work plan.

They also work as a group to report back on progress and learnings.

Team leaders should be selected and notified about their roles before the Work-Out

take place. They meet with the design team to go over the background for the

Work-Out, the likely team goals, and the agenda for the Work-Out. At this stage,

they also play a part in identifying team members.

After meeting with the design team, the team leaders have the primary job of getting

the teams ready for the main session.

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participation

the role

Team Members

The team members are the core of the Work-Out. The job is to be part of a team that

solves a business problem through brainstorming, selection of ideas, and

presentation of recommendations. Once ideas have been given the green light by a

Sponsor, some team members become “recommendation owners” who are

empowered and accountable for delivery on their ideas.

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participation

the role

Town Meeting Participants

The Town Meeting participants are other senior managers representing key functional

areas, who may be invited to the Town Meeting to hear team recommendations and

give the Sponsor their opinions, inputs, and counsel.

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participation

the role

The Work-Out process includes three distinct stages:

Plan, Conduct, and Implement.

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Stage I: Plan the Work-Out

Stage II: Conduct the Work-Out Event

Stage III: Implement the Work-Out Recommendations

plan

Plan the Work-Out

The Sponsor pulls together a design team to agree on the key issues to be tackled,

identify participants, communicate expectations of what people will do at the Work-

Out event, and prepare champion (business leaders) for the role.

The design team also shapes an agenda for the Work-Out event. It also organizes

prework, prepares facilitators to work with teams, and oversees the logistics of

getting everyone together.

The design team can also pull together data analyzing root causes and quantifying the

potential gains in different areas of the Work-Out.

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the process

conduct

Conduct the Work-Out Event

The workshop is both the visible beginning of a Work-Out and its pivotal event. The

workshop pulls together senior managers, members of staff function, and people

from the operating front line.

A Work-Out event usually consists of five sessions:

1. Work-Out introduction

2. Small-group idea generation (brainstorming)

3. Whole-group idea assessment (the gallery of the ideas)

4. Small group recommendation development

5. Final-decision session – the “Town Meeting”

In Town Meeting, the Sponsor and other senior managers listen to action ideas put

forward by teams – and make a decision on the spot on those to be implemented in

the final stage of Work-Out.

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the process

implement

Implement the Work-Out Recommendations

Many recommendations will have decisions that can be made on the spot and thereby

save time or reduce costs immediately.

The implementation process starts with getting the word out on what was decided at

the Town Meeting. It includes making sure that project owners and teams have

some support so they can successfully deliver on their action recommendations.

It also includes tracking owners‟ progress and assessing the overall impact of the Work-

Out across all projects.

And finally, it means deciding what steps must be taken next to lock in or even extend

the gains from the Work-Out.

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the process

reference guide

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Plan

Conduct

Implement

Select a business problem

Get senior-management support

Arrange the logistics

Introduction

Brainstorming

The Gallery of Ideas

Generate Action Plans

The Town Meeting

Implement action recommendations

Organizes a review process

Communicate results to the entire organization

Assess the impact of all action recommendations

Hold a closure work session

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A quick reference guide that can help you get through the process:

1. Select a business problem for the Work-Out. The written goal should include:

• The estimated impact if the improvements are achieved.

• Several likely improvement opportunities, or problem areas.

2. Get organizational and senior-management support for the Work-Out:

• Get the senior manager (the Sponsor) on board and make sure he or she is

ready to listen to and openly discuss improvement recommendations at the

Town Meeting, then make a decision on the spot. The Sponsor should plan the

agenda with the design team and oversee the presentation and follow-up of the

Work-Out, or delegate this work to a Champion.

• Organize a design team, lead by the Champion, to plan the Work-Out, create a

work-flow chart or process map of the issue involved, and delegate areas of the

problem to the Work-Out teams.

• Recruit cross-functional teams of employees and managers close to problem.

3. Arrange the logistics for the Work-Out event, include:

• Team facilitators.

• Location

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reference guide

Plan Conduct Implement

The Work-Out Event typically consists of five sessions:

1. Introduction: Brief participants on the business strategy, the goals and agenda for

the Work-Out, and the Town Meeting. Review the process and ground rules.

2. Brainstorming: Multiple cross-functional teams each brainstorm a different aspect of

the problem. Each team creates a list of top 10 ideas for achieving the team‟s

assigned goal. Use Pay-Off Matrix to prioritize the ideas.

3. The Gallery of Ideas: Each team presents its 10 best ideas to the rest of participants,

Participants vote on the 3~4 ideas worth implementing from each team‟s top 10.

4. Generate Action Plans: Teams develop an action plan for implementing the selected

ideas, and to prepare a presentation, including supporting data, requesting approval

for the idea from the Sponsor at the Town Meeting. Each idea must have an “owner”

who will take responsibility for seeing it through implementation if it is approved.

5. The Town Meeting: Teams present their recommendations to the Sponsor. The

Sponsor dialogues with the team and other participants about the viability of the

idea, and asks for input from managers who will be affected by the team‟s

recommendation, before making a “yes/no” decision, on the spot.

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reference guide

Plan Conduct

Implement

1. Action recommendations are implemented by project owners and teams within 12

weeks (or shorter timeline).

2. The Sponsor organizes a review process of some sort to track progress and help the

project owners with any problems the might encounter.

3. Results of the Work-Out and progress along the way are communicated to the entire

organization.

4. The impact of all action recommendations is assessed for the entire Work-Out.

5. A closure work session is held. The next steps for extending improvement initiatives

are decided on and communicated.

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reference guide

Plan Conduct Implement

• No scared cows

• No turf-defending

• No blaming

• No pulling rank by managers

• No complaining

• Focus on solutions

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The Ground Rules

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Tough to implement Easy to implement

Big Pay-Off

Small Pay-Off Quick Wins

Bonus Opportunities Special Efforts

Time Wasters

Pay-Off Matrix

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Town Meeting Presentation Worksheet

Team:

Issue:

Recommendation:

Pay-Off and Risks:

Action (what) Responsibilities (who) Date (when)

Plans for Tracking Progress (what to know and how often):

Team Leader:

Champion: Sponsor:

1. Topic: Identify topic and Define objectives

2. Question: Collect background data and design focused questions

3. Participants: Identify the people to involve in the meeting

4. Facilitation: Identify a lead facilitator.

5. Logistics: Date, location, agenda, invitation, meal, refreshment,

post- it note, projector, marker

6. Meeting: introduction, brainstorming, gallery of ideas, action plans

development, town meeting.

7. Confirmation: Verify the consensus and next steps.

8. Follow-up: Ensure action recommendations are implemented.

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8 Steps to Design Successful Work-Out

reference

Book:

《 The GE Work-Out: How to Implement GE‟s

Revolutionary Method for Busting

Bureaucracy and Attacking Organizational

Problems--Fast》

Ulrich David / Kerr Steve / Ashkenas Ronald

N. / Burke Debbie / Murphy Patrice,

McGraw-Hill

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about me

Steven Tseng 曾憲鈺

Motorola University Certified Six Sigma Black Belt

User eXperience Designer

Innovator and Facilitator

(Strategic Planning,

Scenario Planning,

Business Model Design,

Innovation Process Design)

ASUS Certified Trainer

http://innofaci.com

e-mail: Steven.hy.tseng@gmail.com

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