We all want to do a good job and go home satisfied every day.
But here’s the catch: typical spreadsheet and whiteboard systems make it very hard for teams to get organised.
Does this sound familiar: the equipment you need isn’t where it should be, key people aren’t available for critical tasks and work that was supposed to be done hasn’t been done?
This leads to unnecessary risk, delays and missed targets. It can be incredibly frustrating.
On the other hand, when you start each shift with a well-thought-out plan in hand, your team can commit to the targets and be confident of running a safe and productive shift.
Commit Works gets rid of the spreadsheets and whiteboards – and provides one easy-to-use system that helps everyone stay on the same page, shit in, shift out.
No one knows what’s happening at the coal face better than the crew. That’s why our Short Interval Control app allows frontline teams to give real time updates on any changes on site – as things will inevitably change as the work happens. Maybe the equipment isn’t where it was supposed to be or key people aren’t available for critical tasks.
You can add all these changes into the system in real time using your own tablet of mobile phone. Our software makes these changes visible to managers in real time, enabling mid-course corrections and immediate fixes. This ensures the most important work gets done and has a huge impact on overall performance and productivity.
It also means less time spent waiting around and more time getting the job done.
Before Commit Works, the mine’s spreadsheet-based planning system was resulting in inefficiency, waste and conflicts due to the challenge of effective cross-team coordination with the many different spreadsheets in use.
There are two world views about frontline shift workers. One is that they are fundamentally self-interested and therefore need to be controlled and kept in line with extrinsic motivators – sticks and carrots. The second is that they are fundamentally good-willed and that their core intrinsic motivation is to do a great job and to go home safe and satisfied.
We believe in the latter.
We believe that the vast majority of frontline workers want to commit – they want to do a good job BUT they are thwarted by the complex array of spreadsheet and whiteboard systems that surround them.
When expectations are clearly communicated and agreed through effective coordination and respectful negotiation, frontline teams can commit and be confident of running a safe and productive shift.
Our systems make this kind of frontline commitment possible by providing all the information required for collaborative decision-making, to the right people, at the right time.
This improves productivity and helps crews go home satisfied every day.
Andy Greig (Former President of the Bechtel Mining and Metals Global Business Unit) explains why it is important to express our expectations and negotiate commitment from those we work with.
