This is the second of a 3 part series about the power of the 20 Keys principles to enhance productivity at home during lock-down.
ODI members are sharing some handy tips on using the 20 Keys during lock-down. In part 1, Joan Bull, Johan Benadie and Mike Foxon, placed emphasis on Key 6, 7 and 10 respectively. To read part 1 of our 3 part series, click here.
To see more details of each respective Key in the 20 Keys System for Operations improvement, go to our interactive 20 Keys wheel and click on a Key of your choice. Click here to access the interactive 20 Keys wheel.
Maryke Bergh: Senior Manager – Learning and Development
Key 20: Leading Technology helped me to eliminate two of the eight wastes; the waste of time/waiting, and the waste of motions. My recently installed rain meter with Bluetooth helps me to see the readings inside my house. No need to go out in the rain and cold, while we have to stay healthy. I also no longer need to keep records manually; it is all done electronically – daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. Yes – I did grow up on a farm, and rainfall readings are still very important to me.
I can see the temperature inside the house, the outside temperature, as well as humidity, from inside my house!.
Angela Newman – Associate
Of course, for me, Key1: Cleaning and Organising is so important. Sorting, tidying and getting ourselves organised in order to create two live/on-line home offices, as well as two home schooling sites from a single person workspace, was quite a challenge. Key 18: Using Information Systems helped to ensure that all the relevant software needed were available. Key 5, to be able to change over quickly, has also become a daily activity. This entails various changeovers, depending on whoever is called to the next live meeting. The room can be one home office, then suddenly another one, or become a classroom, or a space for sports lessons, which also takes place using Zoom.
We are definitely struggling with Key 10 though; the discipline for home schooling is not always so good!
Ilse Doyer – Senior Consultant
The visual management concept of Key 2: Goal Alignment helps everyone in the family to align to Mommy’s sanity; I mean vision. Key 5 for quick start ups helps in the morning. Now, no one says they are waiting for Mommy, before they start their chores. Key 16 ensures that work is scheduled in the house, keeping in mind level loading! Key 15: Skill Versatility is also in use, because we are learning Martha’s skills on how to look after the house, just in case she is ever again absent for seven weeks at a time. Wait a minute….!
Gerda Holder – Operations Manager
Key 15: Skills Versatility has been very important during the lock-down period. My colleagues and I had to learn new skills very quickly, to support one another, and to accelerate product development. At ODI, one of our values is to continuously improve; not only ourselves, but also our products and services. This development has been phenomenal to experience.
Key 4: Reducing Work-in-Progress has also helped us, by using the principle of having a fast flow of work, and eliminating build-ups of work. All our work is done on OneDrive, which allows quick sharing, and quick corrections. We follow the CAPDo cycle, with action plans kept updated on OneDrive, which ensure that everyone is aligned, and follows the same plan. At the same time,
Key 11: Quality Assurance, reminds us constantly to eliminate mistakes; it creates a lot of waste when the next person finds an error, which then must be communicated back to the person who did the work in order to correct it; things must be done right, first time, or when an error slips through (we are all human), the correction must be done very quickly.
ODI has always been proud of their administrative function, which delivers quick and quality service, and always goes the extra mile. During this period there are many additional demands related to product development, lock-down legislation, and other tasks, I really enjoy being part of that!
Valery Hansen – Associate
I rely so much on Key 16: Planning and Scheduling now, because I received the green light to move to my new home. This has to be planned carefully, to eliminate having to drive backwards and forwards. It has to be one well planned moved.
Other than that, I touched on Key 15: Skills Development, with a CamScanner that I had to download and use to get my son’s assignment to his teacher. My own personal IT assistant, my daughter, was the coach. The principles in Key 2 of Pulling Together has been well practiced in our house.
Lastly, I realised again during these trying times how important it is to show kindness to others.
While in lock-down, it’s a perfect opportunity to scale-up. ODI is offering the NQF5 Productivity Learnership as an online programme. To enrol for this prestigious qualification, email e-support@odi.co.za
To read more about NQF5: Productivity, click here.