At ODI’s recent one-day conference where we celebrated 30 years of operations excellence, several companies from various industries presented their case studies of business excellence and shared their achievements.
Starting the day, Len Hansen – Consultant at Astral Operations, presented: “My Journey with Organisational Development International (ODI) since 1991.” Click here to read more.
Esbe du Toit: Organisational Improvement Manager at Wispeco Aluminium, presented: “Celebrating Innovation … A snapshot of our journey towards world-class.” Click here to read more.
Theo van Strijp: Managing Director at GFC, presented: “Grain Field Chickens: Road to Excellence Award.” Click here to read more.
Our 4th speaker for the day was Forona Stephens: Human Resources Business Partner at GWK and her topic of discussion was: “Think Big, Start Small, Unlock Excellence.”
Forona started her presentation with a most interesting video, showing the role that GWK plays in feeding South Africans.
For GWK, the most important element on their journey of Continuous Improvement has been to involve people in the process. Forona mentioned that research indicates that two out of three people are usually not engaged in the workplace. These statistics present a wonderful opportunity for improvement.
GWK also has very strong management support in their Continuous Improvement journey, which makes such a difference.
Seeing as everyone spends so much time at work, why not look for ways in which to make work easier all the time. This is one of the messages of Key 1. An interesting statistic is that 23% of adults pay their bills late, just because they cannot find them. Productive people do things differently. First of all, they start each morning eating the frog first; meaning, they first do the dreaded stuff. They then get onto more satisfying work.
Forona reminded us all that old ways do not open new doors. As the world is changing, so should leaders. A good leader understands the power of empowerment.
Author: Huibie Jones: MD at ODI
To view the full album of the recent 2019 ODI Conference: Celebrating 30 years of operations excellence, click here.