Welcome to my first-ever Continuous Improvement blog. I joined this wonderful team in January, and I’m astounded by how settled in I feel already. To be honest, after five years with the same employer, I was apprehensive about a new start, especially on the Sunday night before my first day. Questions like “why did I think this was a good idea?” were floating around my head as I lay awake worrying about the Monday morning to come.
I think we’ve all felt that during change, even when it’s elective change. So, I lay there, half worried about the social aspects: Will they like me? Will I like them? Where are the toilets? Is there decent coffee to be had? And half worried about the work aspects: Can I do the job? Are they about to discover that they’ve made a terrible mistake hiring me?
I’ll leave the rest of the team to answer those questions but given the warm welcome I received at both the organisational and team level, I can confirm that I very much like them and the job. During my first two days I met my Director and his manager, the Chief Digital and Information Officer, and attended an induction event at which speakers including the Principal, the Chief Financial Officer and the Chief People Officer spoke. This left me feeling even more excited about joining the University and valued as a new member of staff.
The CI team showed me round the campus, which buzzes with energy, and welcomed me to online meetings including the Daily Stand Up (DSU). They took me to pick up my new laptop on day one and made sure that I could access everything I needed. As a friend said last week, it’s these small things that make all the difference.
Along with a detailed University induction, the CI Team had prepared a departmental induction, each taking responsibility for some actions. This gave me a chance to spend time one-to-one with each of them and learn at the same time. They’ve all been incredibly generous with their time and knowledge. They’re also enthusiastic about making a positive difference within the University and with external clients, and frankly a joy to be around.
In my first five weeks, I’ve spent a lot of time doing mandatory training but at no point have I been put under pressure to hurry the onboarding process. On a side note, although much of the mandatory training is what you’d expect to find, health and safety and so on, the University wears its values on its sleeve with all new staff receiving values-based training.
Over these five weeks, I’ve become more established than I thought possible in such a short space of time. I think a lot of this is because the team ‘walk the walk’ of Lean rather than just ‘talking the talk’. The DSU at 9 am every day has given me a great overview of the activities of the Directorate. Yes, there’s still lots of detail to learn but I have an overview of what’s going on, who’s responsible for what, and our strategic aims. I’m sure that without the DSU I’d also feel much less socially connected with my new colleagues.
The DSU and the weekly team meeting provide windows on team activities, and it’s all meticulously organised via Trello. (New to me but a very intuitive tool.) They have Standard Operating Procedures on file and use the DSU to share Lessons Learned. They also have a very high standard of ‘Digital Hygiene’ maintaining an easy to navigate SharePoint site where I could access all team materials from day one. So again, lots to learn but my experience is proof, if it were needed, that the methods they expound, and use, work.
My colleague Graham Ross asks in one of his blogs what a ‘newcomer’ walking into the area would experience.
Could they get a sense of what we are about within a few minutes when they entered the area? Did they get a sense of wow, this is impressive? Did they get a sense that we are living the Lean principles that we teach others?
Yes, yes, and yes.
Of course, there will always be opportunities for improvement, that’s the underpinning practice of CI. But what the team do, what this approach does, is create a psychologically safe space where ideas can easily be shared, even by newbies, every day.
I look forward to sharing more CI blogs with you in the coming months and years. I’m especially interested in culture change and the impact of CI on the employee experience.
I can also confirm that I now know where the toilets are and that there is excellent coffee available, especially at Roasters in the Student Union or from Blair in the Technology & Innovation Centre.
If you’re interested in finding out more about how CI can help you and your team, please get in touch. Colleagues within the University can also see our upcoming training events including the CI Skills for Success series which covers the 5S technique Graham mentions in his blog.
