The below is a ‘reasonably’ genuine example of two approaches to resolving a heating issue in a medium sized open plan office.
In November 2016, after an office move, it was noticed that the office had been getting uncomfortably cold both first thing in the morning and last thing at night. This was raised at the daily stand up and the inhabitants of the office fiddled with the controls on the heaters for a week or two with little improvement.
Below are some excerpts from the daily stand ups over the next 14 months.
| Office is cold today, anyone else feeling this? | All agreed |
| Office is cold today, anyone else feeling this? | It was the same yesterday |
| Office is cold today, anyone else feeling this? | It's ALWAYS like this |
| Office is cold today, anyone else feeling this? | These heaters are rubbish |
| Office is cold today, anyone else feeling this? | Let's tape up the windows |
| Office is cold today, anyone else feeling this? | Do you think the boss would buy us all scarves? |
| Office is cold today, anyone else feeling this? | We must be above a corridor or a lift shaft |
| Office is cold today, anyone else feeling this? | Roll on Easter |
| Office is cold today, anyone else feeling this? | I can't feel my fingers |
| Office is cold today, anyone else feeling this? | Does anyone know the legal temperature in an office? |
| Office is cold today, anyone else feeling this? | I heard we're moving building in 2020, it'll improve then |
Asking the critical question
In January 2018, again at the daily stand up, the issue was raised again. ‘Office is cold today, anyone else feeling this?’, only this time the discussion took a different turn. ‘Do we understand how the heating works?’ was the question. The response was, ‘Well, no’.
‘Do we know who might understand it?”
“Well, yes”
“Can we contact them”
“Yes”
“Will you do that today?”
” Yes”
And so, after one false start of speaking to the wrong engineering department, the team was referred to the correct engineer. He came to see them that day. They explained the problem. He explained the workings of the heaters. They agreed on a solution that involved the heating being switched on an hour before work started and switching off at the end of the working day. The engineer implemented it the same day.
The duration of activity from identifying the engineer to the resolution was 90 minutes. The team had been cold, and in poor weather, since the issue was first identified 14 months, or 613201 minutes ago.
So, what was the learning?
If you identify an issue, act swiftly and with purpose. Discussing an issue, poking fun at it, and complaining about it may be self-gratifying at the time but in 60 seconds this fades. Spend the time resolutely acting towards a rapid resolution. It is your rigor that will make a difference.
To sustain a culture of continuous improvement it’s key that issues, actions, and deviations from the norm are acted upon with speed, purpose, and determination, and returned to standard as quickly as possible. You are unlikely to be able to improve if your definition of ‘at standard’ is broken.
Being solution-focused is a mindset, a behaviour. Whether you champion a 5-why approach or just tenaciously work until resolution the motivation comes from within.
Act with speed, purpose, and determination.
