Get a Handle on Errors

Don't fly off the handle

Jeromy, shop manager at General Sheet Metal (GSM) in Clackamas, Oregon, told session eight of the Leadership Development Lab...

"A couple of weeks ago I was approached by a journeyman in our assembly area who said he had a problem. As soon as I saw the handle Adam was holding in his hand I knew immediately he was not following the quality standards we ask for at GSM. Earlier in the day I had carefully gone over our high standards with Adam utilizing Turbo Leadership System's 3-Step Training guidelines. To put it mildly, I was very disappointed. So I gave myself a few minutes to cool off, relax, and -gather my thoughts.

"Then I walked over to where Adam was working with the handle that had broken off and the round sheet metal sleeve it fell off of. The handle had broken off because of improper spot welds. I began to thoughtfully follow Turbo's 5-Step Dare+ Correction procedure. First, I said, 'The handle fell off of the sleeve' then I asked, 'What happened?' He began to explain that the machine was not working properly. After a few minutes of listening carefully I checked over his spot welder while he watched. I knew the machine wasn't the problem. Now I knew it wouldn't be enough to just tell Adam how to fix this problem. I needed to show him so he could solve the issue any time it came up in the future. I explained GSM standard of strong, spot welds. I told him that the only way you can achieve our 'GSM Gold Standard' is to regularly inspect and sharpen the torch tips. The tip needs to be sharpened about every 50 welds. It is a simple, but somewhat tedious, process of hand filing. When done at the right frequency it takes less than a minute. If the tip isn't sharpened regularly the weld quality degrades below our 'Gold Standard' and the sharpening process can be very difficult and time consuming.

"I received a great response from Adam. There was no pushback or defensiveness. He has now completed over 1,000 error-free sleeves to our 'Gold Standard' for a very important project at Intel.

"The lesson I learned from this experience is that it is extremely important that I'm consistent with all my crew on a daily basis and that Turbo's DARE+ approach is a great tool for me to use to ensure our team consistently meets our high standard of performance we can all be proud of.

"The action I call you to take is be consistent in holding your team accountable to your high standards. Everyone can see when you are sloppy and let the standards for excellence slip.

"The benefit you will gain is a team that respects you and continues to out-perform their previous best.