- COVID-19 is a virus that easily spreads, however, it is also easily containable with social distancing and reduction in touchpoints
- Leaders must focus on dividing the business up into chunks that can perform independently of each other
- Protecting the team members and the business from the threat of the virus is very important
Humans are the most successful beings on the evolutionary curve on mother Earth; however every fundamental advancement made has been driven by the sure inherent nature of a human being to compete and strive to be the best they can be. If you focus on the very core fundamental for how that drive works you will find only one answer, driven by selfish intent. The IRONY is that for us to now protect the human race we must act from a place of selfless intent in order to protect our fellow human beings and the continuity of the human race. In my mind, this is not too different from protecting the continuity of business. Hence, I believe this is an opportunity for us all as leaders to fundamentally correct what we think drives business continuity and act from a place of selfless intent.
The actions that businesses take during their return to regular business Operations in the first 2 to 4 weeks will define if they can survive in the post COVID-19 crisis until the release of a vaccine.
1. Understanding the medium of spread:
I am no expert, however, I have always believed in keeping it simple while analyzing a problem on hand which helps compartmentalize and device action steps, based on the data collected it is believed that the spread occurs through un-sanitized hands touching our face. This is a crucial topic to understand as there are certain things we as leaders must root cause as potential hot spots/touchpoints and completely shut them off/Disinfect. It would also mean it is more work for the leaders in the plant however that is where we must step up to protect the continuity of the human race and business, some of the examples would be,
a. Punch in/out time clocks for hourly team members
b. Entry/Exit doors knob to the plant/offices/lunch rooms
c. ERP system tablets used to scan transactions on the shop floor
d. Shared computers
e. Forklift steering wheels and doors handle
f. War room/conference room/lunch room tables
g. Smoking area picnic tables
h. Parking lot entry/exit gates
i. Vending machines for edible supplies
j. Microwaves in lunchrooms (Recommend bringing cold/preheated lunches)
k. Canteen shared resources like cutlery, glasses, etc
**Note every touchpoint is a potential point of origin for an epidemic**
2. Protecting the business from a shutdown:
It is essential for business leaders to be able to divide their business operations that cannot operate from a remote location into clear and distinct internal value streams or chunks of the value stream that can function independent of each other for a period of 1-2 shifts through creation of SWIP. Some of the easy ways to do this are,
a. Designated color zones for chunks of the value stream/internal value streams
b. Each color zone must have its own lunch space and portable toilets
c. Plan to have an immediate Quarantine in a color zone if a team member tests positive, keep it simple use safety tape and cones
d. Conduct an immediate investigation of a few specifics, was the team member wearing a mask, did the team member remain in his zone and what equipment did the team use while on-site
e. Reaction plan to have a scheduled cleaning company come in and deep clean the lunch spaces, portable toilets, and specific equipment as well as the shop floor itself for that specific color zone no later than the start of the next shift.
f. Reaction plan to have a scheduled company deep clean the whole plant no later than the weekend following the incident.
**Leaders must focus on dividing the business up into chunks that can perform independent of each other for a period of time to avoid risking shutting the whole business down and streamline Quarantine process in an event of a positive case**
3. Maintaining control of the Spread:
The greatest tool in being successful in business is follow-up and the rules remain the same when it comes to protecting the team members and the business from the threat of the virus. However it is essential to arm our team members with the right tools, however keeping in line with the theme we must keep it simple and easy to use,
a. Provide disinfectant bottles at every lunch space, portable toilet and desk area within each color zone along with disposable gloves & paper towels to protect from skin irritation from the use of disinfectants (Train the leaders in the specific zones to promote cleaning after every break and at start/end of shift)
b. Provide hand sanitizing bottles at every lunch space, portable toilet and desk area within each color zone (Train the leaders in the specific zones to promote sanitizing hands every break and at start/end of shift)
c. Social distancing within lunch spaces, only 1 team member allowed per 6 feet on a lunch table adjacent as well as diagonally located, promote allowing team members to have their breaks and lunches in their own personal cars to poke yoke social distancing
d. Shut down every alternate urinal and stall in the bathroom to poke yoke social distancing, layout floor templates for social distancing at the entrance of all restrooms
e. Recommended to run a 2 shift Operation to avoid overlap of team members at entry/exit gates
f. Staggered Break times based on capacity in lunch/break areas implementing social distancing rules
**hourly safety Gemba walk is crucial to ensuring all hot spots/high traffic areas are adhering to social distancing rules**
4. Executive leadership standard work:
Keeping in line with the theme, it is essential all leaders include daily tasks to their leadership standard work to ensure they drive Safety first!! I believe in Plan do check act, it is a philosophy that drives continuous improvement and this situation is no different as every incident is a learning opportunity,
a. Daily early morning COVID-19 conference call with all Executive leadership to go over government-imposed mandates and number of cases in the county/city/state
b. Development of a COVID-19 legal task force to interpret all government-imposed mandates accurately to protect the business from legal ramifications
c. Development of a COVID-19 quick response task force to help document and analyze an event in the plant
d. Daily review of inventory for Masks/Sanitizer/Disinfectant product to ensure the pipeline is always full
**Executive leader must allow freedom of expression and invest in team members through empowerment**
I believe this is a much-needed reset for the human race and nature’s way of reminding that there is strength in UNITY. We need it more than ever at this point in time and will probably change our lives fundamentally forever. We will come through this as well as always have stronger and better prepared to understand and root cause pandemics in the future.
