Honeywell International, like most companies these days, are always looking for ways to improve. When I was the Learning and Development and Process Improvement Manager at one of their Aerospace sites in the West of England, my role was to drive Improvement and Change through Learning and Development. In the face of growing corporate and stakeholder pressure and increasing Customer demands, this was no easy task. We were often too busy doing real work, to do real work.

SixSigma
Developed by Motorola as a means of improving the performance of processes, SixSigma is the primary improvement vehicle adopted by the Honeywell organisation. It uses a set of quality problem-solving tools to identify, analyse and then improve business processes, by reducing variation, cutting waste and cost.

Pinpoint Facilitation™ in action
In the summer of 1994, I was attending a huge conference in Warwick University run by the N.S.Q.T, a National Organisation who promote Teamwork. Companies from all business sectors were present. I sat open-mouthed in one of the Workshops as around 40 people were facilitated at once using a very simple method called Pinpoint Facilitation™.

We spent 2 hours identifying the key business issue that each of us faced, and then the actions necessary to solve them. There was little talking but a lot of activity.

I was hooked. As a Facilitator and Manager, I have attended many problem-solving and general business meetings that seemed to me to be no more than hot air. Waffly words floating around the room.

Pinpoint Facilitation™ is radically different. Everyone in the session is involved, all decisions are made by the Group, and central ideas and concepts are "visualised", we can see what is going on. A simple training course and a small investment in equipment enabled us to get started and from that moment on we conducted all of team based activities using Pinpoint Facilitation™.

The effect was staggering. In over 5 years, we conducted around 200 sessions, all of which were highly successful. Some of the most significant were those that involved either Senior Management teams or Task teams.

Some Successes from the Archives
We designed, produced and delivered Customer Satisfaction surveys, using a team approach, within a 3 month time-scale, from scratch. Without Pinpoint Facilitation™, this would have taken endless meetings, been frustrating and would have eventually been left to 1 or 2 individuals. The team stayed together throughout and volunteered to accept actions willingly.

We conducted a Strategy Workshop with the Senior Managers. This took 4 hours and resulted in the identification of key Markets, Products and Processes to take the Company forward. In the words of one Senior Director "We achieved more with you in 4 hours than we have on our own in 4 years !!"

We used Pinpoint Facilitation™ as the method by which we determined our Strategy and future staffing needs for a new Business. The actions were quickly identified and a vision for the future resulted. Pinpoint Facilitation™ enabled the delegates to achieve a level of team performance previously unheard of.

So what of "SixSigma"?
In June 1998, we began our journey into SixSigma. Initial board level workshops identified key projects and key personnel to take the Company forward. Our "Blackbelts", or experts, were trained and we then devised a Training and Learning strategy to deploy this knowledge internally through "Greenbelts". Pinpoint Facilitation™ techniques have become an integral tool in SixSigma learning, in addition to be the primary vehicle for improvement workshops and internal learning sessions.

The end . . . .
Pinpoint Facilitation™ changed the way we worked. As the old adage goes:-
"If I tell you, you will forget
If I show you, you may remember
If I involve you, you will understand"
In my opinion, "involving people" is the single most important element of Business Success. If you would like to know more, please contact Pinpoint Facilitation on +44(0)1865 400777 or email Reg Collins.