Company: | One of the largest construction companies in the world, the project concerned the factories in Latin America. |
Challenge: | “… The ‘Technological Teams’ do not work as they should. Their members do not share their experience with each other, and as a result we cannot achieve the goals of reducing costs by avoiding the repetition of mistakes and ‘rediscover the wheel’ ….. ” The “Technological Teams” are composed of: Virtual teams with members from different factories around the world. They record and share their best and worst practices. Facilitate the conveying of Knowledge and innovation both inside and among factories. |
Objective: | To facilitate the operation of the Technological Teams by making alternative proposals that will lead to changing the behavior of their members. |
Strategy: | Providing tools to manage individual and group experience. Supporting the design of appropriate training and remuneration systems that will stimulate the participation of members of the Technological Teams in activities oriented towards the exchange of individual and team experience. |
Results: | Eight months after the end of the project, the results of improved Technological Teams were felt. Costs fell significantly, by avoiding practices that repeated the same mistakes and “reinvented the wheel”. The program was extended to factories in Asia and Europe. |
Lessons learned: | The tools that support the exchange of individual and collective experience are the key to eliminating resistance to Knowledge sharing. The focus on the human factor from an operational and systemic perspective is particularly important in stimulating people to learn and to share what they know. |