"WIIFM" or "What's In It For Me" is the basis for much of what people do both consciously and subconsciously. As lean trainers we need to use this to our advantage when trying to transform a company.
People are not generally selfish however they often gravitate their thoughts to "Is this going to make MY life easier?". "How is this going to impact ME?"
I do this all the time...it's called being human. So why not use this emotional aspect when changing the current culture in a company.
WIIFM exists in every company, it just takes on many different forms.
Several of the companies I worked with in the past operated under the C.Y.A. system. This "Cover Your Ass" culture caused an inventory of additional e-mails and counter signatures.
Teamwork was thought of as never having to take the blame alone and possibly being able to shift the blame to another "team member".
My personal favorite was the printing of documents and storing them in a "safe place"....you know...just in case you need to CYA. The WIIFM here was making sure you didn't get fired, but it didn't lead to any gains for the worker or the company.
More work was generated to CYA then to actually move value to the customer.
So why not use WIIFM to facilitate the growth of a Lean culture-
- A spot bonus for implementing a change that saves the company money over a period of time
- Performance based pay due to stable processing metrics.
- Promotions and granting of projects based on learning and utilizing lean philosophy
- How you can use lean in your home life to make it easier and save time-PERSONAL GAIN
As lean practitioners I think we need to focus on the WIIFM factor and use it help facilitate change. If we try to rename it to WIIF - "Everyone" or WIIF - "The Company", we will be trying to change human nature and that is a tall order.
I would love a place where people were dedicated to making their company and the world a better place for everyone. As for today, I'm willing to settle for just some incremental improvement.
