Ball Corporation - once famous for its glass jars - is one of
today's leaders in the metal packaging business for the food and
beverage industry and a major service provider to the government
and the aerospace industry. More than 14,000 employees work for the
130-year-old company, which is headquartered in Colorado and has
more than 90 locations around the world.
In May 2007, the leadership team of one of Ball's metal beverage
packaging plants began to notice some disturbing trends including
drops in production, decreased employee engagement due largely to
poor leader performance, and increased turnover as longtime leaders
began retiring.
The plant decided to partner with a program management firm -
Training Modernization Group - for dedicated support during the
analysis, design, pilot, and implementation phases. After a 90- day
plantwide study that included analyzing key HR data reports,
performance metrics, in-depth interviews with all levels of plant
leadership, and a plantwide employee engagement survey, plant
leaders uncovered several alarming issues:
- Chief maintainers (first-line leaders) were not consistent in
effectively assigning tasks and communicating goals and
expectations to plant employees.
- Production supervisors were making tactical and operational
decisions instead of engaging in more strategic thinking and
planning.
- Managers did not have a system in place to motivate and engage
employees to better performance and increased production.
To reverse these trends, Ball crafted a plan to
- create an atmosphere that would motivate and engage employees
and thus increase production
- implement a systematic approach to leadership development that
focused on improving core daily activities
- develop leadership competencies that tie directly to the
strategic goals of the business
- improve bench strength and succession planning by developing a
substitute leader system and formal training programs for chief
maintainers and supervisors.
A Leadership Development Solution
In 2007, more than half of the 18 first-line supervisors who had
been with the company for an average of 24 years were slated to
retire within the next five years. In addition, production and
performance goals weren't being met under the current plant
leadership. To solve both issues, the management team committed to
investing in the developing leaders and employees by creating a
Leadership Performance Improvement System.
The goal was to develop effective managers and supervisors
throughout the plant who could manage employees to meet and
eventually exceed plantwide performance goals. The program also
aimed to identify and develop future leaders, transfer knowledge to
new employees, and create an engaged and aligned workforce. The
plant instituted several leadership initiatives:
- realignment of production leadership to ensure managers' and
supervisors' actions were tied to business goals
- chief maintainer and crew supervisor training program
development and implementation to provide structured supervisory
training as opposed to ad hoc or on-the-job training
- individual development plans for all key leaders that are
targeted to build upon the specific strengths and address specific
growth areas for leaders to develop "high performance behaviors"
- substitute leader qualification and training program to deal
with the gap that happens when a manager is unavailable and the
plant needs to keep daily goals on schedule
- a modernized promotion process built upon a succession planning
model.
- boost employee morale and address the drop in production, Ball
created several programs:
- a team scorecard to communicate daily performance goals
- rapid improvement events or "lean events" to improve processes
and to develop cross-departmental teams in working together to
solve problems related to production
- "Business 101 Training" to help employees as well as all levels
of management understand the key metrics that affect the business
- a "Leader to Led Promise" to explain the organization's goals,
roles, and responsibilities to new employees and plant managers
- workforce reorganization to create more effective teams, which
demonstrated the change in culture.
Results
The leader improvement process required commitment from leadership
and every manager. Managers evaluated leadership behaviors and
performance as part of their responsibilities. This program gave
first-line leaders the training and development opportunities they
needed to develop the essential behaviors required to get the most
out of their teams, which ultimately improved production and
employee morale.
In the 12 months following implementation (June 2008 - June 2009),
production numbers met or exceeded their goals 38 out of the 52
weeks. In the 26 preceding weeks before the training solution,
production goals had been achieved in only 15 percent of the time.
The plant has realized a return-on-investment of more than
$3,090,000 and increased production by 84 million units over the
previous 12 months. Spoilage decreased by 24.5 percent during that
timeframe. Customer complaints dropped by 50.4 percent compared to
the previous 12-month period.
Results from the third annual employee engagement survey showed an
improvement in 12 of 13 questions; perceptions of favoritism
dropped more than 25 percent. The number of employees seeking
promotion increased by more than 25 percent; five of six leadership
positions were filled internally. The plant now has a pool of more
than 30 qualified substitute leaders, including eight lead
palletizers, 14 substitute chief maintainers, and eight substitute
crew supervisors.
The leadership improvement process has helped firstline leaders
strengthen their ability to identify and solve maintenance issues
quicker and communication and cooperation across of all four crews
has increased production.