This page is a practical guide to perform a DILO. It is a follow up of the DILO methodology and tools page describing what is a DILO, its objectives and the general methodology. The templates are in the DILO templates page.
We make the following assumptions on the DILO context:
Some circumstances may prevent to apply all recommendations below; however, this is at risk to reduce the quality of output and the overall credibility of the consultants (and the client as well). DILO’s are incredibly powerful, they look easy to perform (and they are when everything is done well) but they may be risky. Because they are visible in the organisation and they are about people who could feel judged, pressured, stressed…
There are eight steps to perform a DILO
When the consultant is a team of consultants, the step 1 to 4 are in general managed by the team manager (or the nominated consultant in charge of all DILOs) while the steps 5 to 8 are managed by each consultant performing an observation.
It is not always possible to perform job observations, mainly because of Unions or personnel representatives’ opposition. This step needs to be taken very seriously. We have seen job observations stopped half the way through by the Unions, even when the top client thought we could and authorized to perform them; it jeopardized the entire assessment and considerable efforts were needed to improve the situation, but we could not continue job observations.
Always involve the Human Resource Director, double check, triple check. When there are unions or personnel representatives don’t be afraid to be proactive and to meet them; or ask the HR director to validate the DILO study with them. Anyway, they will know, sooner or later; sooner is better. Show them what a DILO is, and what it is not; as explained in the DILO methodology and tools page.
The DILO schematically provides two types of outputs:
The first is the easiest and minimum output coming from a DILO; it is almost a given. However, the level of quantification and details needed for the second output has a significant impact on the overall DILO process; it must be clearly defined to execute the right DILO in the right way.
We have defined four ‘levels’ of objective related to the quantification importance:
The impact of these four levels on the DILO process will be described in the following next steps.
The major driver to define these five criteria is the representativity of the observations since, by nature, it is very difficult to get a good DILO representativity without spending a considerable effort. Therefore, there is always the need to take the best ‘sample’, which is a mix of the five criteria.
The ‘where’ can be a functional or a physical area or a combination of both. For example, in a production plant, we may want to analyse the ‘production’ area and the ‘maintenance’ area, which may also be subdivided (e.g. production line A, B, C for the production; electrical, mechanical…for the maintenance).
The ‘when’ can be split in several categories:
The ‘how long’ means ‘how long should each individual observation last’. The baseline duration is the person entire work duration. However, it might be shortened if:
‘How many’ is directly driven by the objective Level:
Level 1: even one job observation may be enough to have at least some ‘feeling’ about the operations
Level 2 and 3: at least one job observation in each core area. It is generally not necessary to cover all the combinations possible. For example, in a two-shift production area with two production lines, performing two job observations, one in production line 1 during the morning shift and one in production line 2 during the afternoon shift may be enough and saves two job observations.
Level 4: without being statistically rigorous, the number of observations should reach or be above twenty; all or most of the combinations should be observed, and possibly with several observations for each combination.
The ideal candidates to be observed are:
If only Level 1 objective is desired (pure qualitative), and specially if there are very few job observations, it is best to select someone who is likely to speak up to get a good level of qualitative outputs.
When there are strong unions or personnel representative the choice of people may have to be discussed with them.
The following table gives the criteria best fit for the different objectives. These are indicative and must be adapted to each situation.
Criteria |
Level 1 |
Level 2 and 3 |
Level 4 |
---|---|---|---|
Where & when |
Small sample |
Core combinations |
Most combinations |
How long |
Full job duration |
Full job duration |
Full job duration Partial duration if similar all time |
How many |
Few |
Variable |
Many (>20) |
Who |
Average and Talkative |
Average |
Average or a combination of high, average, low performers |
Whether you are external or internal consultant, the criteria above and the final choice of persons might be discussed in three phases:
When there is a team of several consultants, the sub-steps 1, and possibly 2 are generally managed by the team manager (or the nominated consultant in charge); the consultant actually performing the observation may be involved in sub-step 2 while he is often involved in sub-step 3.
The actual templates to use for each type of job observation must be reviewed, and customised if necessary, to make sure they are adapted to the type of jobs that are observed, and to the objectives.
It is usually a good practice to review the DILO activity categories with the key client. That is an opportunity to demonstrate your expertise in what is a Value-Add / Non-Value-Add activity (or Muda type 1 and 2 in Lean terminology) and to coach the client. And it reduces the risk that he doesn’t really understand and challenges you on the findings, especially when it is already ‘too late’ (e.g. when officially presenting the results in a Steering Committee).
For more details, look at the DILO templates page.
This step is about the preparation of each individual observation. It must be carried out by the actual consultant who will perform the work observation.
There are three sub-steps:
The higher the level of understanding of the job that will be observed the higher the chances to execute it well. Because during the observation, the chances to ask the person what is going on are limited; hence, we may record incorrect information (or none) and damage our credibility.
Collect the following information when accessible; either by reading some documentation or interviewing someone knowledgeable
Go and visit the physical location with someone (in general the manager of the area) to give you some explanations:
If you haven’t met yet with the person in the previous sub-step, this is time to do it.
Ask the person’s manager to introduce you to him.
Tell who you are, what is the objective of the job observation, and most specifically what it is not: not a time and motion study, not an evaluation of the person, not judgmental.
Ask them if they have questions and answer them.
Be friendly; you are here to understand the issues and ultimately to make their job more interesting by reducing them (though you may find people who love issues because that is what makes their job interesting in a sort of ‘Hero culture’!).
Validate the exact work hours of the person, the day you are supposed to observe them; they may have different work hours than supposed, this day.
Validate where and when you will meet them.
Review the template, especially the activity breakdown. It will help you understand what to focus on during the observation.
DOs
DON’T’s
Fill in the template just after the observation when your memory is still good.
The text of the DILO should refer to the person you are following as ‘subject’, ‘the person’…; don’t use names.
Compare the performance (volume, quality…) of the area observed during the DILO and the historical performance to see if the day of the work observation is typical. Adjust the message if not.
After having validated with the person observed, come back to him/she to ensure that what you captured in the ‘Timesheet’ is correct, to ask for clarification if necessary and to find root causes of issues you identified
Build your final report in the appropriate format.
Review the outputs with the area manager; ask for root causes if some are still unclear
DILOs can be quite helpful to identify root causes (or drivers) as well as how their resolution (or implementation) would impact the personal, typically:
This step is optional and is in general possible only if there are many observations and the root causes are well identified. This typical applies when the objective is a Level 4 objective.
This analysis may be quite complex, involving other inputs or workshops, and isn’t described here since this is not the goal of this section.
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