Peer Reviews

You may think your operation is going great with only a few tweaks here and there to keep it going.  Or worse you may be under the illusion, the operation is fine and you want to spend your time looking at more emergent issues.  Still you might even be at a loss to how to improve your operation to begin with.  For these reasons you need a peer review.

(Courtesy aaemrsa.blogspot.com)

A peer review is nothing more than having fresh sets of eyes review your process and provide constructive (hopefully) feedback which you can use to improve your business.  For a large company it is easy to do this since it is likely there are other internal groups that perform the same task.  It is easy to set up since companies always like their employees to help each other.

For a smaller company, you may have to reach out to a similar size company in the same type of industry (i.e. IT, manufacturing, health care, etc).  Of course you won't look towards a competitor but a company that has successfully solved similar issues in the past.  

Set up a two or three day review of what aspect of your operation needs help.  It's best to have older experienced reviewers who have a wealth of experience that can help guide you.  Invite them over to your place of business and use a catered lunch as incentive!  Once they arrive have a kickoff meeting to let everyone know what the objectives are.  If you carefully select the right people to review your operation, then the feedback will be invaluable.

You can escort them around the factory or let them explore on their own.  After the designated review time is complete, the reviewers should be happy to share their observations.  It may be difficult to listen to problems they may identify, but remember it is in the best interest of your company to improve. Sometimes it takes someone not so close to the business to improve it.

Peer reviews are essential in any operations
(Courtesy www.employeereview.com)