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The GE Work-Out
guidebook
Steven Tseng 曾憲鈺
http://innofaci.com 創新與引導
November 2011, version 1.0

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contents
CONTENTS ----------------------------------------------- 1 REFERENCE GUIDE
INTRODUCTION PLAN -------------------------------------------------- 19
WHAT IS WORK-OUT ----------------------------- 2 CONDUCT ------------------------------------------ 20
WHY WORK-OUT ----------------------------------- 3 IMPLEMENT ---------------------------------------- 21
THE ROLES APPENDIX
LEADERSHIP ----------------------------------------- 5 THE GROUND RULE ----------------------------- 22
FACILITATION --------------------------------------7 PAY-OFF MATRIX --------------------------------- 23
PARTICIPATION ---------------------------------- 11 TOWN MEETING PRESENTATION ----------- 24
THE PROCES 8 STEPS for DESIGN WORK-OUT ----------- 25
PLAN -------------------------------------------------- 15 REFERENCE --------------------------------------------- 26
CONDUCT ------------------------------------------ 16 ABOUT ME ---------------------------------------------- 27
IMPLEMENT ---------------------------------------- 17
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introduction
What is Work-Out?
Work-Out is a process for addressing and solving organizational problems – quickly,
simply, and with the involvement of people who will ultimately carry out the
decision.
Small groups of managers and employees, cross-functional or cross-level or both,
address critical business issues, develop recommendations, and present them to a
senior leader at a Town Meeting. After open dialogue, the leader makes “on-the-
spot,” yes-or-no decisions on those recommendations, empowers people to carry
out the ones that are approved, and afterwards reviews progress regularly to make
sure that results are actually achieved.
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introduction
Why Work-Out?
Every organization has it‟s own “organizational boundaries”. These boundaries give the
firm substance and structure. They create the hierarchical, functional, and
psychological dimensions the organizations require.
Like a two-edged sword, however, these boundaries also become dangerous. People „s
scope becomes limited by job level, and they become more narrowly focused on
their own functional expertise. They gradually lose perspective on each other‟s jobs.
More importantly, they lose the big picture. They can no longer see the various
tasks, activities, and functions fit together to achieve the organization‟s overall
purpose. The boundaries become more rigid and fixed.
As boundaries become more rigid, organizations lose their elasticity – their ability to
change quickly and creatively in response to change in the external environment.
It is in this setting that Work-Out shows its power.
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5.
The Work-Out cast includes Leaders, Facilitators, and Participants.
Leadership roles Facilitation roles Participation roles
Sponsor Lead Facilitator Team Leaders
Champion Facilitators Team Members
Expert Resources Town Meeting Participants
Administrator
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the role
leadership
Sponsor
The Sponsor is the senior manager responsible for all the parts of the organization that
are involved in the Work-Out.
The Sponsor selects the focus area – the business topic and goal – and essentially
commissions the Work-Out. The Sponsor then attend the Town Meeting, make the
final yes-or-no decisions o each idea proposed, and holds people accountable for
follow-up implementation.
The Sponsor also selects the champion, and helps select the other participants.
Finally, the Sponsor issues the formal invitations to participants asking them to take
part in the Work-Out.
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the role
leadership
Champion
The champion is a business manager who represents the Sponsor at the Work-Out,
taking responsibility for the detailed preparation and follow-up to the Work-Out
session.
The champion plans the agenda, works with the design team to develop the overall plan
for the session, and coordinates and oversees the preparations.
After the Work-Out, the champion organizes review sessions at regular interval, helps
overcome barriers to implementation, and track the progress of the Work-Out ideas.
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8.
the role
facilitation
Lead Facilitator
The lead facilitator is a person with experience in the Work-Out process who helps the
Sponsor make the initial decisions about the objectives, then works with the
Sponsor and champion to design the Work-Out and organize its logistics.
The Work-Out lead facilitator also works with the team leaders, facilitators, and other
members of the supporting cast, to run and follow up on the Work-Out session.
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9.
the role
facilitation
Facilitators
The facilitators prepare for and run the Work-Out session. They should be trained in
Work-Out methods and have strong skills in facilitating group processes.
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10.
the role
facilitation
Expert Resources
The expert resources are people who are available during the Work-Out session to
provide background to the team in particular functional or technical areas (for
example, IT, finance, or marketing). They are not members of the team but are
expected to prepare data for the teams to use during the Work-Out.
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the role
facilitation
Administrator
The administrator organizes the logistics of the Work-Out event. This is a highly
detailed but crucial role – time frames are short and deadlines have to be met.
The administrator has the responsibility of sending out invitations, organizing venues,
helping with the Town Meeting presentation, ensuring all documentation is
recorded and distributed, and dealing with the many other tasks involved in making
a large gathering run smoothly.
The administrator works closely with the lead facilitator to ensure that all information is
shared.
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the role
participation
Team Leaders
The team leaders take responsibility for preparing each team for the Work-Out,
leading it through the process of idea generation, action planning, and Town
Meeting presentation, as well as ensuring the implementation of the work plan.
They also work as a group to report back on progress and learnings.
Team leaders should be selected and notified about their roles before the Work-Out
take place. They meet with the design team to go over the background for the
Work-Out, the likely team goals, and the agenda for the Work-Out. At this stage,
they also play a part in identifying team members.
After meeting with the design team, the team leaders have the primary job of getting
the teams ready for the main session.
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the role
participation
Team Members
The team members are the core of the Work-Out. The job is to be part of a team that
solves a business problem through brainstorming, selection of ideas, and
presentation of recommendations. Once ideas have been given the green light by a
Sponsor, some team members become “recommendation owners” who are
empowered and accountable for delivery on their ideas.
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the role
participation
Town Meeting Participants
The Town Meeting participants are other senior managers representing key functional
areas, who may be invited to the Town Meeting to hear team recommendations and
give the Sponsor their opinions, inputs, and counsel.
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The Work-Out process includes three distinct stages:
Plan, Conduct, and Implement.
Stage I: Plan the Work-Out
Stage II: Conduct the Work-Out Event
Stage III: Implement the Work-Out Recommendations
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the process
plan
Plan the Work-Out
The Sponsor pulls together a design team to agree on the key issues to be tackled,
identify participants, communicate expectations of what people will do at the Work-
Out event, and prepare champion (business leaders) for the role.
The design team also shapes an agenda for the Work-Out event. It also organizes
prework, prepares facilitators to work with teams, and oversees the logistics of
getting everyone together.
The design team can also pull together data analyzing root causes and quantifying the
potential gains in different areas of the Work-Out.
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the process
conduct
Conduct the Work-Out Event
The workshop is both the visible beginning of a Work-Out and its pivotal event. The
workshop pulls together senior managers, members of staff function, and people
from the operating front line.
A Work-Out event usually consists of five sessions:
1. Work-Out introduction
2. Small-group idea generation (brainstorming)
3. Whole-group idea assessment (the gallery of the ideas)
4. Small group recommendation development
5. Final-decision session – the “Town Meeting”
In Town Meeting, the Sponsor and other senior managers listen to action ideas put
forward by teams – and make a decision on the spot on those to be implemented in
the final stage of Work-Out.
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the process
implement
Implement the Work-Out Recommendations
Many recommendations will have decisions that can be made on the spot and thereby
save time or reduce costs immediately.
The implementation process starts with getting the word out on what was decided at
the Town Meeting. It includes making sure that project owners and teams have
some support so they can successfully deliver on their action recommendations.
It also includes tracking owners‟ progress and assessing the overall impact of the Work-
Out across all projects.
And finally, it means deciding what steps must be taken next to lock in or even extend
the gains from the Work-Out.
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reference guide
A quick reference guide that can help you get through the process:
3
Implement action recommendations
Implement Organizes a review process
Communicate results to the entire organization
Assess the impact of all action recommendations
2 Hold a closure work session
Introduction
Conduct Brainstorming
The Gallery of Ideas
Generate Action Plans
1 The Town Meeting
Select a business problem
Plan Get senior-management support
Arrange the logistics
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reference guide
Plan Conduct Implement
1. Select a business problem for the Work-Out. The written goal should include:
• The estimated impact if the improvements are achieved.
• Several likely improvement opportunities, or problem areas.
2. Get organizational and senior-management support for the Work-Out:
• Get the senior manager (the Sponsor) on board and make sure he or she is
ready to listen to and openly discuss improvement recommendations at the
Town Meeting, then make a decision on the spot. The Sponsor should plan the
agenda with the design team and oversee the presentation and follow-up of the
Work-Out, or delegate this work to a Champion.
• Organize a design team, lead by the Champion, to plan the Work-Out, create a
work-flow chart or process map of the issue involved, and delegate areas of the
problem to the Work-Out teams.
• Recruit cross-functional teams of employees and managers close to problem.
3. Arrange the logistics for the Work-Out event, include:
• Team facilitators.
• Location
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reference guide
Plan Conduct Implement
The Work-Out Event typically consists of five sessions:
1. Introduction: Brief participants on the business strategy, the goals and agenda for
the Work-Out, and the Town Meeting. Review the process and ground rules.
2. Brainstorming: Multiple cross-functional teams each brainstorm a different aspect of
the problem. Each team creates a list of top 10 ideas for achieving the team‟s
assigned goal. Use Pay-Off Matrix to prioritize the ideas.
3. The Gallery of Ideas: Each team presents its 10 best ideas to the rest of participants,
Participants vote on the 3~4 ideas worth implementing from each team‟s top 10.
4. Generate Action Plans: Teams develop an action plan for implementing the selected
ideas, and to prepare a presentation, including supporting data, requesting approval
for the idea from the Sponsor at the Town Meeting. Each idea must have an “owner”
who will take responsibility for seeing it through implementation if it is approved.
5. The Town Meeting: Teams present their recommendations to the Sponsor. The
Sponsor dialogues with the team and other participants about the viability of the
idea, and asks for input from managers who will be affected by the team‟s
recommendation, before making a “yes/no” decision, on the spot.
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reference guide
Plan Conduct Implement
1. Action recommendations are implemented by project owners and teams within 12
weeks (or shorter timeline).
2. The Sponsor organizes a review process of some sort to track progress and help the
project owners with any problems the might encounter.
3. Results of the Work-Out and progress along the way are communicated to the entire
organization.
4. The impact of all action recommendations is assessed for the entire Work-Out.
5. A closure work session is held. The next steps for extending improvement initiatives
are decided on and communicated.
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The Ground Rules
• No scared cows
• No turf-defending
• No blaming
• No pulling rank by managers
• No complaining
• Focus on solutions
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Pay-Off Matrix
Bonus
Big Pay-Off Special Efforts
Opportunities
Small Pay-Off Quick Wins Time Wasters
Easy to implement Tough to implement
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Town Meeting Presentation Worksheet
Team:
Issue:
Recommendation:
Pay-Off and Risks:
Action (what) Responsibilities (who) Date (when)
Plans for Tracking Progress (what to know and how often):
Team Leader:
Champion: Sponsor:
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8 Steps to Design Successful Work-Out
1. Topic: Identify topic and Define objectives
2. Question: Collect background data and design focused questions
3. Participants: Identify the people to involve in the meeting
4. Facilitation: Identify a lead facilitator.
5. Logistics: Date, location, agenda, invitation, meal, refreshment,
post- it note, projector, marker
6. Meeting: introduction, brainstorming, gallery of ideas, action plans
development, town meeting.
7. Confirmation: Verify the consensus and next steps.
8. Follow-up: Ensure action recommendations are implemented.
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reference
Book:
《 The GE Work-Out: How to Implement GE‟s
Revolutionary Method for Busting
Bureaucracy and Attacking Organizational
Problems--Fast》
Ulrich David / Kerr Steve / Ashkenas Ronald
N. / Burke Debbie / Murphy Patrice,
McGraw-Hill
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about me
Steven Tseng 曾憲鈺
Motorola University Certified Six Sigma Black Belt
User eXperience Designer
Innovator and Facilitator
(Strategic Planning,
Scenario Planning,
Business Model Design,
Innovation Process Design)
ASUS Certified Trainer
http://innofaci.com
e-mail: Steven.hy.tseng@gmail.com
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