Learning Launch - Automotive Center of Excellence

Challenge

I am the current president of the Automotive Center of Excellence research organization, which has more than 100  members grouped in 5 research teams in the field of industrial engineering. This student  organization has various activities such as training in the field of research, general meetings, talks,  lectures among others with the aim of consolidating the technical and soft skills of its members  and of the students of the Industrial Engineering career in general.

One of the biggest problems caused by virtual work given the context of COVID-19 is the high rate  of inactive members, more than 30% of the members are participating minimally in the activities  of the organization, specifically, in general meetings, so it is necessary to act in the face of this  challenge.

In order to face this problem, there will be the support of the Human Resources area and the  coordinators of the different research teams, since they are in charge of holding the general  meetings.

Selection

The human resources team and coordinators have already been trained in the Desing Thinking  methodology. Likewise, its first three stages ("What is", "What if", "What wows") have already  been carried out, resulting in two prototypes that are to be applied in the final stage ("What  works"). For this, the “Learning Launch” tool will be used, since it will help to carry out the  experimentation and subsequent validation of the possible solutions.

Application

For our first learning launch, the team will focus on the structure of the general meetings. To this  end, a change was made in the order of the activities of the general meetings and a set of topics  was included that were the ones that were most accepted in the surveys carried out. This will help  to assess whether the problem of absenteeism is due to the fact that the content and the order in  which the activities are carried out is not adequate.

For our second learning launch, the team will work on the schedule and frequency of the general  meetings. To do this, the frequency of meetings will be reduced (from fortnightly to monthly) and  the schedule will be changed according to the results of the surveys (the schedule with the most  acceptance). This will assess the problem of inappropriate hours and the unavailability of  members given their multiple personal activities.

Insights

Learning launch tool made it possible to determine that the problem was in the structure of the  general meetings, which was different from the initial hypothesis (meeting time and frequency).  The result after making a change in the order and content of the meetings was a reduction in the  absenteeism rate from 30% to 5%. Consequently, it was decided to incorporate surveys to define

topics of interest before each meeting (one week in advance) so that they are part of the content  of the general meetings.

In conclusion, the tool was very appropriate for the definition of the solution generating  unexpected results.

Approach

When it is in a stage of defining what is the best solution for a certain problem, the Learning  Launch tool is one of the most appropriate because the prototype or an idea is evaluated in  reality. As it happened in the present case study, the problem turned out to be different from the  one envisaged as a hypothesis, generating excellent result. In the future, the team will continue to  use this tool to solve the different problems that arise.


Learning Launch - Automotive Center of Excellence Challenge I am the current president of the Automotive Center of Excellence research organization , which has more than 100 members grouped in 5 research teams in the field of industrial engineering . This student organization has various activities such as training in the field of research , general meetings , talks , lectures among others with the aim of consolidating the technical and soft skills of its members and of the students of the Industrial Engineering career in general . One of the biggest problems caused by virtual work given the context of COVID-19 is the high rate of inactive members , more than 30 % of the members are participating minimally in the activities of the organization , specifically , in general meetings , so it is necessary to act in the face of this challenge . In order to face this problem , there will be the support of the Human Resources area and the coordinators of the different research teams , since they are in charge of holding the general meetings . Selection The human resources team and coordinators have already been trained in the Desing Thinking methodology . Likewise , its first three stages ( " What is " , " What if " , " What wows " ) have already been carried out , resulting in two prototypes that are to be applied in the final stage ( " What works " ) . For this , the “ Learning Launch ” tool will be used , since it will help to carry out the experimentation and subsequent validation of the possible solutions . Application For our first learning launch , the team will focus on the structure of the general meetings . To this end , a change was made in the order of the activities of the general meetings and a set of topics was included that were the ones that were most accepted in the surveys carried out . This will help to assess whether the problem of absenteeism is due to the fact that the content and the order in which the activities are carried out is not adequate . For our second learning launch , the team will work on the schedule and frequency of the general meetings . To do this , the frequency of meetings will be reduced ( from fortnightly to monthly ) and the schedule will be changed according to the results of the surveys ( the schedule with the most acceptance ) . This will assess the problem of inappropriate hours and the unavailability of members given their multiple personal activities . Insights Learning launch tool made it possible to determine that the problem was in the structure of the general meetings , which was different from the initial hypothesis ( meeting time and frequency ) . The result after making a change in the order and content of the meetings was a reduction in the absenteeism rate from 30 % to 5 % . Consequently , it was decided to incorporate surveys to define topics of interest before each meeting ( one week in advance ) so that they are part of the content of the general meetings . In conclusion , the tool was very appropriate for the definition of the solution generating unexpected results . Approach When it is in a stage of defining what is the best solution for a certain problem , the Learning Launch tool is one of the most appropriate because the prototype or an idea is evaluated in reality . As it happened in the present case study , the problem turned out to be different from the one envisaged as a hypothesis , generating excellent result . In the future , the team will continue to use this tool to solve the different problems that arise .