Optimization in Decision Making and Prioritization Based on the Gut Matrix

Optimization in Decision Making and Prioritization Based on the Gut Matrix - Success Case L2 Agronegócios

Knowing the Company:

L2 Agronegócios emerged in August 2012, from a young dreamer who always wanted to follow in his father's footsteps. A dream that became a family business, a company that takes high quality products to Brazilians and offers great opportunities in the city and region.

Company focused on the production of garlic, cattle and cereals, in Tiros/MG. The climate in the region is highly favorable to its products, which allows for healthy products, with a high level of quality and flavor.

Challenge:

L2 agribusiness stands out in the market through its products with high quality requirements, in addition to adopting the philosophy of operational excellence, strong relationship, fast and efficient service to its customers.

In a scenario where the market is increasingly fierce, there was a need to improve its production process, aiming to reduce operating costs and implement Quality control. Thus, in partnership with Avilla Consulting, a project was started, aiming to identify opportunities for improvement in the process, initially focused on the garlic processing process.

In the initial mapping carried out by Avilla Consulting, some opportunities for financial gain were identified, but this case study aims to cite one in particular: The optimization in decision making and the sense of Prioritization in the garlic packaging sector (Toallet), this point it became a very strong GAP in the sector, because it directly affected the productivity of employees, as the lack of decision-making and what became prioritization was not the right way to go.

With the problem in front of us, improvement actions were carried out, such as training and qualifying key employees in the process, with the objective of closing this gap and transforming the potential sector within the company, they were trained in the rich methodology "GUT Matrix", which focuses on: the Severity, Urgency and Trend of the problem.

The following steps were taken:

Diagnosis of the situation (sector);
Creation of training to train employees;
Conducting training for key employees in the process;
Implementation of POP “Standard Operating Procedure”;
Prioritization training and decision making based on the GUT Matrix.

Avilla together with L2 agribusiness will obtain great results, especially in this sector where we had great challenges. The goal was achieved and has been reaping great results.

Solution:

The analysis model implemented by Avilla Consulting, aiming to eliminate wasted time, was based on Guidance and Training Methodologies to achieve an effective solution.

At first, in order to verify the flow of the process with a focus on communication, it was made possible with training to train key employees in the sectors involved, training on "Optimization and Prioritization in decision-making based on the Matrix" was applied. GUT".

Optimization in Decision Making and Prioritization Based on the Gut Matrix

Based on this training that is based on the “Gut Matrix”, it is nothing but a tool that helps in prioritizing problem solving through 3 criteria: Severity, Urgency and Trend. This tool, created by Charles H. Kepner and Benjamin B. Tregoe, is widely used in the business sector and helps in setting priorities and making decisions.

So, among the main benefits of the GUT matrix are:

Ease of use, being very intuitive and can be applied in any area;
Support to strategic decision making;
Elimination or reduction of the most serious business problems.

How does the “Gut Matrix” work?

The key to understanding and using the GUT matrix effectively lies in knowing its 3 problem classification criteria. Let's see each of them on the side.

Severity (G)

Represented by the letter “G”, severity is the criterion that assesses the impact or intensity that the problem can generate if it is not resolved. Damage can be assessed both quantitatively and qualitatively, depending on the subject and context.

Here, it is necessary to analyze all the points that could be affected, such as employees, results, processes, etc. A problem can be considered extremely serious when it threatens to bankrupt the company, for example.

Other serious effects can include the loss of important customers or even damage to the brand image.

Urgency (U)

Symbolized by the letter “U”, urgency is related to time. The faster a situation needs to be resolved, the more urgent it is. Therefore, this is a factor that takes into account the deadline and the “pressure” to solve a problem.

Urgent problems are usually those that have deadlines defined by law, or those that depend on the response time for customers. To make a correct assessment, you can ask: “can this wait?”.

Trend (T)

Represented by the letter “T”, the trend refers to the pattern of evolution of the situation. In other words, it indicates whether the problem tends to get worse quickly, or whether it should remain stable if left unresolved.

Therefore, a subject with a high trend score is one that should get bigger all of a sudden. The question that can be asked is: "If we don't solve this today, will this problem get worse slowly or quickly?"

You can analyze problems based on the development they will have in the absence of effective action to resolve them. The growth potential of the problem represents the probability that it will become larger over time.

With this application we got great results.

Results:

L2 agribusiness achieved great results, with communication and prioritization in decision-making being the primary factor, leveraging other sectors, such as: Quality and individual Productivity of each employee in November, as can be seen in the graphs below:

In terms of quality, a target of (90%) was stipulated for each employee and as we can see in the line chart filtering the days of the month of November, we achieved excellent results.

In addition to the qualitative results, quantitative gains were found through the delivery of production by process managers, achieving greater integration and communication between sectors and greater engagement by the teams to identify potential improvements.

This improvement, as well as all others implemented with the Avilla project, will be perpetuated by the professional who was trained and qualified to monitor and identify gaps in the process

The biggest beneficiaries, with the specific action beyond the company, were the direct employees linked to the process, positively and directly, impacted by the increase in the operational efficiency of the L2 Agronegócios Company.

Avilla Consulting | EN