Prioritisation: how much room should learning have?
In a production team, investigating a recurring defect or testing a method always competes with a task whose result is more immediate. The management question is specific: how can learning time be protected without assuming that every hour taken away from production is a worthwhile investment?
What the literature establishes
James G. March (1991, Organization Science) distinguishes the exploitation of existing knowledge from the exploration of new possibilities. His model shows how nearer and more predictable returns can favour exploitation at the expense of longer-term adaptation. For time management, the issue is therefore not simply how to execute selected tasks better, but which activities everyday prioritisation systematically excludes.
Available time is not enough
Amy C. Edmondson (1999, Administrative Science Quarterly) observes an association between psychological safety and learning behaviour in teams within a manufacturing company. Being able to report a mistake, ask for help or discuss a difficulty therefore matters to how a team learns. Reserving a time slot does not guarantee that these exchanges will happen: interpersonal conditions deserve as much attention as the calendar.
The premature conclusion
One might conclude that a fixed share of working time should be devoted to learning. These studies, however, neither establish an optimal percentage nor justify treating every activity labelled as developmental as useful exploration. A defect analysis may improve an existing procedure; an experiment may open up a new possibility, but may also produce no relevant change. (our executive and employee training programmes)
What the evidence cannot settle
The first article uses organisational modelling rather than testing different allocations of time on the shop floor. The second is an observational field study: it does not demonstrate that adding learning sessions alone improves performance. Neither validates a specific arrangement for microtechnology, watchmaking or precision microelectronics in Neuchâtel.
A practical check in Neuchâtel
As part of SHR’s « Gestion du temps & priorisation » programme, a Neuchâtel team working in microtechnology, watchmaking or precision microelectronics could trial a protected time slot devoted to a recurring problem, with a defined question and an expected written record. During a pilot period agreed in advance, record the minutes planned and actually spent on this work, reasons for cancellation and documented conclusions, including inconclusive experiments. The ratio of actual to planned time measures how effectively this priority is protected; tracking the relevant defects or rework provides an additional indicator without, on its own, proving causation. This proposed protocol makes a prioritisation decision verifiable rather than turning learning time into a promise of returns. To go further: explore the Time Management & Prioritisation training in Neuchâtel, or browse our executive and employee training programmes in Switzerland.
In pictures: Time Management & Prioritisation in Neuchâtel
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