How pioneering an innovative “Ditch Day” improves productivity

In many offices and businesses, there’s often a suggestion box where employees and customers are encouraged to submit ideas anonymously. Yet how often are those suggestions actually analyzed in terms of the productivity they can improve? 

In the Aboitiz Group, however, little suggestions like these are taken seriously. Because of its goal to become a ‘Techglomerate’ that operates like a start-up, an unwavering commitment to continuous improvement by streamlining processes is one of its key tenets.

This innovative practice is called Super Ditch Day (SDD), and it is an internal transformation program wherein leaders and members submit ideas on what to ditch, review, and act upon. In fact, a whole day is dedicated to looking into these suggestions in a bid to ditch bureaucracies and obsolete ways of working in order to improve efficiency. 

Why ditch?

“We firmly believe that to become a future-proof organization, it is imperative to heed the voices of our team members and customers alike. By doing so, we can elevate our identity as an organization and forge a path towards lasting success,” said Dea Franko Csuba, Aboitiz Equity Ventures Vice President – Transformation.

SDD has one main goal: to reduce processes, rules, and bureaucratic hurdles that impede the productivity and creativity of team leaders and members. By doing so, valuable time can be liberated, enabling the streamlining of operations and allowing individuals to shift their focus towards more productive endeavors, rather than being entangled in the mundane routine of paperwork and processes. With a goal of reducing group bureaucracies by just 10%, a little streamlining may yield big results.

Led by the Transformation Team and other business units, SDD is part of the Group’s drive to streamline  processes across the organization. It is practiced throughout the entire Aboitiz Group – one of the largest conglomerates in the Philippines with major businesses in Power, Banking, Food, Infrastructure, Land, and Data Science – SDD has already bore fruit with 19% of activities or practices streamlined across the organization. These are just from 392 processes ditched from the pool of 1,971 ideas submitted across 13,000 team members. This is just the first batch as more are expected to be ditched through the continuous effort in assessing all the submissions from Super Ditch Day.

How does it work?

Ditch day starts with the smallest teams. Team leaders and members are invited to assess existing practices, procedures, and policies, identifying those that no longer serve a meaningful purpose or hinder progress.

Team members are informed through various internal communication channels to ensure that the message has been delivered across the organization. SDD welcomes all types of ideas, ranging from simple and straightforward ones to complex and even unconventional proposals.

Submissions are reviewed by groups in real-time so teams can make a decision in a timely manner. A dashboard has been also shared within the group for transparency and visibility of the progress per team.

The core team overseeing the program monitors all submissions, ensuring that each idea is recorded and sent to the respective strategic business units for review and action. Data gathered from SDD is studied and analyzed extensively to determine if there are valuable insights and trends that can spark further conversations on the next steps moving forward. Reports are also generated per strategic business in support of their on-going initiatives. 

Participants are rewarded for their involvement in the Super Ditch Day program, including not only those who actively contributed ideas but also to those whose pain points were successfully ditched on the same day.

Since its implementation, the Aboitiz Group has been using the data obtained from Super Ditch Day as a baseline in searching for potential initiatives that are aligned with forming agile squads.

What was ditched?

First launched last September 15, 2022, Super Ditch Day was able to generate a total of 1,971 idea submissions from a one-day event. Some outcomes from the program include improvements in several processes, both for production and employee benefits.

Super Ditch Day has sped up car plan processing, saving employees up to two days of turnaround time. Unnecessary emails have been reduced and a chatbot was set up for official communications. For other business units that require a communication allowance, their processing has been sped up, with reimbursements credited via the payroll. Even supplier accreditation has been addressed, bringing down accreditation requirements to fewer items or sometimes speedier approval for special cases.

The results speak for themselves. In a survey conducted with 240 respondents, 99% said that they find the initiative helpful, while 98% expressed their desire to repeat the initiative. The satisfaction rating of this initiative stands at 4.40 out of 5.

“Super Ditch Day stands as an innovative initiative we launched with the aim of actively shaping the ongoing transformation within the Aboitiz Group. Our vision encompasses a comprehensive change in the way our group behaves and operates. Central to this transformation is the elimination of obstacles that impede progress and productivity, thereby advancing both business and communities forward,” said Csuba, AEV VP for Transformation.

Long-term benefits

SDD doesn’t just eliminate unnecessary processes. It also brings focus to areas that need improvement. It has helped highlight the need to upskill the Group’s team members, arming them with the skills and know-how to improve, refine, and even start new ventures that may benefit the Group.

The Transformation Team conducts a series of workshops and activities aimed at upskilling A-people and equipping them with the right skills to thrive in a Techglomerate setting. These help highlight the team’s innovation pillars: strategy and intent; process and practices; people and culture; organization and infrastructure; partnerships and open innovation; and innovating how the Aboitiz Group operates.

The Transformation Team, in collaboration with Aboitiz Academy, holds a series of workshops led by world class coaches to introduce A-People to transformation methods to equip team members with the competencies and leadership skills necessary for a technological revolution. These are comprised of Workshops, Masterclasses, Coaching, and Project Coaching. These are all in service of the Group’s goal to be the Philippines' first Techglomerate.

Little ideas, big results

By taking time to “ditch” unproductive processes, the organization has shown it values a culture of collaboration, efficiency, and creativity. It’s no surprise that this activity gained high interest and participation from strategic business units across the Group. It’s a unique feat that signals the breaking down of the silos and encouraging collaboration across departments and the entire organization.

The Group is now transitioning it from an annual one-day event into an ongoing year-round program, embedding the 'efficiency-driven' mindset deep within the organizational culture. Super Ditch Day has now turned into “Super Ditch Day Fridays”, “Ditch it to Win It” and distributed “Super Ditch Day kits” to help strengthen innovation initiatives for some of the Group’s business units, adding their own flavor to the initiative to ensure that the “ditch culture” will not be forgotten.

To think, this all came from the simple and often overlooked idea of paying more attention to the suggestion box. There are a lot of good ideas among team members of a company. All it takes are team leaders that are willing to listen and make the change.