Advancing Quality is a Matter of Customer Focus

Paul Borawski, CEO of ASQ, asks the influential voices basically how to advance quality so it’s value is fully realized.

I pose two questions for your consideration.

• What is the most important challenge the quality community faces in ensuring that the value of quality is fully realized for the benefit of society? (I could write a book on that question.)
• And, what question does the quality community most need answered in order to advance the state of quality practice in the world?

I realize these are big questions, but then you are big thinkers. 

Over the last 40 years, the quality management discipline has undergone steady evolution from internally focused command-and-control to more proactive, customer-focused functions. The market certainly encouraged that, as economies shifted from dominance of product-based manufacturers to more heavily depend on service-based solution providers. It seems reasonable that service economies will naturally tend toward customer-focus, since much of the service involves direct customer contact. Feedback can be bitterly honest, yet also quickly addressed (compared with poor manufacturing quality).

Aspects of quality management are becoming integral to business operations; quality ratings and awards are a competition, and success is marketed as a sign of commitment to the customer; innovation is a constant refrain in business journals and even advertisement; customer surveys are endemic; data is rampant, so differentiating between real change and random variation becomes a core competency; and so on. The cost of poor quality is realized in real time as loss of market share or profitability.

The manager in today’s world must implement cost-reducing quality initiatives that increase market share in spite of competitive forces. There are two basic ways to become (or remain) competitive: achieve superior perceived quality by developing  a set of product specifications and service standards that more closely meet customer needs than competitors; and achieve superior conformance quality by being  more effective than your competitors in conforming to the appropriate product specifications and service standards. These are not mutually exclusive; excellent companies do both simultaneously.

Customer “satisfaction” does not simply happen; it is an effect. Quality is one important cause of the customer satisfaction effect, along with price, convenience, service, and a host of other variables. Generally businesses do not seek customer satisfaction as an end in itself. The presumption is that increased customer satisfaction will lead to higher revenues and higher profits, at least in the long term. To best serve customers, the successful quality program will apply specific principles, techniques, and tools to better understand and serve their firm’s royalty – the customer. The Customer is KING!

I believe the answer to both of Paul’s question lies with customer. Those organizations that are customer-focused will be the ones who fully realize the value of quality.  This practice or focus is what has advanced quality to it current encompassing approach. It is in the pursuit of satisfying the customers that future advancements will be made. However this is not easy and therein lies the challenge.

I’m part of the ASQ Influential Voices program. While I receive an honorarium from ASQ for my commitment, the thoughts and opinions expressed on my blog are my own. 

The Right Order of MUDA, MURA and MURI

When you ask a number of people to explain Lean Manufacturing in one sentence, most of them will answer: “eliminate waste”. The reason is that eliminating waste, or Muda is a relatively easy way of identifying the low hanging fruits for improvement in an organization. However, Muda is not the only ‘M’ Toyota has built its famous Toyota Production System around, there are two more: Mura (Variation) and Muri (Overburden).

Muda, in lean thinking, is defined as: all activities that do not add value from a customer perspective and that can be removed.

Mura is any variation leading to unbalanced situations. In short: unevenness, inconsistent, irregular. Mura exists when workflow is out of balance and workload is inconsistent and not incompliance with the standard.

Muri occurs whenever people or equipment are being overburdened or overstressed. Any activity asking unreasonable stress or effort from personnel, material or equipment creates waste.

The three M’s, Muda Mura and Muri are influenced by each other. Most organizations only focus on eliminating Muda because they can be found by using a number of tools, but also by close observations, but in Lean, if we want to take step to eliminate wastes, the order should be:

1. Mura: We have to first set up a system with no Mura, therefore, when we set up the processes, they are all following a standard Takt time, and the capacity of all the processes must first achieve a reasonable level of evenness by capacity and takt time,

2. Muri: When Mura is in place, Muri will quickly surfaced, there are areas where Muri can occurred beyond the consideration of Mura such as high defect ratio, bottle necking due to difficult operation,

3. Muda: Once the Mura and Muri had been sorted out, then it will be time to identify Muda in all the operations, material usage, defects etc.

Simply wastes are not desirable, they need to be identified and eliminated, therefore by knowing MUDA, MURA and MURI, the whole organization can take meaningful steps to eliminate wastes and hence improving cost.

To establish a lean process, the traditional system must be fundamentally changed and the right process must be established. Once the new way of working has been established, waste and variation must be systematically eliminated. The process is hence incrementally and continuously improved. In sum, establish the right process first by removing overburden. Then empower and encourage the teams to eliminate waste and unnecessary variation relentlessly.

Lean Quote: Build A Culture of Empathy

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer." — Peter Drucker

As management guru Peter Drucker said, “The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer.” Empathy is an important component of keeping a customer.

Empathy is the ability to put yourself in another’s shoes and walk a mile.  It’s the ability to imagine what it might be like to experience and relate to the thoughts, emotions, and experience of the other person. Empathy is more than simple sympathy, which is being able to understand and support others with compassion or sensitivity. 

Some people naturally exude empathy and have an advantage over their peers who have difficulty expressing empathy. Most leaders fall in the middle and are sometimes or somewhat empathetic. Fortunately, empathy is not a fixed trait. It can be learned. If given enough time and support, leaders can develop and enhance their empathy skills through coaching, training, or developmental opportunities and initiatives.

When empathy is not practiced within the organization—with all constituents—it’s impossible to expect it to happen with customers. It has been said, “You can’t truly love another before you learn to love yourself.” Organizations are no different. If we don’t love and respect and admire the people we work with every day, we can’t collectively give our customers the love they deserve. Empathy is an inside-out job.

Transformational leaders need empathy in order to show their followers that they care for their needs and achievement. Empathy is a powerful antenna for understanding the experiences of those around us. It helps good leaders become great leaders and is a key to business success.

Customers want to feel that we understand and appreciate their circumstances without criticism or judgment. Customers have simple expectations that we who serve them can put ourselves in their shoes, understanding what it is they came to us for in the first place.

Build a culture of empathy. Empathy is an essential component of caring about your customers, your employees, and your company, and its absence signals larger problems in organizational culture. Empathy can’t be plastered on like a fake smile, but it can be cultivated from within.

 

Book Review: Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement

Jeffrey Liker is at it again with another addition. Building upon his international bestselling Toyota Way series of books, The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement looks critically at lean deployments and identifies the root causes of why most of them fail.

The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement by Liker and Franz is a result of decades of practice trying to help companies on their operational excellence journeys. The book starts with some theory, focusing on what makes anybody excellent in anything. Then the book draws on what Dr. Deming taught Toyota about becoming excellent which it took to practice diligently with Plan-Do-Check-Adjust (PDCA) at all levels of the company all the time.

The book is organized into three major sections outlining:

1. Why it is critical to go beyond implementing lean tools and, instead, build a culture of continuous improvement that connects operational excellence to business strategy
2. Case studies from seven unique industries written from the perspective of the sensei (teacher) who led the lean transformation
3. Lessons about transforming your own vision of an ideal organization into reality

The book begins with a short synopsis on the Toyota safety recall issue that has plagued the company in the last couple of years. Liker wrote a detailed account of this already in Lessons For Turning Crisis Into Opportunity. Then they go into detail using the Plan-Do-Check-Adjust (PDCA) methodology.  Liker and Franz contrast true PDCA thinking to that of the popular, superficial approach of copying "Lean solutions." They describe the importance of developing people and show how the Toyota Way principles support and drive continuous improvement.

The second section brings together seven case studies as told by the sensei who led the transformation efforts. The companies range from traditional manufacturers, overhaul and maintenance of submarines, nuclear fuel rod production, health care providers, pathology labs, and product development. The contributing writers' experiences, and philosophical and technical views of Lean takes the reader on a comprehensive journey beyond any superficial and limited coverage of Lean tools and processes.

The final section comprises of a composite story describing a company in its early days of Lean implementation, where the authors describe what went right and wrong during the initial implementation efforts. The authors bring to light some of the difficulties the sensei faces, such as bureaucracies, closed-minded mechanical thinking, and the challenges of developing lean coaches who can facilitate real change. The book ends with a discussion on how to make continuous improvement a way of life at your company and the role of leadership in any Lean transformation

The value in this book for me comes from the case studies that look at real people in real industries that aren't automotive along their real lean journeys. The case studies demonstrated not only what was done well but what wasn't. There were varying levels of successes in the stories, but all showed the power of developing people into problem solvers. They teach us just like at Toyota there is always opportunity to improve and learn more.

You won't read it in one setting. It’s a long book at 432 pages but it’s packed with value.  It took me almost a year to read this book because of all the information the authors distilled within its pages. This is a book you can continually refer to for advice along your own journey.

This book shows the evolution of Lean and demonstrates how anyone can adopt these principles and philosophies in their environment. The authors explain Lean is not a set of tools but rather a business philosophy around developing people as problem solvers who continuously learn and improve.

The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement is valuable reading for anyone seeking to transcend his or her tools-based approach and truly embrace a culture of continuous improvement.  It is definitely written for the practitioner with a good mix of theory and case studies. Lean enthusiasts will certainly enjoy Liker and Franz’s addition but so will anyone that wants to lead lasting improvement in their organization.

The authors were awarded the Shingo Research Award at the 24th annual Shingo Prize Awards Gala this past year. The Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award recognizes and promotes research and writing regarding new knowledge and understanding of lean and operational excellence. Awards are given in four categories: (1) books (monographs), (2) published articles, (3) case studies, and (4) applied publications/multimedia programs.

Disclosure: The publisher provided a copy of this book for the purpose of reviewing it.

Techniques for Building Consensus in Workplace

Effective coordination requires the ability of individuals and groups to successfully collaborate. The strength of a meeting lies in the diverse input of its attendees. This diversity can also lead to problems if the group can’t come to a consensus and make decisions, large or small.

Consensus means “general agreement” and having that as a goal encourages and focuses the participants. It also creates equity and ownership in whatever decision is made.

The Challenge

Building consensus is often a bumpy ride. It involves:

• Investing time to make sure each participant’s voice is heard.
• Collaboration, in which each person reviews his or her position in light of other ideas expressed.

Tips for Building Consensus

These tips list the components of the meeting climate and structure that need to be in place to build consensus:

• Establish and revisit evaluative criteria.
• Give adequate time to work through the issues.
• Consider conflict inevitable on the way to consensus.
• Expect and encourage negotiation and collaboration between meeting attendees to move towards consensus.
• Emphasize fact over opinion.
• Use structured decision-making tools.
• Recognize that giving in on a point is not losing ground; gaining on an issue is not winning.
• Encourage attendees not to give in just to avoid conflict.
• Let it be known that flipping coins and voting are not viable alternatives to sharing information, debating points, providing data, and exploring other alternatives.

Success

Success can be difficult to judge. You’ve reached consensus when meeting participants can answer, “yes” to these questions:

• Will you agree this is the next step?
• Can you live with this position?
• Are you comfortable with this course of action?
• Can you support this alternative?

Consensus building is a decision-making process that is vital to any improvement effort or other process requiring participation. True consensus, where everyone agrees with each decision, is powerful and fulfilling. When everyone truly agrees on the actions or decisions of a group, everyone will be more committed to the course of action taken, and people will be more motivated. When consensus exists, people tend to feel very positively about a group and tend to get a lot of work done.

Why Team Building Activities Can Improve Motivation in Your Workplace

Today I am pleased to introduce a guest post by Isabelle Riley on improving workplace motivation with team building activities. This is a topic that she speaks from experience on as team builder herself.

Many companies now employ team building activities to motivate their workers and create a positive attitude and work. Why? Here are a few reasons modern companies are heading in this direction:

Team building improves productivity in the workplace. As employees learn to work together more effectively, they are able to do their work more efficiently. Less time has to be spent correcting errors and work can be divided according to team member abilities, reducing repetitive or overlapping work. Team building activities often give employees the opportunity to identify ways to improve processes, policies or procedures that have inhibited productivity. These activities can also increase employee motivation. This happens in several ways. First, when employees succeed in team building activities, they become more confident, which boosts their motivation. Second, commitment to team building activities demonstrates that the business is willing to invest in their success. Third, employees are often more motivated when they gain trust in their fellow employees and feel confident that their work as a team will be recognized and appreciated. You can try utilizing some activities yourself, or you could employ a team building event service, such as Uplift Events, to run a professional team building event.

Team building activities typically involve introducing a problem that team members have to solve together. The problem solving skills that they practice in a simulation can transfer to into the workplace. Through the activities, team members gain the skills that let them identify barriers that have previously hindered them in accomplishing goals and come up with ways to overcome those barriers. Team building activities can give employees structured ways to solve problems together while making each aware of the resources that each team member brings to the workplace. Team building activities also promote creativity by taking employees out of their usual environment and give them an out-of-the-ordinary task to perform. This environment often gives permission for employees to be more creative and to use their imagination to accomplish the tasks set before them. It also sends the message to employees that their creativity is welcome in the workplace. These creative problem-solving skills transfer back to the workplace once the activities are complete.

There are a whole range of activities that you can use in your workplace to help your workers gain that extra motivation kick that you may need and improve workplace relations between all your staff.

Isabelle Riley is a copywriter  working  with Uplift Events  a company  that filled a gap they saw in the market  for  team building events  that  were uplifting, fun, unique and most importantly, customizable.  They   felt   employees needed   to be rewarded with personalized  events through  corporate team building  activities  that were not only  fun & memorable, but provided them with a sense of satisfaction and achievement.  When   Isabelle   is not  writing content  she enjoys  all  household   chores  and bonding with her little boy.