During last year consulting, training and audit sessions I have heard several myths for quality. Quality is often missunderstood. The benefits of an effectively implemented Quality Management System are not really known and appreciated in some companies and this costs the company a lot of money, time, non quality costs or not happy customers.
Some of those myths may shock you:
🔴 Quality is not my responsibility: I am the manager. I do not make the product. It is not my responsibility.
🔴 Quality work is boring : My time is valuable. I don’t want to spend it doing paperwork for a bunch of bureaucratic rules. You can make me sign this document, but you can’t make me follow it.
🔴 Quality costs money: Changing the way we do things will be too expensive. We do not need to change what was working the last 10 years.
🔴 Quality wastes time: Developing KPI monitor and improve performance and process takes more time.
We have discussed about this counterproductive myths during last week Quality workshop and we have uncovered the real and significant benefits of quality. Here are the final takeaway notes:
🟢 Quality is everyone responsbility and starts in the meeting room when management is planning the quality management system, defines policies and objectives, ensures ressources are available, promotes quality culture and customer satisfaction throug direct actions, verify system performance and ensures system is continuously improved.
🟢 Quality is challenging. Defining processes and documenting results is neccesary so you can measure actual preformance and then improve performance. Management needs to take fact based decisions.
🟢 Quality is saving money: Process analysis showing roadblocks supports management on taking decisions, risks mitigation activities are reducing the occurence of risk and the non quality costs impact, performance analysis helps management to keep targets and results under control, corrective and preventive actions are supporting management team in defining lean flows and reduce the non quality costs. Studies have demonstrated than preventive problems is less expensive than dealing with the consequences after a problem occurs.
🟢 Quality is saving time: Clear flows and procedures are showing people what they need to do; Failures and bottleneks are imediately identified and managed; escalation plans shows who nees to be contacted; Contingency plans defined how we can react so we do not stop production or impact the customer.
Many of the myths discussed above result from mistakes commonly made during the implementation of the management system starting from the top management approach towards this implementation and finalizing with the awareness of the employees. Organizations can get past these myths and improve organization performance by an assumend and strongly supported quality management system.
What are the myths used in your organization? How are they limiting the potential of your organization to improve performance, increase employee awareness and customer satisfaction? How do you coach your team to overcome them and change the approach towards quality management system?
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