tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-128583882024-03-17T22:03:57.223-05:00Quality MattersQualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.comBlogger89125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-78163129352713333672019-06-23T19:45:00.002-05:002019-06-23T19:45:17.790-05:00Becoming an Effective Change LeaderASQ’s June <a href="http://asq.org/blog/influential-voices/" target="_blank">Influential Voices Roundtable</a> asks the question: <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>How can an individual become a successful Change Leader?</b></span><br />
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Change leadership is defined as the ability to influence and enthuse others through personal advocacy, vision and drive, and to access resources to build a solid platform for change (<a href="http://crossculturalleadership.yolasite.com/resources/Higgs%20%26%20Rowland%20(2000)%20Building%20Change%20Leadership%20Capability.pdf" target="_blank">Higgs and Rowland, 2000</a>).<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Change Leadership Process schematic by KnowledgeBrief (KBM)</span><br />
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The Baldrige Criteria defines change management as a leadership-induced process that involves transformational organizational change that leadership controls and sustains. It requires dedication, involvement of employees at all levels, and constant communication. Transformational change is strategy-driven and stems from the top of the organization. Its origin may be from needs identified
within the organization and it requires active engagement of the whole organization.
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<br />
McKinsey & Company states that, “Change management as it is traditionally applied is outdated. 70 percent of change programs fail to achieve their goals, largely due to employee resistance and lack of management support. We also know that when people are truly invested in change it is 30 percent more likely to stick.”
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My 35+ years of experience is that the effective change leader possesses 3 critical skills:<br />
<ul>
<li>Communication</li>
<li>Facilitation</li>
<li>Project management</li>
</ul>
The effective change leader must be able to communicate a compelling business case for change and a clear call to action throughout the organization: up, down and across. The change effort should be in alignment with the organization's vision, values and strategic plan. The change initiative must be communicated regularly with a clearly understood strategy, with action plans and key metrics that are cascaded and deployed down to each department and individual. Change progress must be consistently measured and frequently reported against the established goals or targets.<br />
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The effective change leader demonstrates strong facilitation, influence and collaboration skills necessary to build support, remove barriers and reduce resistance to change. The change leader must be able to enhance/ build the Systems & Structures necessary to drive the required change, reward desired behaviors and prevent organizational backsliding. The effective change leader identifies the key stakeholders and implements influence strategies to gain their support in helping to "model the behaviors that create the experiences needed to change beliefs resulting in actions that deliver expected results" (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Emerald-City-Competitive-Accountability/dp/073520358X" target="_blank">The Oz Principle: Culture of Accountability</a>). An all-too-often over-looked influencer is the organization's "Keyhub" - those employees not part of the official managerial org chart, but whose experience/opinion/ insight is highly sought and respected among his/her peers, colleagues and subordinates. The identification of and collaboration with the keyhub is an important networking strategy to help lead successful change efforts in any organization.<br />
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The effective change leader must be able to marshal the resources and competencies necessary to support the change, adapt to challenges, and keep the change project on schedule and in budget. The change leader should follow a formalized change strategy or framework incorporating the methods, tools and technical assistance necessary to lead the process and coach the people through change. Three common models of a change management process are:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.changeguidesllc.com/consulting/?sub=2" target="_blank">The Change Management 101 Model</a> </li>
<li><a href="https://www.slideshare.net/HomerZhang/ge-change-managementcap" target="_blank">GE Change Acceleration Process</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.kotterinc.com/8-steps-process-for-leading-change/" target="_blank">Kotter 8-Step Change Model</a></li>
</ul>
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In conclusion, I offer the following three inspirational quotes befitting the effective change leader.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory." ~W.Edwards Deming</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change." ~Charles Darwin</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Never mistake motion for action. Motion produces activity. Action produces results. The distinction between motion and action underscores the need to have people assume accountability for producing results." ~Ernest Hemingway</blockquote>
<br />QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-20665438943893993132019-03-11T18:09:00.002-05:002019-03-11T18:13:44.234-05:00Best Practices in End-to-End Supply ChainThe latest ASQ CEO blog post asks "what are some best practices for planning and implementing [E2E] Supply Chain to ensure success?"<br />
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Investopedia defines an E2E SCP as, "...a term used to describe products or solutions that cover
every stage in a particular process, often without any need for anything
to be supplied by a third party. It also embraces a philosophy that
eliminates as many middle layers or steps as possible to optimize
performance and efficiency in any process."<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">E2E Supply Chain graphic via LeanCorp.com</span><br />
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Traditional supply chains involve individual organizational silos that often result in inefficient overall performance and constrained supplier relationships. An end-to-end view of the complete supply chain begins with product design, supplier selection and management, then scheduling, production, distribution, and should include after-sale customer service. A holistic E2E Supply Chain integrates all revenue and
expense streams. Effective E2E Supply Chains enable disruptive innovations in customer experience by delivering greater visibility of product design & performance and manufacturing capabilities, as well as order management and
inventory status. <br />
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Building an effective E2E Supply Chain requires the implementation of an <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/erp.asp" target="_blank">Enterprise Resource Planning</a> (ERP) system that bundles top-level business processes such as Concept-to-Launch, Procure-to-Pay and Order-to-Cash functions as well as Hire-to-Retire and Sustain-and-Retain human capital asset management processes to present a holistic view of supply
chain operations, while improving organizational strategic planning & deployment, decision-making, workforce planning and overall business growth.<br />
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Best Practices in E2E Supply Chains:<br />
<ul>
<li>Inventory Management via Lean principles to eliminate waste (including unnecessary inventory) and reduce non value-added activities thereby reducing lead times and order fulfillment errors, resulting in improved customer perceptions of organizational responsiveness. </li>
<li>Customer Demand Planning that uses the customers' order history, market analysis, seasonality, competitive landscape, and
other factors to understand your customer needs better than they do enabling a more stable and predictable planning process.</li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Human Capital asset planning and management that assesses current workforce capability and capacity in response to strategic plans, focusing on the organization's core competencies and strategic advantages. <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="left: 150.979px; top: 276.18px; transform: scaleX(1.02679);"> </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="left: 106.609px; top: 301.18px; transform: scaleX(0.992707);">A Lean Management System deploying data-driven root cause analysis where </span><span style="left: 113.185px; top: 332.016px; transform: scaleX(0.91903);">everyone from the CEO down to the intern is a problem solver, coupled with stronger supplier & vendor</span><span style="left: 73.8925px; top: 357.016px; transform: scaleX(0.927468);"> collaboration can strengthen an </span><span style="left: 84.9073px; top: 382.016px; transform: scaleX(0.944035);">organization’s ability to plan effectively </span><span style="left: 126.952px; top: 407.016px; transform: scaleX(0.930593);">and respond to changes with greater agility.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: small;">Superior </span>network connectivity between the supplier - manufacturer - customer can be a distinct competitive advantage to building strong business relationships. Working within and across the network to improve quality, service and cost at all touch points is a winning formula to help assure business success.QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-46896067364942057422018-12-17T23:30:00.000-06:002018-12-18T00:18:46.666-06:00Developing a High-Performing WorkforceIn the prologue of the December ASQ Roundtable topic to its Influential Voices, it is noted there is a growing trend in the workplace suggesting that end-of-year performance reviews are no longer effective. According to a Deloitte Insights survey, 58% of the companies polled reported that they view their current performance management process as not being an effective use of time and only 8% reported that their process drives high levels of value. To remedy this, some companies have decided to utilize software to improve their process. Other companies have elected to eliminate reviews altogether.<br />
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The topic for the December roundtable discussion is, "What is the most effective performance management approach to encourage high performance year-round?"<br />
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As a Baldrige Examiner, I like to begin my roundtable discussions with a review of the Baldrige Criteria. Category 5 of the Criteria focuses on the Workforce. The Workforce category asks how the organization assesses Workforce Capability and Capacity needs and builds a workforce environment conducive to Engagement and High Performance. The Baldrige Criteria defines High Performance as ever-higher levels of overall organizational and individual performance, including quality, productivity, innovation rate and cycle time. High performance results in improved service and value for customers and other stakeholders. High performance stems from and enhances workforce engagement. Some characteristics about workforce high performance:<br />
<ul>
<li>It involves cooperation between management and the workforce; cooperation among work groups and teams; empowerment of employees and building personal accountability.</li>
<li>It may involve learning to build individual and organizational skills; creating flexible job design; decentralized decision making and making decisions closest to the front line.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
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My career experience, and observations of applicants to state and national quality programs using the Baldrige Criteria has revealed six key processes necessary to effectively encourage high performance:<br />
<ol>
<li>A Formal on-boarding as part of the New Employee Orientation process </li>
<li>Providing immediate, open and honest feedback </li>
<li>Regular, periodic "pulse" surveys to measure employee satisfaction and engagement</li>
<li>Frank, two-way skip-level meetings between management and its people</li>
<li>A Career Pathing process to manage employee progression</li>
<li>A Learning & Development System that supports organizational needs and employee development </li>
<li>Systems & Structures supporting compensation, benefits and policies, rewards, recognition, as well as incentives to encourage continuous improvement, intelligent risk-taking, innovation and customer focus.</li>
</ol>
For more information about these key business and workforce processes, I highly recommend learning about the Baldrige Excellence Framework and attending Baldrige Evaluator training.QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-75986493067108633852018-09-23T15:07:00.000-05:002018-09-23T15:07:02.646-05:00Strategies to Reduce Change ResistanceThe September 2018 ASQ Roundtable topic asks, <i>"What are some recommended strategies or tactics to help achieve successful change management?" It’s often said that people don’t resist “change” so much as they resist “being changed.” So, the job of change management is clear: In a nutshell, you must explain why the affected people should want to change, and thereby cultivate readiness instead of resistance."</i><br />
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Another popular saying regarding change resistance is that the only people who like change are babies (infants). But change is constant, and the rate of change in today's world is ever increasing. A mathematical model representing change acceptance is <span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>Q x A = E</b>, where <b>Q</b> is the qualitative (technical) solution, <b>A</b> is the acceptance of change, and <b>E</b> equals the effectiveness of the project.</span><br />
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The successful change project recognizes that the team, stakeholders, influencers and the people directly impacted by the proposed change must first understand the change and how it affects them; their reservations, concerns and resistance must be
acknowledged and addressed, and they must all embrace the change.<br />
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In an article titled "The 7 Dynamics of Change", Kenneth Blanchard, author of The One Minute Manager, wrote that people: <br />
<ul>
<li>feel awkward, ill-at-ease, self-conscious or fearful about change</li>
<li>focus on what they think they will have to give up</li>
<li>feel alone, even if others are going through the same change</li>
<li>are at different levels of readiness for change</li>
<li>can handle only so much change</li>
<li>are concerned they do not have enough resources to cope with the change</li>
<li>will naturally revert to old behaviors if given the opportunity.</li>
</ul>
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The change adoption (aka rate of diffusion) curve illustrates the impact of change readiness.<br />
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Given the variability in change effectiveness, what strategies can be deployed to improve readiness and acceptance? GE developed its Change Acceleration Process (CAP) in 1992 as part of its overall strategy to improve its competitive advantage. GE's CAP is a set of tools designed to accelerate and increase change effectiveness:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>create a shared need for the change</li>
<li>understand and deal with resistance</li>
<li>mobilize commitment by building an effective influence strategy</li>
<li>continuous communication plan</li>
<li>address both the technical and human change strategies</li>
</ul>
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The high-level GE CAP Model is shown below.<br />
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In an article published by <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/796226/you-dont-need-change-acceleration-process-cap-training-you-need-organizationally-defined-meas" target="_blank">Fast Company</a> magazine (2008), author Dan Feliciano states, "It’s not that people
don’t like change… they don’t like ambiguity and punishment." Dan offers, "Organizations need to focus on creating and communicating
strategies to the employees... by creating goals, objectives, measures, targets, and identifying and resourcing key initiatives for your organization and then cascading the measure and initiatives to every person throughout the organization."<br />
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Building an influence strategy not only involves the engagement of the organization's leaders and managers, but also identifying the presence of any "Keyhubs" within the ranks of its employees. A <a href="http://www.keyhubs.com/blog/know-your-influencers/" target="_blank">keyhub</a> is an individual, not on the org chart, who's experience/ opinion/ insight is highly sought after and respected by peers and colleagues. "Understanding these informal networks enables leaders to <i>align</i> the organization with its strategic direction and move more quickly and effectively. Once you get the culture, you can execute on strategy [and change] with greater ease and efficiency", <i>Vikas Narula (</i><i><a href="http://www.twitter.com/NarulaTweets" target="_blank">@NarulaTweets</a>), Creator and Co-Founder of <a href="http://www.keyhubs.com/" target="_blank">Keyhubs</a> (<a href="http://www.twitter.com/keyhubs" target="_blank">@Keyhubs</a>).</i><br />
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Finally, holding the gains of any change effort requires the implementing of Systems and Structures that reward desired behaviors resulting in successful results, while making it difficult and even painful (more effort) to revert to old behaviors. Desired behaviors must be modeled by the organization's leaders. Such behaviors will create the experiences necessary to instill the right beliefs leading to sustainable culture change. (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Emerald-City-Competitive-Accountability/dp/073520358X" target="_blank"><u>Journey to the Emerald City</u></a> by Roger Connors and Tom Smith).QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-75940860928176848722018-05-08T18:36:00.001-05:002018-05-10T13:28:03.731-05:00Quality in the Experience EconomyIn March 2018 <a href="http://asq.org/blog/2018/03/4651/" target="_blank">ASQ</a> posited that "over the past two decades consumers have been gravitating towards purchases that are of both high quality and provide an experience. Quality of a product or service alone is no longer a differentiator, quality of experience is. Consumers are buying what will
not only satisfy a need, but will illicit an emotion or establish a connection."<br />
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<b>ASQ asks, "How will this shift to an experience economy affect the quality industry? What quality practices can be applied or adapted to ensure success in this new economic structure?"</b><br />
<br />
In the Experience economy your products and/or services
can surpass competitors by creating a consistently superior experience for your
customer, delivering increased perceived value. In today's experiential economy the reliability and quality of products and services alone are considered "expected" or "basic" levels of quality achievement. Today's savvy consumers want satisfying experiences throughout the value chain, from when they first gain awareness of your product or service, to its purchase and even post-purchase transactions. Every step along this value chain is an opportunity (aka touchpoint) to delight the customer. In this experience based economy,
a satisfying customer experience delivers a demonstrable competitive advantage. Higher levels of satisfaction lead to increased customer loyalty. The ultimate expression of such loyalty is customer advocacy of your products and services. Customer advocates provide trusted word of mouth advertising, resulting in increased sales, revenue, and growth. A great way to begin understanding the customer experience with your products and services is to construct a "<a href="https://heartofthecustomer.com/customer-experience-journey-map-the-top-10-requirements/" target="_blank">Journey Map</a>" for each customer type.<br />
<br />
In their book, <b>A leader’s guide to innovation in the experience economy</b>, B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore state that "Mass customization is the route up the progression of economic value (see Exhibit 1), customizing a good turns it into a service, customizing a service turns it into an experience and customizing an experience turns it into a transformation. Companies should focus on reaching inside of the individual, living, breathing customer, making their offerings as personal and as individual as the customer – whether it’s a consumer or business desiring that offering."<br />
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What quality practices can be applied or adapted to ensure success in this new economic structure?<br />
<br />
In order to achieve the goal of delivering consistently superior customer experience, the organization and its Quality professionals must focus on the customer. Everyone in the organization - from the CEO to management, staff, production, and support must understand who their customers are and what they value; understand the organization's strengths and weaknesses, who are your competitors and what are your customers' perceptions of the competitors' advantages. A customer-focused organization must also develop strategies, objectives and tactics to meet future customer requirements and organizational needs.<br />
<br />
The Baldrige Criteria offers a well-structured framework to build organizational performance excellence, focusing on the key areas of:<br />
<ul>
<li>Leadership</li>
<li>Strategic Planning</li>
<li>Customers</li>
<li>Measurement, Analysis and Knowledge Management </li>
<li>Workforce</li>
<li>Operations</li>
<li>Results </li>
</ul>
<br />
Understanding your organizational profile and situation are excellent places to begin the improvement journey. Customer-focused organizations typically require that EVERYONE become a Problem Solver, often implementing such improvement strategies as Lean, Six Sigma, Total Quality Management, etc. Strategic Planning should include an environmental scan and benchmarking to reveal the organization's strategic challenges and opportunities, and encourage intelligent risk to drive innovation. The organization's core competencies must be identified, strengthened and leveraged to achieve its strategies and objectives. Strategic planning, business execution and change management are areas ripe for the quality professional to build upon his/her ancillary skills.<br />
<br />
A customer focused organization that consistently delivers superior customer satisfaction resulting in loyalty and advocacy can only be achieved with an empowered and engaged workforce. "Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first." (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Sinek" target="_blank">Simon Sinek</a>). An engaged employee gives his/her utmost. Again, per Simon Sinek, "The
responsibility of leadership is to serve their people so that their
people may better serve the customer. If leaders fail to serve their
people first, customer and company will suffer." Quality professionals can strengthen their indispensability to the organization by building on their competencies of process and systems thinking to enhance teamwork dynamics and manage organizational white spaces, resulting in improved organizational communication, alignment and performance.<br />
<br />
Implementing a measurement system to monitor customers' perceptions of your products and services is another key area of focus for the Quality professional. In today's connected world, metrics around social media content and customer feedback are necessary to understand and improve customer relationships. Commercial services now exist to help an organization listen to its current customers, lost customers and potential customers.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Improving the quality of your organization's performance effectiveness will deliver delightful customer experiences. </b></i><br />
<br />QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-44884267967465346752017-09-04T13:59:00.001-05:002017-09-04T20:19:54.940-05:00Use Design Thinking to Innovate Your Quality Improvement JourneyIn its monthly blog, <a href="http://asq.org/blog/">A View from the Q</a>, ASQ asks the Quality community how they might use Design Thinking concepts to improve their problem solving and process improvement roadmaps. Design Thinking is a strategy-making process that focuses on customer behaviors rather than opinion (aka tribal knowledge) and market research.<br />
<br />
There is a lot of press lately about Design Thinking concepts, applications and examples in the development of new products and opening new markets. Design Thinking was p<span data-reactid=".0.0.0.1.1.0">opularized by David M. Kelley and Tim Brown of IDEO and Roger Martin of the Rotman School</span>. A very good, short video on the topic was recently published by the <a href="https://hbr.org/video/4443548301001/the-explainer-design-thinking">Harvard Business Review blog </a>. For a more detailed explanation please read the paper, <a href="https://hbr.org/2015/09/design-for-action?">"Design for Action"</a> written by Brown and Martin.<br />
<br />
Design Thinking process:<br />
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<br />
From a paper recently published by <a href="https://www.creativityatwork.com/design-thinking-strategy-for-innovation/">Creativity At Work</a>, "Design Thinking is a methodology used by designers to solve complex
problems, and find desirable solutions for clients. A design mindset is
not problem-focused, it’s solution focused and action oriented towards
creating a preferred future. Design Thinking draws upon logic,
imagination, intuition, and systemic reasoning, to explore possibilities
of what could be—and to create desired outcomes that benefit the end
user (the customer)".<br />
<br />
So how might Design Thinking be applied to your Quality improvement frameworks and roadmaps? The three major stages of Design Thinking are:<br />
<ol>
<li>Observe customer behavior; define unarticulated needs</li>
<li>Ideate, Prototype, experiment and test</li>
<li>Bring the new concept to life; open new markets</li>
</ol>
What differentiates Design Thinking from traditional Voice of Customer collection approaches is the emphasis placed on observation of behaviors rather than relying on customers' input to satisfaction surveys. Survey responses tend to validate Expected Quality and rarely reveal Exciting Quality opportunities (see "Kano Model"). In this way, Design Thinking is similar to Focus Panels and "Be the Customer" methods to better understand unarticulated customer needs. It is at this stage of Design Thinking that the Quality practitioner has the unique opportunity to innovate through the introduction and incorporation of <a href="https://heartofthecustomer.com/customer-experience-journey-map-the-top-10-requirements/">Journey Mapping</a> to document <b>customer experiences</b> throughout the value chain of the producer-customer relationship, from product awareness to purchase and after-sale touchpoints. <br />
<br />
An example of customer journey map:<br />
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<br />
The stages in Design Thinking around Ideation and Prototyping should look very similar to your existing Product Development and Commercialization processes. Many such approaches use a stage-gate model to prototype, test, and refine product design to evaluate customer acceptance and verify production cost estimates. Quality's role in this stage should be to coach and consult in the proper use of experimental design to minimize experimentation costs and identify potentially important interactions of inputs and process variables to optimize performance of customer needs.<br />
<br />
Another unique opportunity in the Design Thinking process for the Quality professional is in the final stage of bringing the new concept to life. With the help of social media the properly trained Quality professional can analyze customer / consumer feedback to validate areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction, focusing on opportunities to build loyalty and engagement.<br />
<br />
One can debate whether Design Thinking is really all that new or novel an approach to the value creation process. Design Thinking reinforces the power of understanding customer behaviors and unarticulated needs to deliver Exciting, innovative new product and service offerings for improved customer satisfaction and engagement... and potentially opening whole new markets. Per Linda Naiman (Creativity at Work), "Design Thinking minimizes the uncertainty and risk of innovation by
engaging customers or users through a series of prototypes to learn,
test and refine concepts". The Quality professional might also consider how Design Thinking and Journey Mapping can help him/her to innovate their professional services portfolio for increased customer satisfaction in teaching, coaching and consulting outcomes.<br />
<br />
"The best way to predict the future is to create it" - Peter DruckerQualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-46428209830300629632017-06-18T14:40:00.000-05:002017-06-19T11:42:00.200-05:00The Role of Quality in the Fourth Industrial RevolutionAs part of its continuing series of Roundtable discussions among the "Influential Voices of Quality" participants, <a href="http://asq.org/blog/">ASQ</a> asks, <b>"As Industry 4.0 continues to evolve, what can quality professionals do to ensure they will be an integral asset throughout this industrial revolution?"</b><br />
<br />
First, let's begin with an operational definition of Industry 4.0.<br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industry_4.0" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a> defines Industry 4.0 as "the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. It includes cyber-physical systems, the Internet of things and cloud computing. Industry 4.0 creates what has been called a "smart factory". Within the modular structured smart factories, cyber-physical systems monitor physical processes, create a virtual copy of the physical world and make decentralized decisions. Over the Internet of Things, cyber-physical systems communicate and cooperate with each other and with humans in real time, and via the Internet of Services both internal and cross-organizational services are offered and used by participants of the value chain".<br />
<br />
<a class="hawk-link-parsed" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/11358628/Industrial-Internet-of-Things-to-boost-UK-economy-by-531bn-by-2030.html">Accenture</a>
released a report in January 2015 that concluded an
industrial-scale version of Industry 4.0
could add $14.2 trillion to
the world economy over the next 15 years.<br />
<br />
<i>Christoph Roser at </i><i>AllAboutLean.com illustrates the four industrial revolutions:</i><br />
<br />
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<i><br /></i>
So, <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/future-tech/5-things-you-should-know-about-industry-4-0-1289534">the fourth industrial revolution is the move towards digitization</a> including automation, robotics, artificial intelligence. The Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition (SMLC) in the United States is a non-profit
organization comprising manufacturers, suppliers, technology firms,
government agencies, universities and laboratories that share the goal of advancing the thinking behind Industry 4.0. Its
purpose is to construct an open, smart manufacturing platform for
industrial-networked information applications.<br />
<br />
In a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2016/06/20/what-everyone-must-know-about-industry-4-0/#75df5dca795f">Forbes</a> article dated June 20, 2016, Bernard Marr states that in order for a factory or system to be considered Industry 4.0, it must include:<br />
<ul>
<li>Interoperability — machines, devices, sensors and people that connect and communicate with one another.</li>
<li>Information transparency — the systems create a virtual copy of the
physical world through sensor data in order to contextualize
information.</li>
<li>Technical assistance — both the ability of the systems to support humans in making decisions and solving problems <i>and</i> the ability to assist humans with tasks that are too difficult or unsafe for humans.</li>
<li>Decentralized decision-making — the ability of cyber-physical
systems to make simple decisions on their own and become as autonomous
as possible.</li>
</ul>
<br />
Having defined Industry 4.0, it is clear that <a href="https://www.ctl.io/blog/post/qa-with-the-iot/">assuring such inter-connectedness</a> of software, sensors, devices and data centers requires a quality system that delivers data integrity, privacy and reliability in addition to assuring reliable, rugged, scaleable, fully-integrated systems and processes that seamlessly data-share between networks while consistently meeting producer, governmental and customer needs. Opportunities exist for the Quality professional to make significant, innovative contributions in areas of software quality assurance, reliability, process validation, environmental life testing and accelerated stress testing, Real Time Process Monitoring, multivariate statistics, 1st Principles and transfer functions, advanced calibration and big data analytics. Now, more than ever, product development and commercialization teams must assure reliable machine-human interface ease of use and real-time results-driven feedback loops. And, of course, discover even deeper insights to the ever-changing voice of customer (and voice of process) along with a comprehensive understanding of the customer experience throughout the value chain (e.g. journey maps), and assure that the organization is measuring the right key metrics to deliver success.<br />
<br />
Industry 4.0 offers exciting new challenges to the Quality profession while building on our expertise of problem solving, process improvement, and managing the organizational white spaces to sustain customer focus and achieve operational excellence.<br />
<ul>
</ul>
QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-92167568564333198172017-03-01T12:25:00.001-06:002017-03-01T12:32:24.453-06:00Enhancing & Sustaining the Role of QualityThe March 2017 ASQ Influential Voices roundtable discussion topic asks, "<b><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">How can we prevent quality professionals from being perceived as a “thing
of the past”? What adaptations need to occur in the quality industry as a whole and on the individual level to revitalize the industry and attract the next generation of quality professionals? </span></i></b><br />
<br />
In his <a href="http://srlean6.blogspot.com/2017/02/are-quality-professionals-dying-breed.html" target="_blank">Square Peg Musings</a> blog response, Scott Rutherford attributes the source of this ASQ discussion topic to recent LinkedIn posts by others suggesting that the role of manufacturing quality appears to be backsliding to that of end-of-line product quality inspection and a system of Risk and Reward where defective product is either repaired or replaced in the field or the purchase price is refunded, with little focus on process improvement and prevention.<br />
<br />
My years of experience in manufacturing as a quality professional, coupled with my experience as a Baldrige Examiner where I have evaluated organizations across the economic spectrum of healthcare, education, government, small business and non-profits leads me to conclude that the Quality profession is not dying, rather transforming and expanding into traditionally non-Quality departments or operations of the organization. For example, a key tenant of Lean is that everyone - at all levels of the organization - becomes a problem solver. Six Sigma belts are sometimes the Quality professional but more often the subject matter expert in a given discipline or function, and is positioned as a career development opportunity perhaps leading to future management or leadership positions. Many non-manufacturing organizations have replaced the traditional "Quality Dept." with employees staffed in departments responsible for "Customer/Patient Satisfaction" or "Operational Excellence" or the like. Many service industries have developed their own quality certifications specific to its own needs, mission, vision and culture.<br />
<br />
Which begs the question, is there a fulfilling career opportunity for someone pursuing a role - or perhaps currently feeling trapped (i.e. career plateaued) in a current role - in the Quality function? <br />
A real concern of mine is that many organizations seem satisfied by equating quality to standards conformance. Their quality professionals are primarily engaged in documenting procedures and requirements, auditing for compliance, and issuing reports. Though a required set of activities in certain compliance-based industries, this in itself is not a particularly engaging nor growth activity for the quality professional. A primary role of Quality is <a href="http://roberthmitchell.blogspot.com/2014/11/transformational-quality-business.html" target="_blank">Business Process Management</a> to improve the organizational white spaces - the communication and handoffs - between departments to assure operational excellence. By first focusing on and optimizing these internal customer-supplier relationships within the organization the Quality professional builds organizational capability to better serve the needs of its external customers. A Customer-first culture must be nurtured by leadership to enable organizational performance excellence. A genuine focus on the customer/patient always results in a more engaged workforce leading to process improvements, innovation and performance excellence.<br />
<br />
So ... "What adaptations need to occur in the quality industry to revitalize the industry and attract the next generation of quality professionals?" Some of my thoughts:<br />
<ol>
<li>More ASQ focus and training on quality's role in driving and achieving innovation</li>
<li>More ASQ focus and training to aid the technical Quality professional in making the successful transition to management and leadership. </li>
<li>More ASQ involvement in K-12 education curriculum to increase certain quality concepts teaching in STEM courses (e.g. statistical thinking)</li>
<li>More ASQ involvement with community colleges, universities and business schools to increase the awareness and discussion of quality principles and the Baldrige Criteria.</li>
</ol>
The successful Quality professional has adopted a philosophy of life-long learning beyond the areas of technical Quality and data analysis to broaden and strengthen his/her individual capabilities, in both "hard" and "soft" skills. <br />
<ol>
<li>Interpersonal Communication</li>
<li>Social Media (for customer engagement)</li>
<li>Change Management</li>
<li>Leadership Behaviors</li>
<li>Strategic Planning <u>and Execution</u></li>
<li>Community Involvement</li>
<li>Coaching and Mentoring</li>
</ol>
The future of Quality is us. We cannot afford to sit idly by, or risk irrelevance; seek new opportunities and experiences. (e.g. What is the role of Quality in automation and robots?) "The best way to predict the future is to create the future" [Peter Drucker].<br />
<br />
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<br />QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-15750618471861840482016-11-14T18:18:00.000-06:002016-11-14T18:40:05.690-06:00Ensuring Growth of Quality & Customer IntegrationIn its December 2016 blog post ASQ asks its Influential Voices of Quality participants how quality and customer integration growth be ensured. In my opinion sustainable quality growth must begin with a customer-focused culture of performance excellence characterized by servant leadership, customer listening, continuous improvement, high performance and empowerment, innovation, intelligent risk taking and knowledge management.<br />
<br />
A sustainable enterprise must be agile, responsive and adaptive to ever-changing customer expectations and competitive pressures while demonstrating superior competency in anticipating future requirements and excel at re-inventing itself to capture market share leadership.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
In today's world of inter-connected global supply chains and exponential rate of change, the sustainable organization must strategically prioritize its information systems and customer listening processes. All employees must be provided the skills, training and tools necessary to solve customers' problems. Employees must be trusted, respected, expected and empowered to use this newly acquired information to pursue innovative solutions and take intelligent risk. Failures must be accepted as a necessary learning experience while key learnings are actively and intentionally managed and shared to promote and advance organizational knowledge growth. High performance and desired behaviors must be defined, encouraged and rewarded.<br />
<br />
Active customer listening provides unique insights into customer (and potential future customer) satisfiers and dissatisfiers. Social media word-of-mouth offers a powerful competitive advantage to the organization that is able to successfully cultivate a cadre of consumer-trusted customer advocates. 3rd party sites are available to help you monitor and track consumer ratings and comments on retail and social media sites. Appoint a Customer Listening Officer (CLO) and function; create a page on Facebook, Instagram or other social media platform; establish a ratings & reviews page on your own business' website and your partners' websites, etc. Contract with a 3rd party provider such as BazaarVoice, TurnTo, PowerReviews, etc. to collect and download this data on a regular basis. Then establish an internal process to sort and report the data to management, looking for nuggets of insight on where/how to improve. Most importantly, respond in a timely manner directly to the consumer where possible (e.g. Facebook, Instagram posts).<br />
<br />
It all starts with authentic, ethical, inspired leadership and a critical understanding of your organization's mission and vision. <a href="https://www.startwithwhy.com/default.aspx" target="_blank">"Start with Why"</a> to understand why your organization exists: what differentiates your enterprise from the competition? What is your brand promise? Then, design your organization's structures, systems, processes, products and services to consistently deliver that customer-focused why.QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-59716884844368942782016-10-21T15:08:00.002-05:002016-10-24T16:28:35.720-05:00How to Integrate the Younger Workforce into QualityA couple weeks back I was asked by ASQ to present my thoughts on the Future of Quality: How organizations can better integrate the younger workforce into the Quality profession. My response equally applies to all members of the workforce, and is the culmination of my 34 years experience with 3M Company, 30 years as a member leader in ASQ, and 7+ years experience as a Baldrige Examiner.<br />
<br />
Using the Baldrige Criteria as the framework for my discussion, there are two Items (1.1 and 5.2) that specifically apply to the issue of organizational sustainability and workforce engagement:<br />
<br />
Item 1.1 "Senior Leadership"<br />
<ul>
<li>How do senior leaders’ personal actions guide and sustain your organization?</li>
<li>How do senior leaders’ actions build an organization that is successful now and in the future?</li>
</ul>
Item 5.2 "Workforce Engagement"<br />
<ul>
<li>How do you foster an organizational culture that is characterized by open communication, high performance and an engaged workforce?</li>
</ul>
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<br />
Organizational alignment begins with a shared vision, mission and values.<br />
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</div>
<br />
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<br />
Senior leaders' role to better integrate the workforce into the Quality profession starts by communicating the purpose and critical importance of quality to overall organizational success. Next, senior leaders must elevate the value of an assignment in Quality - with demonstrated contributions - to individual advancement / career progression. Systems and structures that support individual development and career advancement in Quality roles must be institutionalized to assure organizational-wide deployment effectiveness.<br />
<br />
Below are some suggestions on how your organization might strengthen workforce integration into Quality while increasing employee engagement overall to achieve high performance and organizational excellence.<br />
<br />
1. Build and nurture commitment to Mission, Vision and Values. Then define Behaviors required for excellence.<br />
<ul>
<li>Senior leaders define desired Leadership Behaviors important to the success of the organization. </li>
<li>Senior leaders must model the desired Leadership Behaviors everyday, in every interaction, to build credibility and assure congruence of words and actions.</li>
<li>A system of measurement and rewards must be developed and institutionalized to identify, reinforce and motivate the desired Leadership Behaviors</li>
</ul>
<br />
2. Determine the key drivers of workforce engagement to achieve high performance:<br />
<ul>
<li>Senior leaders must create a culture of trust, respect, integrity and ethics</li>
<li>Senior leaders must nurture open, honest 2-way communications with the workforce</li>
<li>The organization should increase the customer focus of <u>every</u> employee</li>
<li>Senior leaders should seek to determine the factors given their organization's culture that increase workforce engagement</li>
<li>Systems and processes that encourage innovation and reward intelligent risk taking should be implemented</li>
<li>Periodically and regularly survey your workforce on engagement progress (e.g. "Pulse" surveys).</li>
</ul>
<br />
3. Demonstrate career path options for Quality:<br />
<ul>
<li>Integrate Quality principles (and disciplines?) into all operations</li>
<li>Champion career progression in Quality</li>
<li>Sponsor and reinforce the acquisition and application of new knowledge & skills</li>
<li>Intentionally promote from Quality into the other functions and departments, and vice-versa.</li>
</ul>
<br />
4. Leaders participate in succession planning and employee development:<br />
<ul>
<li>Leaders teach leaders</li>
<li>Enable the "Everyone a Problem Solver" mindset</li>
<li>Provide career broadening opportunities for employees in Quality</li>
<li>Institutionalize organizational learning to collect and disseminate new knowledge and best practices</li>
<li>Promote mentoring and coaching; experiment with reverse-coaching where the new / younger employee coaches a senior leader in some area of identified need (i.e. social media tools, improving communication methods/style with Millennials, etc.)</li>
</ul>
<br />
With the <a href="http://asq.org/world-quality-month/index.aspx" target="_blank">2016 World Quality Month</a> fast approaching, I encourage the reader to discuss with his/her organization how have they considered the needs of the younger generation members of its workforce in its preparations for World Quality Month?<br />
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<br />QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-20675134810548423792016-06-04T13:19:00.002-05:002016-06-04T13:27:21.440-05:00Employee Engagement - The Importance of QualityThe June topic of ASQ's <a href="http://asq.org/blog/2016/06/roundup-employee-engagement/" target="_blank"><u>A View from the Q</u></a> blog is about employee engagement; specifically, ... <i>to what extent do organizations—whether your current employer or previous ones–engage employees about the importance of quality?</i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
“To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace.” Employee engagement is the key to activating a high performing workforce.</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
Doug Conant</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
former Campbell’s Soup CEO</div>
<br />
Before one can discuss employee engagement we need to begin from an operational definition. Engagement is more than satisfaction. <a href="http://www.nist.gov/baldrige/publications/criteria.cfm" target="_blank">Baldrige Criteria</a> defines workforce engagement as, "the extent of workforce commitment, both emotional and intellectual, to accomplishing the work, mission and vision of the organization. Organizations with high levels of workforce engagement are often characterized by high-performing work environments in which people are motivated to do their utmost for the benefit of their customers and for the success of the organization." In other words, when the workforce (employees, volunteers, partners, etc.) is engaged it uses discretionary effort.<br />
<br />
Studies have shown that an engaged workforce leads to improved organizational performance and outcomes. (See also the <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2012/06/22/employee-engagement-what-and-why/#36b05e354629" target="_blank">"Engagement-Profit Chain"</a>).<br />
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With an operational definition in hand, to what extent should organizations engage their workforce about quality? Item 5.2 of the Baldrige Criteria speaks directly to Workforce Engagement. The basic requirement asks how the organization engages its workforce to achieve a high-performing work environment. Suggested areas to address include organizational culture, identification of engagement key drivers, assessments of engagement indicators, performance management (e.g. customer focus, intelligent risk taking and innovation), workforce and leader development, learning and development effectiveness, and career progression.<br />
<br />
It is my experience (34 years with 3M; 30+ years as an ASQ member; 7
years as a Baldrige Evaluator) that employee engagement cannot be
sustained without a strong focus on the customer. Customer
engagement is all about quality: quality of our knowledge about the customer, quality of the supply chain, internal work processes quality, product quality, service quality, transactional quality, and quality of customer relationships. Indeed, customer experience is the result of one's end-to-end value stream performance. 3M Quality is customer-focused process and product understanding. 3M culture can be summed by the <a href="https://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3M-Company/Information/Resources/History/?PC_Z7_RJH9U52300V200IP896S2Q3223000000_assetId=1319210372704" target="_blank">McKnight Principles</a> where employee empowerment, teamwork, intelligent risk taking and innovation are encouraged and rewarded, and nurtured with training, development, coaching and mentoring. <a href="http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3M-Company/Information/AboutUs/WhoWeAre/" target="_blank">3M Values</a> proudly enumerate "quality" as an expectation. 3M Quality is not a slogan, it is a way of life.<br />
<br />
Finally, several tools exist to help organizations assess its workforce engagement, and measure the financial impact of workforce engagement to its bottom line. For example, <a href="https://q12.gallup.com/public/en-us/Features" target="_blank">Gallup</a> has developed a 12 Question pulse survey instrument to help organizations assess the key drivers of employee engagement. It is said there are 4 main aspects to consider when calculating the ROI of employee engagement:<br />
<ul>
<li>Productivity</li>
<li>Absenteeism</li>
<li>Turnover</li>
<li>Speed of Onboarding</li>
</ul>
(Source: <a href="https://www.officevibe.com/employee-engagement-roi" target="_blank">Officevibe</a>. *Example only. This is not an endorsement of Officevibe or its ROI Calculator).<br />
<br />QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-13002706024079632682016-05-08T15:01:00.002-05:002016-05-12T17:44:14.336-05:00Capturing and Translating VOC to Deliver Superior Customer ExperiencesThe topic for the <a href="http://asq.org/blog/2016/04/roundtable-voice-of-the-customer/" target="_blank">April 2016 ASQ blog</a> is Voice of the Customer (VOC). Specifically, <i>What exactly should voice of the customer mean to the quality
professional? How important is it? What are the best ways to gather it?</i><br />
<br />
Voice of Customer is a critical input to the development, commercialization and delivery of cost-effective, reliable and exciting products & services that help assure the growth and sustainability of an organization. The producing organization must first fully understand its supplier-processing-customer supply chain as well as the competitive landscape, while demonstrating the capability and capacity to successfully articulate, measure and improve its own key business processes (see <a href="http://roberthmitchell.blogspot.com/2008/03/in-my-previous-blog-i-introduced-topic.html" target="_blank">COPs, MOPs, SOPs</a>). For example, what is the organization's mission, vision? Values and principles? Goals and strategic plans? How does the organization go to market? How does the organization make money? What are the organization's core competencies and strategic advantages?<br />
<br />
When attempting to define the "customer" it is important that everyone involved in the commercialization process agree on the target customer. One might assume that the customer is the end-user, consumer. But it is often not enough to just consider the end-user needs; the end-user might not be the purchasing decision-maker. For example, who decides what products get placed on store shelves, placed in catalogs, placed in the office supply room, stocked in the parts crib, or made available for on-line purchase; i.e. who is the "Gatekeeper"? In a B2B model, what are the Buyer's needs? What influences the Gatekeeper and/or Buyer purchasing decisions? What are the "Switching costs" associated with any change in supplier? How can <u>your</u> product, brand, or organization help that trade/channel customer achieve its strategic goals better than your competition can? In today's global market where product can be purchased from virtually anywhere on the planet via the World Wide Web, what regulatory, statutory and/or Governmental needs must be satisfied? Of course, let us not forget the Internal customer. How effectively are internal customer & downstream process requirements understood and met by the previous process (internal supplier)? Where can waste and inventory be eliminated in the Value Stream?<br />
<br />
There are many ways to collect the Voice of Customer. Surveys are often cited as a common example. However, surveys are very limiting. Problems arise with low response rates and questions concerning the validity of the survey instrument itself. Did the survey reach the intended audience? Furthermore, it is my experience that many survey questions are often poorly written. Bias can easily enter into how the question is asked and/or in the development of a list of possible responses (i.e. multiple choice). The selected Likert scale, if used, may be too narrow to provide any meaningful, useful spread in the data with which act. Before any survey is published the organization should evaluate how well the survey meets the overall objective. How will the organization use the responses to the questions asked? Will the anticipated range of responses help the organization create a better product or service? A word of advice - "pilot" the survey with a sampling of the intended audience prior to launch.<br />
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Another weakness of surveys is that they can only identify drivers of "Basic" and "Expected" customer needs. Even if an organization meets 100% of the Basic and Expected needs it will not deliver "Exciting" quality. Customers cannot articulate needs that they are not aware of; but once and organization delivers Exciting quality it is on the cusp of earning customer loyalty. For more information about different levels of needs and satisfaction please review the <a href="http://asq.org/learn-about-quality/qfd-quality-function-deployment/overview/kano-model.html" target="_blank">Kano Model</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
Focus Panels are a better VOC tool than surveys because its attempts to identify unarticulated needs, but focus panels assume that one has direct access to the intended customer. Though here again, questions can arise as to how the audience was selected (i.e. segmentation and sampling errors). Focus panels do offer the advantage to surveys in that questions are more free-flowing and can be tailored to the direction of the conversation, often resulting in more insight. Focus panels also afford the producer the opportunity to observe the customer perform a task, often discovering hidden pain points previously unbeknownst even to the customer. I have found <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z84ZGeJMSIs" target="_blank">C2C's VOC CAGE Model,</a> developed by David Verduyn, to be a great product design process that helps discover unarticulated customer needs.<br />
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<br />
Surveys and Focus Panels are just two ways that VOC can be captured. There are many more methods available that I will not delve into here. Each of these VOC methods has its strengths and weaknesses in capturing customer wants and needs for a product or service; however, none of them do a particularly good job of capturing insights into how to improve the overall Customer Experience (CX). Developing and commercializing a great product or service is not wholly sufficient if the transactional process outcomes are disappointing. Customer Experience is the total of product reliability and relationship quality that a customer has with an organization, its employees and its partners - every single transaction that a customer has throughout the value chain. From pre-sale to purchase to post-sale and customer service, each step in the value chain is a "moment of truth" that can impact Customer Experience. A relatively new tool called the <a href="http://www.heartofthecustomer.com/customer-experience-journey-map-the-top-10-requirements/" target="_blank">Customer Journey Map</a> is an awesome tool to help identify drivers and dissatisfiers to delivering superior customer experience. When collecting customer wants & needs, likes and dislikes, do not miss the opportunity to learn more about your competition: why does the customer currently buy the competitor's product? What do they do well? What do they not do so well? Finally, product development offers the opportunity to bring disruptive innovation to the market. How, where can you leapfrog the competition to change the very basis of competition?<br />
<br />
A good way to track and improve one's customer experience quality is to track Word-of-Mouth feedback. The internet today enables and empowers the consumer to easily compare product features, reliability, cost, and review user comments. User reviews and ratings are available on nearly every B2C and other customer-facing website and via services such as Yelp!, TripAdvisor, etc. By following - and positively responding to - user reviews the organization can actually build customer satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy. <a href="http://www.bazaarvoice.com/" target="_blank">BazaarVoice </a>and <a href="http://www.powerreviews.com/" target="_blank">PowerReviews Inc.</a> are two service providers that can help your organization track and report customer reviews of your brand and product, to create actionable insights.<br />
<br />
Of course, just collecting the Voice of the Customer will not guarantee product or business success. One must be able to effectively translate the "fuzzy" voice of the customer into unique, value-added products and services that will delight the customer while meeting or exceeding all safety and regulatory requirements. Quality Function Deployment (QFD), and Pugh Concept Selection are two matrix-based tools that help organizations develop and select the solutions that best solve customer pain points. A formal phase-gate commercialization process will help keep the product team on task towards achieving the commercialization targets and organizational goals. Prototypes and pilot testing are typical outcomes along the commercialization journey, which provide the product development team the opportunity to examine supply chain and manufacturing feasibility and cost while validating and refining the translated VOC directly with the intended customer.<br />
<br />
The quality professional that understands the commercialization process, how to administrate and use the various VOC tools, and where/how to benchmark best practices in COPS, SOPS and MOPS is an invaluable asset to the organization.<br />
<br />QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-77715142347019724112016-02-14T23:29:00.002-06:002016-02-14T23:32:44.874-06:00A Quality Career - What's Ahead in 2016?The February topic in ASQ's <a href="http://asq.org/blog/" target="_blank">A View from the Q</a> is "Where do you plan to take your career in 2016? What’s your view of careers in quality today - what challenges is this field facing? How can someone starting out in quality succeed?"<br />
<br />
2016 brings significant change to my quality career, as I retired from 3M in June 2015 after 34 years of dedicated service as a product developer, process engineer, quality engineer, quality specialist, quality manager, and Quality/Lean/Six Sigma teacher-trainer-coach-consultant. Through the years I have enjoyed building my global network of business leaders as well as quality professionals, colleagues and peers - many of whom I am happy to call friends today.<br />
<br />
30+ years of ASQ membership, participation on various ASQ National committees, member-leadership roles in ASQ Divisions and Sections, numerous papers presented at the World Conference of Quality and Improvement (WCQI), membership in the <a href="http://performanceexcellencenetwork.org/" target="_blank">Performance Excellence Network</a> (PEN) and service as a Baldrige Evaluator to the state of Minnesota, all played important roles in broadening my professional network leading to professional growth. My most cherished role is that of mentor and coach. I am so proud to have helped influence the careers and professional growth of my direct reports and mentees, and to have helped shape and sustain the business success of my internal clients and external organizations.<br />
<br />
Having retired from 3M last June and moving from Minnesota to Phoenix last July, I am now focused on building my strategic quality leadership consulting business: <a href="http://www.qualitybob.com/" target="_blank">QualityBob<sup>®</sup> Consulting</a>. Over the decades I purposely and mindfully built a reputation and personal brand of authentic quality expertise and leadership. Many years ago my friends and colleagues inside and outside of 3M began calling me "Quality Bob". A business associate one day kiddingly inquired as to whether I had given thought to trademarking the phrase "QualityBob". Intrigued, I checked into the process and two years later QualityBob<sup>®</sup> Consulting became a registered US trademark. Since retiring from 3M my wife and I have been primarily focused on remodeling our Phoenix home (A projected four month project that is finally wrapping up in its eighth month...). I have also launched my professional website and continue to nurture my network. I have renewed my membership in ASQ and <a href="http://www.swae.org/" target="_blank">Southwest Alliance for Excellence</a> (SWAE) - a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that advances improvement and excellence in organizations, communities and individuals throughout Arizona, Nevada and Utah by using the Baldrige Criteria. This May I am giving a presentation on strategic planning, deployment and business execution at the ASQ Phoenix monthly Program meeting.<br />
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Reflecting on changes observed since I began my 3M career back in 1981, I view the biggest challenges facing communities, organizations, governments and even the quality field itself as the exponential rate of change, globalization of financial markets, data security, lack of clean fresh water, global warming and all the associated ills that it brings - droughts, floods, disease, pestilence, famine, etc. But most disconcerting to me is the continued lack of systems thinking by our leaders. Today's complex problems cannot be solved with simple solutions and quick sound-bites. Interconnected, systemic problems require transformational thinking and novel solutions; cooperation and collaboration, not unhealthy competition and lose-lose compromises.<br />
<br />
To today's students and apprentices of quality I encourage you to seek out a trusted mentor, participate in professional member societies of quality and organizational excellence, contribute your knowledge, skills, talents and passion to local communities and non-profits, and engage in special projects to broaden your experiences.<br />
<br />
Retired from <a href="http://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company-us/" target="_blank">3M</a> (a great company to work for), but not retiring from Quality,<br />
Robert 'QualityBob' Mitchell QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-16153930016385432142015-11-26T11:53:00.001-06:002015-11-26T12:02:12.473-06:00Talking Quality with the C SuiteIn a guest post to ASQ's "A View from the Q" blog, <a href="http://asq.org/blog/2015/11/talking-to-the-c-suite-about-quality/" target="_blank">Dr. Suresh Gettala</a>, a director at ASQ India, discusses how quality professionals might effectively talk about quality to convince the C-suite about its role to drive and sustain a culture of quality. My 34 year experience in a global manufacturing company echoes and reinforces much of what Dr. Suresh suggests as the best ways for quality leaders to discuss the importance of quality with senior management.<br />
<br />
First and foremost, the quality professional must be fluent in the language of management; that is, the language of money. The quality professional must be familiar with financial terms and measures of inventory, investment, and loss. Terms and concepts such as Balance Sheets, P&L, Assets, Liabilities, Gross Margin, Operating Income, Nonworking Capital, Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Payback Period, Return on Investment, Economic Profit, etc. The more comfortable and fluent the quality professional can become when discussing the financial impacts of quality to the business bottom line the stronger credibility he/she will have among the C-suite. Cost of Poor Quality is an important metric that quality professionals can use to educate the C-suite on quality costs.<br />
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<ul>
<li>Appraisal costs include costs of inspection and testing. How many dollars could be saved by using the process approach to understand the root causes of product defects, and focus improvement efforts on improving the process and inputs rather than rely on after the fact product testing and inspection?</li>
<li>Internal failures include rework, waste and scrap. What percentage of waste is "inherent" versus process? Process waste is usually much easier to reduce by addressing sporadic special causes whereas Inherent waste reduction may require fundamental changes in process or product design.</li>
<li>External failures include customer complaints, warranty costs, and loss of customers. In today's world of highly connected, savvy consumers it is more critical than ever to not just satisfy your customer but to consistently delight your most valued customers. Touchpoints - customer interactions - are becoming a greater differentiator of quality perceptions. The power of social media and word of mouth marketing to influence customer purchasing decisions cannot be overlooked. The effective quality leader is able to quantify customer experience (CX) as a new measure of quality on the C-suite scorecard.</li>
</ul>
Every quality professional should also be conversant in Constraint Theory, Lean, and Six Sigma/TQM. Senior management is less interested in cost avoidance and other types of "soft" savings than it is in learning how to save "hard dollars". Theory of Constraints teaches us that the application of quality principles to reduce, subordinate or eliminate constraints to throughput are the best ways to save "hard dollars" other than reducing headcount. Lean principles teach us to abhor waste in all of its forms and manifestations, most notable work in-progress (WIP) and inventory (nonworking capital). Value Stream Maps are an invaluable tool to illustrate to everyone involved in the supply chain and to senior management how to see and quantify the piles of nonworking capital located throughout a product's value stream, from raw materials to WIP to finished goods.<br />
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One of the best, most effective, endeavors I had the pleasure of participating in my career was to bring Heero Hacquebord in to teach our senior leaders and executives about understanding variation. Heero designed and delivered a series of short modules titled, "Statistical Thinking for Leaders". This training was targeted specially to management and addressed many of the topics I shared above. The goal was to mitigate the tendency of 2-point comparisons and the subsequent all-too-common knee-jerk reaction of management tampering (treating common cause variation as special cause). Common cause variation reduction strategies are quite different from special cause.<br />
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Authentic, informed leadership is a critical input to build and sustain a culture of customer-focused, process-approach, systems-oriented quality management leading to organizational performance excellence.QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-7924526880293459602015-10-22T14:19:00.002-05:002015-10-29T21:03:53.421-05:00A Day with the Future of Quality<br />
In a guest blog to <a href="http://asq.org/blog/2015/10/a-day-with-the-future-of-quality/#comment-79208" target="_blank"><u>A View from the Q</u></a> submitted by Edwin Garro, an ASQ Fellow and founding member of ASQ Section 6000, Costa Rica, Edwin shares his recent experience while visiting San Rafael de Poás Technical High School, in the mountains of Alajuela, Costa Rica where 15- and 16- year olds will graduate in 2017 with a technical degree in Quality and Productivity. Edwin asks whether similar programs exist elsewhere.<br />
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It has been my great pleasure to participate on the Program Improvement Advisory Committee for the Bachelor of Manufacturing Management degree offered at the University of Minnesota-Crookston. Though not a high school curriculum as per Edwin Garro's example, UMC's BMM degree program is tailored to employees of local manufacturers and includes a strong emphasis on quality principles, statistics and quality management. Per the UMC BMM program brochure the program "is designed to meet the needs of people already in the workplace and two-year graduates who want to continue their education to the bachelor's degree level with seamless integration of prior credits earned. The program is available for in-class instruction on campus, as well as through online education. The online education components of the program are delivered through asynchronous electronic communication technologies and self-directed learning." This is a unique quality management degree program specifically targeted to support area manufacturers and businesses located in rural northeast Minnesota and to help improve the marketability of UMC students.<br />
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"The bachelor of manufacturing management (B.M.M.) is a career-oriented program that prepares students to manage people and machines in a manufacturing environment. Graduates will be able to supervise a manufacturing process, manage human and mechanical resources within budgetary constraints, and assure product quality. Program outcomes:<br />
1- play a growing role in their workplace, especially in supervision and management<br />
2- contribute to manufacturing system technology and quality control<br />
3- establish a quality control department and train staff to meet quality audits<br />
4- develop grades and standards of quality<br />
5- set up acceptance sampling and inspection procedures<br />
6- prepare quality control charts and reports<br />
7- control the movement of materials in the most efficient manner at the right time, to and from the correct place in the required quantity<br />
8- do a safety audit through a comprehensive approach to problems of safety in the workplace, including meeting the OSHA standards."<br />
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Dr. Christo Robberts is the program director for the Quality Management program and the Manufacturing Management programs at the University of Minnesota Crookston. For more information please visit the University of Minnesota-Crookston webpage at <a href="http://www1.crk.umn.edu/academics/business/bmm/">http://www1.crk.umn.edu/academics/business/bmm/</a>QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-41860728073493173372015-10-11T14:21:00.000-05:002015-10-11T14:37:54.444-05:00Does Mission Matter?While Vision, Leadership, Values and Principles are widely recognized for their importance to an organization's sustainability, effectiveness and excellence, incoming <a href="http://asq.org/blog/2015/08/does-mission-matter/" target="_blank">ASQ Board Chair, Pat Lalonde</a>, asks whether mission matters to improving the quality culture.<br />
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The Criteria for Performance Excellence (Baldrige) defines Mission as, "Your organization’s overall function. The mission answers the question, “What is your organization attempting to accomplish?” The mission might define customers or markets served, distinctive or core competencies, or technologies used."<br />
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My experience in leading the ASQ Statistics Division (1999-2000 and 2001-2002), the Minnesota Section of ASQ (2011-2013), as well as my 34 years professional work experience reinforces the importance of an understood, well-deployed, consistent mission to developing the organization's strategic plan and then working the resulting business plans to achieve excellence. Whereas Vision is more aspirational, Mission provides clarity to the workforce and guides day-to-day decisions regarding business operations. Clarity of mission is critical in defining who you are and how or whether your value proposition differentiates you from the competition. A sound Mission - in concert with a well-articulated Vision - assists in the development of a strategic plan that addresses gaps between the Current State and the organization's desired Future State. <br />
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A consistently applied Mission, congruent with the organization's Values and Principles guides behaviors and decision-making in recognition of the organization's core
competencies, strengths, challenges and opportunities regarding the selection of key suppliers and complementary business partners.<br />
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Of course, the organization's Mission must be considered and consistently applied by leadership, management and the workforce in order to be effective. I invite the reader to visit the MN ASQ Section <a href="http://www.mnasq.org/files/MNASQStrategicPlanning.pdf" target="_blank">website</a> to learn how its leadership skillfully responded to member input and redefined its Mission and Vision as part of its strategic planning process, optimizing its value proposition(s) for the effective development and distribution of its products and services to its key markets and customer segments.<br />
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<br />QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-38083050174045648422015-08-24T15:59:00.003-05:002015-08-26T19:43:35.863-05:00"Made in ___" vs. Country of OriginIn the latest post to the ASQ CEO Blog, <u>A View from the Q</u>, guest blogger and ASQ Managing Director Laurel Nelson-Rowe asks, "What does Made in ___" mean to you?" At a recent by invitation-only quality conference in Shenzhen, China, titled “Huawei Big Quality International Seminar", some common words and themes heard were feeling, emotion, patriotism, pride and competitiveness.<br />
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Prior to my retirement from a large multinational manufacturing company I served as both the Quality Manager and Country of Origin Coordinator for my business unit. I believe I bring a rather unique perspective to the matter of quality and Made in ___. Here in the United States, the terms Country of Origin and Made in USA are often incorrectly used interchangeably. Country of Origin (COO) is determined for purposes of trade; i.e. customs duties. The proper Country of Origin is determined based on where the "substantial transformation" activity occurs. For purposes of kits and multi-paks the "essential character" of the products also comes into play. It should be noted that the US Gov't has its own set of rules when purchasing certain commodities, whether for the military or government offices (GSA contracts). Many of these COO determinations are dictated by trade agreement acts (TAA) such as NAFTA, or by law (Buy American Act, Berry Amendment, etc.).<br />
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"Made in USA" on the other hand is a product marking regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC has defined criteria that must be met in order for a manufacturer to claim "Made in USA" and also incorporate the image of a USA flag on the product packaging. The "Made in USA" claim requires that the total manufactured <u>cost</u> of the item must be "all or virtually all" United States content. This cost includes raw materials, components, sub-assemblies, packaging, equipment burden rates and labor. A product whose USA costs are assuredly less than nearly 100% USA (for example, product that is produced or assembled in the USA but with components sourced from outside the US) might not qualify for "Made in USA" labeling. In such instances the manufacturer should state that such product is "Made in the USA with globally sourced materials" (or similar language). Unfortunately, it is my experience that not every company applies the same reasonable basis / interpretation to the "virtually all" cost content requirement. Does "virtually all" mean 99%, 95%, 90%, 75%, anything greater than 50%? The State of California has an even tougher requirement for "Made in USA"... 100% (with few exceptions). This plurality of "Made in USA" definitions imposes significant supply chain administrative processes and cost to the manufacturer.<br />
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It is quite possible for a given product to have multiple Countries of Origin depending upon the rule being followed; for example, one determination for Normal Trade Relations (i.e. Customs) and another COO for Gov't purchases (i.e. Trade Agreements and specific commodities). It is also possible for a product to have COO = United States (based on substantial transformation location), but not qualify for "Made in USA" (based on cost).<br />
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Aside from the producer's technical aspects of properly determining Country of Origin and Made in ___ product markings, there is the consumer's emotional element as referenced in the opening paragraph. Both perspectives are very real and very important to commerce. There is much debate on the value of free trade agreements, which I shall not delve into here, except to briefly present the economic theory of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage" target="_blank">Comparative Advantage</a>. This theory, supported by empirical data, suggests that "where two countries capable of producing two commodities engage in the free market, then each country will increase its overall consumption by exporting the good for which it has a comparative advantage while importing the other good, provided that there exist differences in labor productivity between both countries" (source: Wikipedia). Over the long term, comparative advantage drives specialization and nurtures innovation. Arguments against the theory of comparative advantage cite the dangers of diminishing returns (i.e. productivity), and the pros & cons of diversification vs specialization.<br />
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From a quality perspective, today's consumer is very technically savvy and is able to shop via the internet to find the product they want at a price they are willing to pay. Word of Mouth advertising such as online ratings & reviews empower the savvy consumer to find the best overall experience regardless of the product's country of origin. If "Made in ___" is an important value proposition to you please be aware of the different interpretations of the minimum content requirement.<br />
<br />QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-86777141976021779172015-06-18T14:55:00.000-05:002015-06-18T14:55:14.795-05:00The Future of QualityASQ's <a href="http://futureofquality.org/?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=communications_blog_future" target="_blank">2015 Future of Quality</a> report, titled "Quality Throughout", examines the changing role of quality. The 88-page report is a compilation of essays from experts in their fields from around the globe. In a guest post to the ASQ CEO's blog, Laurel Nelson-Rowe, ASQ Managing Director, asks for feedback from ASQ's Voices of Quality bloggers.<br />
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I have experienced many changes in the field of quality over my 35 year career. Today's quality professional must not only be proficient in the knowledge and application of quality principles, methods and tools to improve processes, products and services, the effective quality professional must never stop learning and experimenting. <br />
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The "indispensable" quality professional is fully aware of mega-trends, CEO challenges and emerging markets, and is able to successfully communicate/ translate/ faciltate those long-term opportunities into aligned business-focused strategies and tactics for increased customer satisfaction, competitiveness and sustainable growth.<br />
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The indispensable quality professional guides leadership in the rigorous evaluation of its business results and leadership performance against expectations, and is constantly benchmarking best practices - from within and outside its sector - for innovative and disruptive improvement of its key systems and process. The indispensable quality leader is trained and competent in ISO and other industry-specific quality standards, but must also be knowledgeable in the understanding and application of the Baldrige Criteria (or other proven excellence frameworks such as the Deming Prize). Recognized winners and high-performing applicants of these national and local organizations are target-rich role model organizations with demonstrated best practices ripe for replication.<br />
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The indispensable quality professional recognizes the impact of social media and respects the influence of on-line word of mouth held by today's globally-connected, savvy consumer. Strengthening customer relations while learning how to listen and interact with the customer via social media will greatly enhance the organization's perceived value to the customer. Successfully implementing an effective social media engagement strategy is another important opportunity for today's quality leader.<br />
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Agility, adaptability and life-long learning are important attributes for today's and future quality leaders. <br />
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I am retiring from 3M Company after 34 wonderful years to begin my new career as a quality management consultant. I look forward to continued posts sharing my experiences and insights to the global quality community as an ASQ Voices of Quality blogger.<br />
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- Robert 'QualityBob' Mitchell</div>
QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-25409879148709559812015-03-01T13:50:00.001-06:002015-03-01T13:53:58.902-06:00The Global Impact of (and Need for) QualityIn his February 2015 blog post, ASQ CEO Bill Troy shares <a href="http://asq.org/about-asq/who-we-are/index.html" target="_blank">ASQ's mission</a> to increase the use and impact of
quality in response to the diverse needs of the world, and asks if they are doing enough throughout the world to accomplish that mission?<br />
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I work for a multinational diversified manufacturer. 3M Company's strategic quality leadership team chose to become an Enterprise member of ASQ with the intentional decision to make ASQ's Body of Knowledge, community collaboration resources and global best practice sharing available to every one of 3M's 100,000 employees worldwide. 3M is global; ASQ is global. 3M's partnership with ASQ provides yet one more channel of individualized learning and leadership development.<br />
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3M's worldwide headquarters is located just east of St Paul, Minnesota, USA. The bulk of 3M's product designs have historically originated in the USA marketplace. 3M leadership has recognized that products developed in one country (e.g. United States) may not have an existing market in other cultures. Many new-to-the-world products might also require changes or modification in behavior before the product can realize its true potential. 3M has responded to the need for region-specific products by building design centers and customer innovation labs located in countries around the world. The role of the regional design center is to enable and promote product designs specific to the local market need and cultural norms. <br />
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Regardless where the the products are developed, fundamental quality principles are bedrock. The use of VOC with sound experimental design and statistical analysis is a requirement for effective and efficient product (and process) design, development and commercialization. Basic statistics, PDCA, lean, Six Sigma, SPC, root cause analysis, CAPA, and many other traditional quality tools and methods too numerous to cite here are universally applicable to assure continual improvement of products, processes and systems for operational excellence, customer satisfaction and profitable growth.<br />
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A growing area of quality focus and product development is around sustainability and social responsibility. ASQ and the quality discipline in general have a unique opportunity and responsibility to help organizations learn to innovate and replicate global best practices in sustainable product development, lean manufacturing practices, improved reliability and product life cycle management for the benefit of society and future generations.<br />
<br />QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-62132474983501875092015-01-25T18:36:00.001-06:002015-01-26T12:21:04.035-06:00Finding Inspiration from Quality LeadersIn his <a href="http://asq.org/blog/2015/01/finding-inspiration-from-quality-leaders/" target="_blank">January 2014 blog post</a>, ASQ CEO Bill Troy talks about his recent meeting with Paul O’Neill, a quality thought leader, 2013 Juran Medalist, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, and CEO of Alcoa from 1987
to 1999. Paul O'Neill is currently applying
the principles of quality to fix the problems facing U.S. healthcare. Towards the end of his post, Bill Troy asks whose teachings on quality influenced you or inspired you?<br />
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Early in my professional quality career I had the great pleasure and unique opportunity to work for Galen Britz, a giant in 3M's storied culture of quality and a huge advocate for Deming's System of Profound Knowledge. Galen served as Quality Manager of several 3M business units and Chairman of 3M's Corporate Quality Council before retiring in 1999. Galen Britz was also my mentor. Galen is a kind, spiritual and gentle man, and my friend. I learned a great deal about authentic leadership from Galen. Another key figure in my 3M quality career is Thomas Pohlen who, I believe, was the quintessential statistical practitioner and prototypical Master Black Belt long before 3M formally adopted Six Sigma. Tom mentored and trained a considerable portion of 3M executives in statistical thinking during the 1990's. Galen Britz and Tom Pohlen were champions of "Statistical Thinking" in 3M and were instrumental in influencing 3M leadership to bring in <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/heeroh" target="_blank">Heero Hacquebord</a> to teach and coach "Statistical Thinking for Leaders". This training enabled our leaders to pursue real, meaningful, continual improvement of our products and processes through the proper application of quality strategies and tools to separately address special cause, common cause, and structural variation.<br />
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My association with Galen Britz, Tom Pohlen and Heero Hacquebord seeded my interest and directly led to my many years of active membership and service in the ASQ Statistics Division. Participation in the ASQ Statistics Division afforded me the great privilege to meet and work with such notable Quality professionals and thought leaders as Stu Hunter, Lynne Hare, Roger Hoerl, Ron Snee, Davis Balestracci, and many others too numerous to call out, whom I am indebted for my understanding of and passion for customer-focused quality.<br />
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Today, my biggest thrill and greatest sense of accomplishment is guiding and coaching the development of my students, direct reports and mentees. I strive to create the same sense of joy, excitement and enthusiasm in learning, development and, of course, contribution to business and society.QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-16931668307919540732014-12-18T11:11:00.000-06:002014-12-19T16:24:25.768-06:00Is Quality Ambitious Enough? Facilitating Uncommon Connections.<b>Evangelize: To <span class="hvr">promulgate</span> or <span class="hvr">promote</span> <span class="hvr">something</span> </b><span class="hvr"><b>enthusiastically </b>(freedictionary.com).</span><br />
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In his December post on the ASQ blog, <a href="http://asq.org/blog/2014/12/is-quality-ambitious-enough/" target="_blank">A View from the Q</a>, CEO Tony Hill challenges the professional quality community whether we are doing enough to grow the impact of our community of practice:<br />
<ul>
<li>How do we encourage those who work in quality to understand their own value? </li>
<li>How do we spread the message of quality in a marketplace overflowing with ideas about how to boost profitability and ever-changing management trends?</li>
</ul>
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Alternatively stated:<br />
<ul>
<li>How do we bring non-traditional quality improvement practitioners into the Quality CoP - people/roles such as customer listening, process improvement, patient safety, etc. </li>
<li>How do we better communicate our values and vision (our <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Sinek" target="_blank">"Why"</a>) to a new generation of potential quality leaders?</li>
</ul>
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It is my opinion that Quality professionals, by nature, tend to be altruistic and generally introverted. Yet in order for us to increase our reach and grow our impact we must elevate our thinking, stretch our goals and raise our voices to promote and demonstrate the broad impact of quality beyond the traditional focus of compliance, standardization and convergent thinking for incremental improvement. While these areas of concern are certainly necessary and important for business continuity and efficiency, they are not wholly adequate to ensure sustainability and growth.<br />
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Today's ever-increasing rate of change and complexity requires divergent thinking and transformational leadership to solve truly wicked problems confronting individuals, teams, organizations, countries and society at large. Wicked problems cannot be effectively solved using simple solutions alone. The good news is that Quality has a unique opportunity to sit front and center at the round table. Critical thinking skills, <a href="http://asq.org/learn-about-quality/new-management-planning-tools/overview/overview.html" target="_blank">7 Management and Planning Tools</a>, new <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/ramonvullings/27-creativity-innovation-tools-final" target="_blank">Creativity tools</a>, and <a href="http://www4.asq.org/blogs/statistics/2008/01/history_of_statisticalthinking.html" target="_blank">Statistical Thinking</a> are the preferred tools in the systems-thinking quality professional's toolkit to help individuals and organizations build their profound knowledge to drive innovation and disruptive change. Creativity tools are a terrific approach to gather ideas from all levels of the organization, and to explore new ways of thinking, making uncommon connections, and discovering innovation.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from www.thethinkingbusiness.com<br />
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Quality professionals must also adopt and become proficient in the use of social media to reach the highly-connected (and sometimes less social) younger generation of future leaders. We must increase our agility, become "<a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/petermcwil393223.html" target="_blank">comfortable being uncomfortable</a>", and think globally in today's flattened world.
QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-59271620156294916042014-11-24T23:13:00.000-06:002014-11-24T23:13:23.705-06:00Transformational Quality [Business] LeadershipIn his November post to A View from the Q, ASQ CEO Bill Troy explores the linkage between <a href="http://asq.org/blog/2014/11/every-quality-professional-a-leader/" target="_blank">Quality and leadership</a>. Bill suggests that the quality professional, wherever he or she may be and at whatever level of management, must be a leader to be effective.<br />
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I subscribe to the theory that the primary role of the Quality leader in any organization is to manage the organizational white spaces at the hand-offs between siloed functions within horizontal work processes and systems.</div>
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The most effective leaders possess and expertly demonstrate "soft skills" necessary for promoting and advancing teamwork, collaboration, cultural diversity and a high-performing, engaged workforce, while exhibiting strong project management skills, decisiveness and acute global business acumen.<br />
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The successful quality professional / leader is also a teacher, coach, mentor and influencer.</div>
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During the first 15 years of my career I focused on the effective application of traditional tools and methods to improve processes and products. Today, as a Quality leader, I strive to be a mentor and coach, helping others to grow and succeed. Today’s increasing rate of change and complexity requires <i><b>transformational leadership</b></i> - a performer who achieves
results and also a community builder who helps others in the organization to succeed. The rate of change is accelerating exponentially, complexity is growing, "wicked" problems are increasing.<br />
<br />
"Transformational leaders establish enhanced, more effective mindsets within their community. They are inspired by a deep understanding of individual and collective purpose; and they successfully bring into creation that which previously did not exist." – EOQ Transformation Summit 2005<br />
<br />
Current ASQ Chair Stephen Hacker has authored nine books on the topic of transformational change including most recently, <u>How to Coach Individuals, Teams and Organizations to Master Transformational Change: Surfing Tsunamis</u>. Stephen Hacker defines a transformational leader as one who balances creativity and administrative responsibilities; is analytical yet visionary; energetic and empowering; a performer and also a coach. The transformational leader is equally skilled leading compliance/standardization type activities and breakthrough continuous improvement projects. The transformational leader effectively balances workforce focus to improve internal efficiencies for operational excellence while strengthening the organization's customer focus for sustainable growth. See illustration below.<br />
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*Used with permission. Stephen Hacker, CEO and Founding Partner, Transformation Systems International, LLC (www.http://tsi4results.com).For more information about Transformational Leadership, please read the paper "<a href="http://tsi4results.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/StepFunctionalChange.pdf" target="_blank">Transformational Leadership: Creating Step-Functional Change</a>" by Stephen Hacker. </div>
QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-39628767333808814962014-11-20T21:48:00.000-06:002014-11-20T21:48:45.767-06:00Using Social Collaboration to Improve Customer ExperienceToday's definition of quality is “customer experience”. Customer experience (‘CX’) is defined as the sum of all experiences a customer has with a supplier of goods and services, over the duration of their relationship with that supplier. From awareness, discovery, attraction to interaction, purchase, use, cultivation and advocacy. I am also reminded of the following perceptions of quality:
<br />
<ul>
<li>"Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the customer gets out of it.”<i>- Peter
Drucker </i></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>“Customers must get what they want…When they want it, the way they want it, at a fair price.”<i>-Unknown</i></li>
</ul>
<br />
Customer advocacy is regarded as the ultimate expression of customer engagement and brand loyalty. While a key measure of customer loyalty is “willingness to recommend”; a key measure of customer advocacy is “Net Promoter Score” or word of mouth recommendation. Word of Mouth marketing such as customer reviews, leveraged by social media, seems to outperform
traditional forms of corporate marketing and advertising. Building trust is a cornerstone to increased customer advocacy.<br />
<br />
Producers in the consumer market have at least two distinctly different - but very important - types of customers: the retail channel partner (“account”), and the end-user (“consumer”). Success in the Consumer market depends on producer's ability to consistently demonstrate and deliver increased profitability to the retailer, while delivering predictable quality and reliability to the consumer. Understanding, supporting, and owning the retail customers’ strategic plans coupled with flawless operational and tactical execution, helps assure preferential placement of the producer's product versus competition, resulting in increased sell-in. But sell-in is not the sole variable that dictates sales growth. The producer must also consistently meet its end-user consumers’ expectations in order to achieve increased purchases, or sell through. Anticipating consumers’
unmet, unarticulated needs through such tools as prototyping, focus panels and QFD, manifesting in exciting, innovative, new products and features help build customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Delivering exceptional service to their retail customers and superior experiences to their consumers ultimately drives the trifecta of increased sell-in, sell-through and frequent replenishment. Operational excellence coupled with consumer-focused continuous improvement will help assure sustainable quality growth.
<br />
<br />
Understandably, purchasing agents in many traditional B2B industrial markets give preferential treatment to suppliers with demonstrated, capable quality management systems (e.g. ISO-registered) as a means to reduce their supply chain risk. Certainly, an effective QMS is also important to the B2C retailer in the consumer market to promote operational efficiency, but word of mouth recommendations (“earned” media) tend to drive end-user purchasing decisions. Indeed, customer Ratings & Reviews are gaining more credibility in both B2B and B2C markets. In a recent study it was revealed that <br />
<ul>
<li>62% of surveyed B2B professionals read user Ratings & Reviews for business products or service</li>
<li>92% of consumers around the world say they trust earned media, such as Word of Mouth recommendations from friends and family,
above all other forms of advertising</li>
<li>The average social customer will tell 42 people about a good experience</li>
<li>The average social customer will tell 53 people about a negative experience.</li>
</ul>
<br />
In the growing world of social collaboration, recent studies have also shown that:
<br />
<ul>
<li>50% of Facebook users expect a response to an inquiry in 1 day or less</li>
<li>80% of Twitter users expect a response to an inquiry in 1 day or less</li>
<li>58% of customers who have tweeted about a bad experience have never received a response from the offending company </li>
</ul>
<br />
Special software today allows businesses to crawl the internet searching for Twitter comments whenever their brand is mentioned – positive or negative. Software also allows organizations to capture social media comments when their product or brand is mentioned, whether posted to its brand website or its retail partner website (e.g. Wal-Mart.com, Lowes.com, Amazon.com, etc.) The organization's Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) then attempt to contact that individual to learn more about the source of their dissatisfaction for purposes of delivering timely, satisfying resolution, turning a negative situation into a
positive experience for that consumer. Consumers' comments are compiled, categorized, and prioritized for root cause
analysis and corrective action planning. Analysis of consumer Ratings & Reviews and feedback from product sampling trials are captured for future product improvement opportunities.<br />
<br />
Social media tools are gaining importance as yet another means to improve customer listening, build customer loyalty and identify opportunities for process and product improvement.<br />
<br />QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12858388.post-3673078627158915202014-10-26T14:27:00.000-05:002014-10-26T20:24:16.896-05:00Recruiting Members and Volunteers in a Changing LandscapeIn response to the latest blog post by ASQ CEO Bill Troy, <a href="http://asq.org/blog/2014/10/recruiting-members-and-volunteers-amid-a-changing-landscape/" target="_blank">"Recruiting Members and Volunteers"</a>, I thought I'd offer my experiences in recruiting new members and volunteers to two member units of ASQ: the MN Section and the Statistics Division.<br />
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I actively served in the ASQ Statistics Division between 1991-2003 and the local MN Section between 2004-Present. For a little background, <a href="http://www.asq.org/" target="_blank">ASQ</a> is a not-for profit global professional society of "people passionate about quality who use the tools, their ideas and expertise to make our world work better." ASQ is comprised of 28 Divisions, Forums and Interest Groups whom own the bodies of knowledge within ASQ, 248+ Sections that function as local communities of practice, plus several on-line "Communities" formed around specific topics of interest. All ASQ member units are member leader driven. Division and Section objectives are achieved through engaged, active member volunteers who contribute their time, energy, experience and expertise to better the Society and their chosen profession.<br />
<br />
Regardless of the type of organization involved, recruitment of engaged employees and volunteers begins with a shared vision and purpose. Simon Sinek, noted motivational speaker and author of <a href="https://www.startwithwhy.com/" target="_blank"><u>Start with Why</u></a> and <u>Leaders Eat Last</u> reveals the concept of the Golden Circle and the critical importance of organizations to understand and effectively communicate their "Why", rather than What they do. Simon Sinek famously states that "People [loyal employees, partners and customers] do not buy what you do; People buy why you do it".<br />
<br />
Effective strategic planning is a crucial element to driving organizational growth and success. One of the first things we did as member leaders of the ASQ Statistics Division and ASQ <a href="http://mnasq.org/" target="_blank">MN Section</a> was to revisit our vision and mission as part of our strategic planning process. Is our vision compelling? Is our purpose inspiring? Is our mission articulate and differentiating? In the latest strategic planning session recently completed by the ASQ MN Section leaders we fine-tuned our vision based on feedback of our members, an environmental scan and a SWOT analysis. Leaders create and sustain the organizational culture. The MNASQ Section leaders understand the need - the urgency - to recruit more engaged volunteers to help the Section achieve its goals and objectives to grow and deliver increased member satisfaction.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>MNASQ Vision</b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">To be the community of choice providing professional development focused on creating & sustaining
a culture of Quality that embraces innovation and enhances the total customer experience.</span></div>
<br />
With a shiny new vision established, the Section leadership then identified several key strategies to recruit and retain members while also recruiting and placing member volunteers. We use the X-matrix and business execution process to align our metrics, tactics and annual objectives to our long-term strategies and vision, mission, culture ("True North"). Sample annual strategies include increased networking opportunities such as an unstructured "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconference" target="_blank">unconference</a>", increased alliances with complementary professional societies to expand our portfolio of products & services while growing our base of potential members, increased use of technology to connect and collaborate with our Section members outside of the Twin Cities metropolitan area, implementation of our volunteer placement process, and a renewed focus on recruiting employees from within ASQ "Site" and "Enterprise" organizational member companies. Supporting the organizational member recruitment strategy, the MNASQ Section will soon launch its 3rd annual Executive Roundtable - a by invitation only, peer-to-peer networking session targeted to senior leaders of local businesses, healthcare providers, educational institutions, not-for-profits, retailers, financial sector and local gov't.<br />
<br />
A new strategy we are embarking upon in 2015 is one we term "assumptive volunteerism". Because ASQ is by its very nature a member-driven professional society, the MNASQ Section Leadership will welcome every new member as an assumed (i.e. implied) volunteer. Every new member will be assigned to one of several committees or project teams with the option to select a different committee or project based on his/her interest, or to opt out all together. (We recognize that not every Section member has the time or the desire to actively participate; hence, our need to understand how that new member defines a satisfying customer experience). The key is not to passively ask individuals to volunteer for some nebulous, undefined activity, rather to assertively assign new members a meaningful role in the organization.<br />
<br />
In the end, the success of strategy implementation is dependent on effective leadership. In closing I offer this link to Brian Lassiter's blog, <a href="http://yoursinimprovement.blogspot.com/2012/12/insights-into-effective-leadership.html" target="_blank">Yours in Improvement</a>. Brian is President of the Performance Excellence Network serving Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. Brian's latest post offers 31 leadership quotes and 31 things leaders should STOP doing to improve their effectiveness.
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In his September blog post ASQ CEO
Bill Troy offers <a href="http://asq.org/blog/2014/09/charting-a-strategy-for-quality-and-beyond/" target="_blank">5 key strategies</a> for
strategic planning based on his experience with the US Army:</span></div>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What are key facts and assumptions</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What is your theory of victory</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Can you actually accomplish each aspect of your
strategy?</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Is your organization doing things that sit outside your
strategy?</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Have you left enough planning time to test your
strategy?</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bill Troy asks how you approach
strategy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It has been my experience that many
organizations fail to honestly assess their internal capabilities, skills and
competencies required to successfully implement their strategy. Many great
strategies on paper are doomed to failure by lack of execution. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">George S. Patton is credited with
having said, "A good plan violently executed ... is better than a perfect
plan executed next week."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I believe that the ASQ Statistics
Division (STAT) developed and implemented a best practice around strategic
planning and deployment back in 1999-2000 with continued refinement and
continuous improvement. The STAT strategic planning process is a multi-step
process that examines:</span></div>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Current state</span></li>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSjhri553RkFL2KDOzZww5i4K4sQ_byTDNwkb6T8w-EJnVqwv3UfHuqM_dlgNqsuoyHTak86Nrz1T2wyiFEAO9gmIsfJpUTE-n1uR84o3txAnH_lRvPChLubgfwaD1HahKpD_8/s1600/StratPlan.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSjhri553RkFL2KDOzZww5i4K4sQ_byTDNwkb6T8w-EJnVqwv3UfHuqM_dlgNqsuoyHTak86Nrz1T2wyiFEAO9gmIsfJpUTE-n1uR84o3txAnH_lRvPChLubgfwaD1HahKpD_8/s1600/StratPlan.png" height="255" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Minnesota Section ASQ has done
one better by taking this same strategic planning approach and incorporating
the business execution tools of X-matrix, A3 project plans, tactical planning
project management, bowler scorecards and management by fact PDCA reviews. The
MN Section of ASQ has successfully launched new initiatives to reach
executives, senior quality leaders and even CEOs in communicating its value
proposition to develop employee skills towards helping organizations achieve
their growth plans.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Michael Porter, a leading authority
on competitive strategy, points out that, "Strategy is about making
choices, trade-offs; it's about deliberately choosing to be different." In
choosing to be different the winning organization is that enterprise which
recognizes the importance of innovation and disruptive technology. Authentic,
EQ leadership, shared vision and empowered, engaged employees are critical to
the flawless execution of innovation strategies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hoshi kanri and Business Execution
are two strategic planning deployment tools that are helping organizations
realize their growth plans. </span></div>
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QualityBobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382567529423432032noreply@blogger.com2