WCQI Conference Survival Guide 2014

Will you be attending this year's ASQ World Conference on Quality & Improvement (WCQI) on May 5-7, 2014 in Dallas, TX? The theme of this year's conference is "The Global Impact of Quality". I am planning to arrive Friday evening, May 2, in order to attend weekend meetings and events as a member leader of the Minnesota ASQ Section, and participate in the Executive Roundtable as the 3M company representative.

In the latest post on the "A View from the Q" blog Paul Borawski asks:

1. Which networking events, conferences, or workshops do you typically attend? How do you decide they’re worthwhile? Is it more about the learning or the networking or both for you?
   
2. What are your tips and advice for making the most of the events you attend?

I generally try to attend all of the keynote addresses, the international team process presentations, and many of the various networking events before, during and after the conference hours. I do drop in on several conference sessions of keen interest to me in my role as change agent and quality leader, but I particularly enjoy visiting many of the ASQ Division hospitality suites in the evenings to meet conference speakers and visit with fellow member leaders.

My tip to make the most of the events is to follow Twitter feeds and blog updates of WCQI attendees. This year's hashtag is #wcqi2014.

Regards,
QualityBob

Business Growth Linked to Employee Engagement

In ASQ's most recent Manufacturing Outlook survey nearly 46% of global respondents say the economy continues to be the biggest hurdle to operations, while 18% said the shortage of skilled workers is the biggest challenge they foresee in 2014. Smart manufacturing, defined as “the integration of network-based data and information that provides real-time understanding, reasoning, planning, management and related decision making of all aspects of a manufacturing and supply chain enterprise" is slowly gaining momentum and credibility in industry.

Similarly, The Conference Board conducts an annual CEO Challenge survey. The 2014 CEO Challenge reveals that today's CEOs are cautiously optimistic about the global economy and are turning their attention to leadership development, employee engagement, customer satisfaction, innovation, brand management and culture change - all aided by the use of big data - for improved business performance.

According to the 2014 CEO Challenge, CEOs around the world are more focused on their business performance , and rank big data analytics as their number one "hot-button" issue. Big data analytics are seen as a unique opportunity linking employee skills development and organizational culture to improved competitiveness, productivity and business success. The use of big data provides the CEO with greater insights to the synergistic benefits of leadership, strategic planning, hoshin kanri, project management, PDCA and the balanced scorecard.  As a result, CEOs become more aware and willing to re-evaluate their organization's culture in order to improve customer focus, employee engagement,  personal accountability, and organizational agility for distinct competitive advantage. Hence, Human Capital is the number one CEO challenge in Asia and Europe, and number two in the United States and Latin America. A talented, engaged workforce and a diverse leadership team are imperative to innovation and superior customer experience.

The adoption of Six Sigma as a leadership development tool has dramatically increased the use of data by senior leaders and executives to make better business decisions. Big Data analytics is the next, natural progression of the use of data to improve organizational performance. I am reminded of W. Edward Deming's System of Profound Knowledge, his 14 Points for Management, and the principles of statistical thinking whereby the knowledge and management of variation are keys to success. 

Minnesota Quality Month - November 2013

MN Governor Mark Dayton proclaimed November 2013 as Minnesota Quality Month. Commissioner Spencer Cronk, Dept of Administration, presented the state proclamation to ASQ Minnesota Section Chair, Robert "QualityBob" Mitchell on November 1, 2013. Also that evening, ASQ Chairman Dr. John Timmerman spoke about behavioral economics and "Innovation 2.0".

 

Commissioner Cronk presents to "QualityBob"

 

 

MN State Proclamation

 

ASQ Chairman Dr. John Timmerman

Celebrating World Quality Month 2013

What are you and/or your organization planning this November to recognize World Quality Month?  According to ASQ, World Quality Month was inaugurated in November 2010. "World Quality Month was established to reignite attention once generated in the 1980s by National Quality Month in the U.S. and to create a united, global forum for the people and organizations that have celebrated World Quality Days in November to come together and raise their voices for quality"

Per the Chartered Quality Institute (England), World Quality Week runs November 11-15, 2013, and World Quality Day is Thursday, November 14. The theme for 2013 is "Making Collaboration Count".

The Minnesota Section of ASQ is launching World Quality Month with a special program the evening of Friday, November 1 featuring ASQ Chairman, Dr. John Timmerman.  John will deliver a presentation titled, "Innovation 2.0". This program is open to members and non-members; senior Quality Leaders from 60+ local organizations and businesses (i.e. MN Executive Roundtable) have also been invited.

Earlier that same day Dr. Timmerman will join several company executives in kicking-off 3M's World Quality Month, beginning with a tour of the 3M Innovation Center at its world headquarters. 3M executives will speak to the importance of quality processes, products and people to the 3M brand, reputation, sustainability, and business performance excellence. This kick-off event will be webstreamed to all of our worldwide operations. Best practices, workshops, contests and social events are planned throughout the month of November to celebrate collaborative continuous improvement.

Does your organization need suggestions to help celebrate WQM 2013? Consult the resources at www.worldqualitymonth.org

New Opportunities for Quality

In his September 2013 blog post, ASQ CEO Paul Borawski asks, "What new fields or disciplines could most reap the benefits of quality tools and techniques?"

I work in manufacturing - the traditional focus of most quality methods and tools. I continue to enjoy a 33 year career in product development, process development, business process redesign, quality engineering, quality management, leadership, Six Sigma and Lean. But I also have the distinct pleasure of being able to share my acquired knowledge and skills in the role as a Baldrige Examiner to help improve organizational performance in healthcare, education, small business, local government and nonprofits.

It is my experience and opinion that two areas ripe for continuous improvement are back office transactions and front office customer service. Even within a manufacturing operation, it is estimated that 70% of all cost reduction opportunities lie in transactional process improvement. The challenges to improving transactional processes are well documented: a general lack of process thinking, lack of customer-supplier relationship and understanding of requirements, lack of defect understanding, and the lack of data. Lean principles offer the thinking and tools to help organizations begin their journey of transactional continuous improvement.

Customer service - or more accurately, the lack thereof, is a huge opportunity just begging for improvement. Whereas the new definition of quality in today's highly competitive, ever changing global environment is about delivering consistently superior Customer Experience, it seems that customer service - across a broad cross-section of the economy - has taken a back seat to impersonal automation in the name of efficiency and productivity. Missing is the emphasis on human interaction for overall effectiveness, increased customer loyalty and improved organizational outcomes. Deming's System of Profound Knowledge teaches managers that appreciation of a system, knowledge of variation, theory of knowledge and knowledge of psychology help to transform business effectiveness. I believe that effective Quality training coupled with customer-focused improvement efforts build employee empowerment and engagement leading to sustainable processes and outcomes.

Sustaining Excellence

In response to an ASQ case study of the Corning Journey to Performance Excellence, recently published as part of the Next Generation Quality Leadership series, ASQ CEO Paul Borawski asks how does your organization stay on the right path amid changing times and leaders?

Like Corning, 3M was founded over 100 years ago. 3M has built a solid brand reputation for innovation, quality, sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and uncompromising ethical behavior. 3M invests significantly in R&D and manufacturing excellence. Numerous books have been written citing 3M's culture of experimentation, collaboration and its storied "15% time".  A core belief of 3M is that creativity needs freedom. Since about 1948, 3M has encouraged its employees to spend 15% of their working time on their own projects; using 3M facilities and resources, to build up a unique team, and to follow their own insights in pursuit of problem-solving.

It is my opinion that 3M's culture of innovation and its employees are 3M's strongest competitive advantage. Much of 3M's culture was nurtured under CEO William L. McKnight who served as 3M chairman of the board from 1949 to 1966 and encouraged 3M management to "delegate responsibility and encourage men and women to exercise their initiative."

3M leadership and management continues to rigorously apply the McKnight Principles:

"As our business grows, it becomes increasingly necessary to delegate responsibility and to encourage men and women to exercise their initiative. This requires considerable tolerance. Those men and women to whom we delegate authority and responsibility, if they are good people, are going to want to do their jobs in their own way.

Mistakes will be made. But if a person is essentially right, the mistakes he or she makes are not as serious in the long run as the mistakes management will make if it undertakes to tell those in authority exactly how they must do their jobs.

Management that is destructively critical when mistakes are made kills initiative. And it’s essential that we have many people with initiative if we are to continue to grow."

To compete in today's world of globalization, ever increasing rate of change, and Wall Street's demand for short-term profits the successful organization must be agile and responsive to customer needs. An engaged, customer-focused, workforce is absolutely essential to consistently deliver superior customer experience.

Quality Professional Training

ASQ's Global State of Quality Research found that  “Organizations that govern quality with a centralized group are roughly 30 percent more likely to provide quality training to staff than organizations where a senior executive governs the quality process”.

This is certainly true of my employer, 3M. In fact, I helped manage this central staff group in 3M for the past 5 years. 3M has a long, rich history of superior statistical consulting and corporate quality services groups that delivered continuous improvement and problem solving training, coaching and consulting, and as a result enjoys a well-earned brand reputation for quality and innovation. 3M strengthened its core when it adopted Six Sigma in 2001, and added lean in 2007.  Today, 3M Lean Six Sigma Operations delivers all manner of continuous improvement and problem solving training, coaching and consulting to all 3M employees: Lean Six Sigma Champions, MBBs, BBs and GBs, as well as product / process / quality engineers and technicians; change agents and project team leaders. The 3M Lean Six Sigma product portfolio includes courses in Six Sigma, Lean, DFSS, commercialization, ISO quality management systems, project management, quality, statistics, change acceleration, optimized operations (new employee), hoshin kanri / business execution, ideation and more.  In addition, the 3M functional groups design and deliver function-specific training for employee competency development.

3M became an Enterprise member of ASQ in 2009. 3M is a global, multinational diversified manufacturing company. ASQ also has a global presence. This relationship has allowed 3M to expand its quality training product portfolio and offer ASQ online resources to all 100,000 employees worldwide. 3M Quality subject matter experts use ASQ materials to supplement its internal quality professional certification training (CQA, CQE, CMQ/OE).  3M's goal is that every employee becomes a problem solver. ASQ on-line tools, templates, presentations, white papers, case studies, webinars, etc. are useful supplemental resources available to every 3M employee.

3M talent management advocates a 70-20-10 model for employee development: 70% on the job experiences (i.e. special projects and teamwork), 20% informal (mentoring, networking), and 10% formal (classroom, seminars, conferences).  In addition to the instructor-led classes mentioned above, 3M encourages participation and collaboration in various Communities of Practice (CoP) to build informal networks and share best practices. Examples in the 3M quality community include an ISO QMS CoP, Supplier Mgmt CoP, Process & Product Understanding CoP, Customer Projects CoP, and a Statistical Practitioners Forum. The 3M corporate Quality Council has oversight responsibilities of these quality communities of practice.

Leaders teaching leaders is another tenant of 3M talent management. Advanced Leadership Development and Advanced Coaching are two of many offerings for leader development.

I believe the ASQ Global State of Quality Research offers a valuable benchmarking comparison for 3M.