ASQ Influential Voices: Avoiding Commoditization

In his blog this month, ASQ CEO, Paul Borawski writes about establishing a body of knowledge around "service quality" - is it needed?

For those who aren't familiar with the term, a "body of knowledge" (BOK) represents all the accumulated knowledge on a given subject.  By organizing and documenting all the key terms, concepts, and methodologies, a common framework is created.

My answer to the original question is yes.  And while there are probably dozens of equally good reasons to establish these best practices, the most compelling to me is the growing threat of commoditization.

In today's internet economy, consumers are very adept at finding comparable products at lower prices.  As the traditional barriers to entry disappear - more and more competitors will emerge, offering lower and lower prices.  Trying to become or stay the "low-cost" provider is difficult, and quite frankly, not very much fun.

The best and often only way to truly differentiate yourself is to provide value-added services that your customers can't find anywhere else (whether paid for or not).  Even in a market with highly-commoditized products, customers pay attention to the "experience".  How easy is the buying process?  What complimentary services are offered throughout the lifecycle?  How do we respond when problems arise? 

These are only a few of the many facets of service quality.  A body of knowledge helps standardize what many firms are already doing to define, measure, and improve their services.  The more an organization builds a discipline around this, the more it will simply outpace its rivals. 

The Emergent Culture: Be the Change You Wish to See

Have you ever watched a flock of birds, and wonder how they move together in such perfect unison?  I'm always amazed at how quickly and precisely they're able to maneuver as a cohesive unit.  I use to wonder if they were following the cue of a "lead" bird or set birds - but that isn't the case.  

Instead, each and every bird is simply reacting in some small way to the actions and decisions of every other bird.  As a result, the flock emerges as a collective system based on the individual behaviors of all the birds.  This biological phenomenon is known as "emergent behavior".  For a more detailed explanation, here is a great article on flocking birds.

I see an interesting parallel with human behavior - specifically, the way a corporate "culture" is developed and sustained.  So often, we rely on a single leader or set of leaders to create the company culture, with the false belief that it's outside of our control.  After all, each of us is just one person - how possibly could a single individual affect the behavior of hundreds or thousands in the organization?  But just like a flock emerges from the behavior of individual birds - a culture emerges from all the small and simple interactions between members.

Today, you will make many decisions, both consciously and unconsciously, about how you interact with co-workers, subordinates, executives, customers, vendors, etc.  In turn, all these people will have their own interactions throughout the day, all influenced in some small way by their encounter with you.  And thus, the culture emerges as a self-sustaining collective system. 

Corporate culture is a powerful force.  It can be positive, collaborative, and productive when working well - or it can be negative, demoralizing, and destructive when it's not.  As leaders, we can help shape the culture by embodying all the values, beliefs, and behaviors we want to see in the culture:

How well do we encourage open communication and collaboration?
Do we recognize those that go the extra mile to serve the customer?
Are we honest and direct?
Do we reward those that share information and expertise with colleagues?
How is risk-taking and experimentation perceived?
How do we respond to mistakes? 
Are team accomplishments valued and celebrated?

These values are reinforced by our actions and the actions of others - so we have to be very clear on the type of culture we want. It's a long road - let's start by taking equal responsibility for the culture we're helping to create.  As Gandhi famously said, "be the change you wish to see in the world".

ASQ Influential Voices: Unexpected Quality

In his blog this month, ASQ CEO, Paul Borawski writes about finding quality in unexpected places.

It is remarkable how quality can be applied to almost any aspect of business, and even more remarkable that it can be equally applied to our personal lives.  In the end, quality is all about creating value for others - our customers, employees, bosses, spouses, children, etc.  If you've ever taken the time to list all the relationships that matter in your life, then you've applied one of the first concepts of quality: identifying your customers/stakeholders.

The next step is to figure out what they want.  Do we know, or do we make assumptions about what we think people need?  In business, this is called "voice of customer" - going out and asking customers what they require from our products and services.  Let's apply this to all our relationships by asking some simple questions: What type of support do my employees expect? How does my spouse define a loving relationship?  What problems does my boss want help solving?  What do my children need from me as a parent?  ...Quality is an endless pursuit to discover what our customers want and need from us.

Another quality concept is "evaluation" - in business, there is an entire science around measuring your performance.  But it doesn't have to be as complex in our personal relationships.  Simply start by asking the question, "How am I doing"?  That will probably tell you everything you need to know.  But for those that like more quantification, ask for a "rating" on a 10-point scale.  Then immediately follow-up by asking what would it take to move up by a point or two.  Trust me, you'll start to uncover some unmet needs!

The ideas of quality can be applied in very creative ways - especially by those who are passionate about continuous improvement, both personally and professionally.

ASQ Influential Voices: Fail Faster!

In his blog this month, ASQ CEO, Paul Borawski writes about risk taking and the impact of failure within organizations.

Just recently, a colleague shared with me a personal motto of his: "fail faster".  I love this because it expresses so much.  Failing faster implies that risk taking is okay and even encouraged.  Failure is a good thing, as long as it helps us learn.  In fact, the quicker we fail, the quicker we learn.  The most important thing is that we're taking immediate and continuous action towards our goals.

An entire software development methodology, Agile, was developed around this concept.  It's based on iterative development where users are afforded early and continual access to the product.  Initial failures can be discovered and remedied in order to create a better end product.  Compare this to the more traditional "waterfall" approach, where the product is delivered all at once with the hope that requirements were perfectly solicited, documented, and executed.

As change leaders, risk management is part of our job.  Very few projects are perfectly conceived from the outset - we're going to encounter unforeseen obstacles along the way.  If we understand and accept this, we can build systems that encourage experimentation, risk taking, and iterative progress.  By learning quickly from the early, small failures, we deliver a better solution for customers in the end.  Let's foster a culture that is fun, fast, and responsive.

In the News: Keeping the Superbowl's Lights on with FMEA

What caused the lights to go out during the Superbowl this year?  I'm sure lots of work will go into investigating the root causes, as it should.  But could it have been prevented?

There is a management tool called FMEA, which stands for Failure Mode Effects Analysis.  It's a method used to identify, analyze, and prevent such failures.  And despite the somewhat intimidating name, it's a relatively simple tool to use.  Basically, you try to figure out all the ways something can fail and then come up with ways to prevent or mitigate the failures.  The something can be anything... a product, service, system, or process.  For each "failure mode", you identify the potential causes, along with the impact severity on the customer, hence the term "effects analysis".  This helps ensure that attention is spent on the areas most likely to cause the serious problems. 

A formal FMEA may have revealed potential problems in the Superdome's power supply, lighting units, or maintenance procedures, which all could have been remedied.  In the big scheme of things, nobody was hurt and no lives were lost.  But it did delay a live TV broadcast for over 30 minutes, which seemed to change the momentum and course of the game.  It's all about reducing risk.   

So the next time you need something to go off without a hitch, consider performing an FMEA.  For more information on using this type of tool, check out this ASQ article on FMEA.

ASQ Influential Voices: Who Defines Quality?

In his blog this month, ASQ CEO, Paul Borawski writes about the varying facets of quality, and whether it's really possible for us to agree on all encompassing definition.

It's a great question - my answer is yes and I'll tell you why.  One of my past responsibilities as the head of a quality program, was to meet with every new hire and discuss the importance of quality.  My first question to them was always, "how do you define quality"?  As you'd imagine, I'd hear things like: durability, error-free, usability, effectiveness, superior functionality, simplicity, continuous improvement, reliability, great customer service, process consistency... etc.  My response back was yes, yes, yes!  These are all correct, because quality is always defined by the customer.

It doesn't matter whether we're in the business of producing goods, delivering services, or creating experiences.  Our success depends on how well we understand our customers and more specifically, knowing how they define a "quality" product or service.  Then it's up to us to deliver that level of quality time after time.

Some may ask, doesn't this imply that quality is a moving target?  Yes - that's exactly the point.  Standards change over time - our world is moving at a lightning pace - customer expectations and requirements can even change overnight (whether we're ready or not).  In order to keep up, we must stay in continuous dialogue with our customers... gathering feedback, understanding their requirements, and even working to anticipate future needs.

To me... "Quality is about creating products and processes that meet requirements, create value, and satisfy customers."

ASQ Influential Voices: Help the Team Succeed!

In his blog this month, ASQ CEO, Paul Borawski writes about the recent salary survey, and asks about ways that quality professionals can justify a pay raise.

It's natural for our minds to instantly jump to our own personal accomplishments.  We start thinking about our project achievements, or how we personally saved operating expense, or what we did to improve quality.  But is that truly the best way to demonstrate your value to the organization?

To use a sports analogy - yes, it's fantastic when a player hits 40 home runs, or rushes for 1500 yards, or shoots for 60 points in a game.  But at season's end, what is it really worth if the team doesn't succeed as a whole?  In fact, when you look at some of the championship teams this year, you'll find less "mega stars" and more "role players" who understood their part and were willing to sacrifice for the larger team.

If I was in charge of handing out all the raises this year, I'd look for those individuals that continually help the entire team grow, prosper, and achieve.  Isn't that what it's all about in the end?  Better quality - higher productivity - less expense - faster delivery - and happier customers!  

Let's start 2013 by setting and working towards team-based goals.  And when the time comes for that raise, let's start the conversation by talking about the accomplishments of others - and then demonstrate how we played a role in our team's success.