Leadership Attributes - Getting buy-in on Quality from other functions

[John Broomfield]

In Reply to Parent Post by JABee

Yes, absolutely Mr. Broomfield, and not only in the world at large, but this has happened in my own career as well, and IMHO this is why:

I started out as a process development/design/quality engineer, and it took me too long to learn that the most perfectly engineered, elegant solution is useless if it is not implemented. Why wouldn't such a thing be implemented? Because just like a physical manufacturing process, management systems are processes too, and subject to normal and assignable variations, scrap (wasted efforts, solutions not implemented), etc... A system is a system is a system.

Hell, look at Demings 14 points: Drive out fear, break down barriers between departments, adopt the new philosophy... sounds like design requirements for a management system to me. There's nothing in there about controlled documents versus records, calibration programs, or even SPC control charting; you know, all of those things QA Departments do... they are necessary tools, but to use any tool effectively, the brain that guides the hand holding the tool has to work. Management.

The difference between production systems and management systems is that when seeking to improve a production system, a broken management system will trump a good production solution every time. You don't have to get shut down in the 11th hour of implementing a production solution very many times before you realize what is actually holding you back is a broken system of management. Being problem solvers at heart, (hopefully) we take a step back, roll up the sleeves, and address the newly found limiting factor. Same problem solving process as before except now your solutions are in the realm of perceptions, motivations, and communications, not physical characteristics. Good process solutions are still necessary, but an effective system of change management can arrive at those by brute force trial and error faster than an elegant process solution can cut through broken management.

So I look back in my career and ask, "What things that I have done over the years returned the most value to the enterprises?" Has it been the mechanical and process designs I've been proud of, or solving a particularly knotty chronic defect with careful study, or has it been (more recently) tackling bottlenecks in management processes? Hands down, management system solutions have had the best return. Imagine my surprise, me the engineer, thinking about management processes. The end result is still a better product at lower cost, and isn't that what I set out to do so many years ago?

JABee,

I agree with you.

Between 1984 and 1986 I researched and developed the people>processes>system approach to developing process-based management systems.

Before then I had worked on projects to deliver QA the old-fashioned way with lots of inspection and testing by the "we know best department" which was separate from people who actually did the work.

Since then I've helped many projects and other types of organizations to deliver QA through the people who to the work using and improving their process-based management systems to add value while preventing nonconformity.

By the time the year 2000 version of ISO 9001 hit the streets my clients had been taking its process approach for 14 years.

These days I advise leaders so they enable their process-based management systems to create more successful customers.

A much more rewarding approach.

John

[kgott]

In Reply to Parent Post by SuperGirl

* What personality traits or leadership qualities must a Quality Manager possess in order to get other functions on board with Quality?
Good comuincation skills are a must! But, I believe there has to be a desire to constantly learn new things and the ability to teach others and all the qualities that go into that. Also, Quality Manager have to willing to stand firm, yet also be flexible and to know the apprapriate times to do either.

I agree with this but the times when I have been listened to and taken seriously have been when I was percieved by others as someone who was skilled and knew their stuff.

By being percieved as skilled and knowledgeable I had credibility and respect and in turn I had the ear of those who counted wether they were high or low in the workplace concerned.