Anyone a "Total Quality Manager"?

[Ronen E]

Sounds like a losing battle to me.
My recommendation - stick with what I suggested above, keep expectations at a minimum, and maybe even start thinking about your next job. I believe in a year (max) you'll realize this is not the right place for you to grow and thrive professionally.

 

[Wes Bucey]

Sounds like a losing battle to me.
My recommendation - stick with what I suggested above, keep expectations at a minimum, and maybe even start thinking about your next job. I believe in a year (max) you'll realize this is not the right place for you to grow and thrive professionally.

Yeah, maybe. All problems can be solved eventually, but the skills AND grit to guide the solution is a rare combination and the process can be perilous for mental and financial health when personalities of the organization are adverse to change.

 

[Ronen E]

Yeah, maybe. All problems can be solved eventually, but the skills AND grit to guide the solution is a rare combination and the process can be perilous for mental and financial health when personalities of the organization are adverse to change.

I would highlight the keyword "eventually".
Not sure a young(ish) professional looking to build up a healthy career should take the risk of sinking in years of work where the prospect of success is marginal to begin with.

 

[Wes Bucey]

I would highlight the keyword "eventually".
Not sure a young(ish) professional looking to build up a healthy career should take the risk of sinking in years of work where the prospect of success is marginal to begin with.

Yeah I agree. Even now, with my experience and skill set, I am too old to take on a contract which would take months, even years to resolve to a successful conclusion.
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[Chemstar24]

I would highlight the keyword "eventually".
Not sure a young(ish) professional looking to build up a healthy career should take the risk of sinking in years of work where the prospect of success is marginal to begin with.

Ronen,

Thanks again for your insight. I agree. This is convenient for the moment, but it doesn't support my long term career growth. I have a hard time stating my title as TQM and instead typically go to QMS manager. I'm losing my quality manufacturing experience and my certifications will expire and die here because I recently obtained them within the last year. I just wish they were more invested in allowing me the ability to function within the described role. Thanks.

 

[Ronen E]

Ronen,

Thanks again for your insight. I agree. This is convenient for the moment, but it doesn't support my long term career growth. I have a hard time stating my title as TQM and instead typically go to QMS manager. I'm losing my quality manufacturing experience and my certifications will expire and die here because I recently obtained them within the last year. I just wish they were more invested in allowing me the ability to function within the described role. Thanks.

From my experience, this happens more often than not. Companies advertise and recruit under the guise of real interest in Quality, QA, QMS and so on; yet in reality they just look to make an appearance, for whatever ulterior motives.

It's a sad reality of this field/profession, and good to be aware of that early on. I had to learn it the hard way. I had the "bad" luck of kickstarting my quality journey in a company that DID REALLY care about quality, and acted accordingly; so I was deluded that this is commonplace. Only later I discovered it's more likely to be the opposite...

Good luck!
Ronen

 

[leftoverture]

Billy,

I appreciate your thoughts here. It does make sense from that standpoint. I can work with that; but to what degree. My major concern is coming in thinking they wanted one thing and the reality of being an ISO documentation specialist, I guess. They don't follow best practices at all and my with my level of experience I can definitely see all the gaps, but when I say it to management I'm told "That's not going to change" or "we don't need that", but then with the ERP vendors coming then they say "oh yeah we want that". I don't get it.

I'm the only person at the company that has gone through full ERP implementation with a popular ERP vendor, been a super user and used all the functionality of the ERP. They currently use the ERP for costing only, but plan to use the new one for all aspects of the business. Not to mention the QMS is new and now the ERP is new for most disciplines of the business. I keep saying that I have major concerns regarding the change management, but they are just pushing forward.

I do agree that Billy made a very good point. And I will add to this my perspective: your company has been in business all these years and, as you state, extremely successful. Therefore, it stands to reason they are doing something right. The thing a lot of quality professionals want to do is start by finding what's wrong or what needs changing but the real starting point is to understand what the company does and why they do it that way. What they have been doing has worked for all these years before you came a long, so it can't be all bad. So start by understanding what they do and why, then you will be better positioned to start assessing any changes that might be needed. Because if what they are doing makes good business sense, and it sounds like it does, then they are likely closer to ISO compliance than you might think.

The next thing is simply this: we all want to move our companies forward by a mile, but we need to accept we'll never get it all at once, so we take every inch we get one at a time and be satisfied we are making progress. Thank those who helped get that inch and ask them how you can help them get their next inch. Always give credit to them for the progress (rather than taking credit yourself) and follow up to see if they are happy with it. Small successes build upon each other and when handled correctly, give us credibility and allow us to become part of the team. When our coworkers perceive we are genuinely trying to help them rather than simply making radical changes to how they do things, they are more likely to accept us. Ask lots of questions of people at every level and listen to what they say. Listen to understand not to respond. Thank them for helping you.

Now we're doing total quality management

 

[optomist1]

Echoing many of the above excellent posts, having experienced many Quality initiatives, programs, undertakings in plus two decades; one can count on one hand the firms that truly talk the talk and walk the walk. And to be certain, to be a great firm, with exceptional quality is one thing...to do so over the long-term is in my experience the real challenge...great thread btw!

optomist1

 

[Chemstar24]

You both make great points. I just think when you grow quickly in a short period of time, those cracks start to show and that's where they are. They are making the same simple products from before. They are making much more complex systems and the more issues are being exposed, but now the capacity (people), competency (people), processes, capacity (floor space), are not available and they can't take the time to assess.

I think the issue is how to be successful when the stretch and strain is placed on all your available resources. I agree, I do need to have a more patient approach, but I know I've seen chaotic environments and companies saying "Oh, let's hire a person who can help us and have a finger on the pulse" but not really wanting to implement change within the culture or business the way they thought and as a Quality professional, it's not the best feeling...

Trust me when I say documenting current state was an eye opener for everyone. Even they don't know how they've been successful. Tribal knowledge will only support that success for so long with fast growth.