Deming - Drive Out fear - How to Implement a TQM Environment

[vinay_nagaraj]

Can you please suggest different ways through which Deming’s concept of ‘Drive out the fear’ can be implemented as a mean of ensuring TQM culture in our organization?

 

[Steve Prevette]

Can you please suggest different ways through which Deming’s concept of ‘Drive out the fear’ can be implemented as a mean of ensuring TQM culture in our organization?

Interestingly, a similar discussion on fear and Innovation is occurring on the ASQ Discussion Boards (http://www.asq.org/discussionBoards/thread.jspa?threadID=3572&tstart=0&forumID=64)

From experience, I would say that there is no magic wand to remove fear. Senior management cannot edict "There will be no more fear . . . or else"

A primary fear is of failure. The culture must evolve so failure is "okay". Yes, there needs to be sound boundaries, but if a project went forth in good faith, with reasonable risk control, and ended up "failing" but as long as something was learned, then that is okay. We see some of this in the current "Human Performance" initiatives.

I think there is something to be said for control of your own fear. We often talk ourselves out of doing something, for fear of . . . We assume our bosses would never allow it (do we even need to see if they would allow it?) we assume the system would never buy it. Many improvement ideas go unspoken.

Good, open communications allows people to hold discussions about ideas, and can work around fear.

Numerical targets and quotas definitely raise the fear level, a specific action is to remove those (and go to SPC goals).

Some ideas . ..

 

[BHarvey]

Vinay_nagaraj,

What are the goals you hope to accomplish by driving out fear? I ask this because I believe you must have a firm destination in mind before you can figure out how to get there.

For example, if you want to instituted employee empowerment and employee contributions in the form of ideas and suggestions then you first have to build trust with your employees. Solicit their ideas and then put them into practice where possible. Where not possible, or practical, explain to the employee why not.

As the employees see that their ideas are more likely to be accepted, and even implemented, it begins to break down the barrier and inspire more suggestions for improvement.

The first step, regardless of what you hope to accomplish, is to inspire trust. You have to make the employees understand that this isn't management's newest gimmich or idea that will be dropped in a few weeks.

So, what are your goals? What do you hope to accomplish by driving out the fear?

Bryan

 

[Manoj Mathur]

Dear Mr. Nagraj,

Infect, I have read and experienced all 14 principles of Deming. But this principle, I have experienced the most. I feel Creativity has inverse proportional relationship to Fear at Workplace. Once management is able to drive out fear from its employee, their creativity could be tapped easily. Fear for loosing Job, Fear for getting disobedient category people, Fear for failure and fear from peer to be called as High flyer without any base etc. are the common fear found at manufacturing facilities.
If you have to do Kaizen, Suggestion for any Improvement or such type of activity, You have to break an exiting RULE and If you have any type of fear, the speed of Innovation will go down and sometime killed.

Regards,

Manoj Mathur