Management Commitment - The owner of our company does not allow me to implement

[gaboring]

I have a real problem. The owner of our company does not allow me to implement any system or process if it is not born out of his mind. The talk is there, but not the action to commit resources to the implementation process.

I've been here six months with little or no success. Our pre-assessment is next week and we are going to get hit hard on NC's.

Any input I can give our owner. I've implemented ISO in 4 other companies in the past without this much hesistation from top management.

I feel like a puppet. HELP!
Your input is greatly appreciated.

Gaboring

 

[David Hartman]

If you can, be real with the owner and let him know of your concerns (openly and honestly). I'm assuming that he hired you based on your demonstrated experience, and you should be able to express clearly that your experience included much more support and commitment from senior management.

If you can't approach him in such a manner, make sure your resume is up to date (he'll need a scapegoat); unless he's willing to learn from the NR's that you're about to receive.

 

[Claes Gefvenberg]

Sorry to hear about your problems gaboring,

I'm sure you're not the only one. Davids advice seems to be right on the button. I have nothing more to add.

/Claes

 

[Randy]

Stand up...hook up....shuffle to the door......jump right out and count to four......AIRBORNE!!!!!!!

Bail before you wind up like energy did

 

[D.Scott]

I can certainly understand your frustration but I don't think your boss would be spending the money on you if he didn't want you to get certified. If he felt he could do it alone, there would be no need for you.

This puts me in mind of what one of our presidents said - "I find you can get a lot done if you don't care who gets the credit".

Try talking with the boss in a development meeting. There is nothing like a brainstorming session to put out ideas. Maybe he will take part ownership of the final product. I ran into a similar block years ago when we tried to change some of the "old ways of doing things". Somebody, before you came along, worked hard on getting you to where you are right now and sometimes it is hard to let go of your baby.

Just a thought. Good luck and stick with it.

Dave

 

[Randy Stewart]

Know the feeling!

I ran into the same situation when I started here. I came from a different background than stamping and was viewed as not knowing the industry. What I found to work was to submit my ideas to the VP (my boss) and wait. It would be 2 to 3 weeks before anything happened but more often than not, he would roll out the change HE came up with. It worked for me because the department managers saw the change(s) as coming from the VP and not just the new-know-nothing QS guy. After our gap analysis supported most of what I was trying to do, they left me on my own for the most part.
It is frustrating, but they hired you for a purpose. As soon as you can find out why, the better. If it was to be the scape-goat, keep your resume' up to date and bail before the crash and burn.

 

[db]

HIS ideas

he would roll out the change HE came up with

Do not understate this Randy. "Not invented here" syndrome is not exclusive to departments. Many individuals live by this as well. The trick is to convince them it IS their idea. I often use carefully guided questions to circle in on the idea, instead of giving the idea. Through wording the questions you can have them arrive at the right spot, and they think it is their idea!

 

[gaboring]

I would like to thank everyone for their comments. We had our pre-assessment and got hit on many areas. After the Auditor left we have had many follow up meeting and the tide is beginning to turn. With the use of some of your suggestions things are beginning to roll.

I'm not certain that we can meet our registration goal of August 2003, but I'm going to give it my best shot. turning into requiring us to think and take a step back and create a better plan abd go ! We can do it.
Realistically!

Thanks again.

 

[Randy]

If you're not sure now, and if you are letting your doubts show, guess what? YOU LOSE!!!!!

If you're the MR your #1 job is to be a cheerleader for the QMS you're trying to put into place. I'll bet, based upon your comments, your advertising campaign is dismal to barely noticable.

Right now, today, put a banner over the entrance used by your employees that states "We're an ISO 9001 Company - We Just Need to Prove It"

Are you actually involving the entire population of your company? How about even the custodians?

Can you show where input from the average employee has been reviewed and put to use? If not, why not?

Is your IA program positive or negative? Is the focus of the IA program on identifying NC's or PA's? If the focus is on NC's, it's a negative, reactive program.....change it! Everything has to be perceived as positive and pro-active to get buy-in (including the Boss).

I'll stop...Just a couple of suggestions.

 

[Fire Girl]

Just do it!

Hey!

I went through exactly what you went through. I came to this company with some ISO experiece and they had none. They asked me what they needed to do to set up the system. I told them and they didn't like it.

What to do? I did it anyway. They had tried for 3 years to get certified, had hired consultants the whole nine yards. Nothing. I came in, worked my magic certifed in 3 months. They were very pleased when they finally got certifed. I made everything very simple. They didn't want over the top which is what a lot of consultants tried to sell them. This is a very small family run business.

Kind of ballsy but if I know I'm right I don't mind sticking my neck out. I also had to pick and choose my battles. When they simply wouldn't budge but I knew it had to be done, I just did it anyway and figured they couldn't really give me slack if it worked out. It was mostly the head hancho that was difficult.

I'm still here and now have certified them to ISO 9000:2000. I guess I did ok.

Best of luck!!

FG