Re: New to Management: Culture change advice?
Focus on sustainability from the ground up.
Encourage employee involvement.
I only have about 5 years experience in Quality, which isn't much, but my main selling point is sustainability through teamwork and positive reinforcement.
Here are some tips:
1. Gain the respect of the people you're working with.
Talk to each employee individually; in their area (so they're more comfortable); introduce yourself, and ask questions to get to know them and what they do. Also, continue to do so as you become more involved in your work.
Make sure you show interest in them as a person so you gain their respect before diving too much into the Quality stuff.
2. Set an example.
You have to really believe in the importance of maintaining the quality system, and always set the standard for behavior. In other words, 'Practice what you preach'.
3. Work on the Culture.
I use 'one liners' to try and embed the importance of quality into the culture.
Signs are by far the best way to do this with very little effort.
'Quality is everyone's responsibility' and 'The race to Quality has no finish line'. Oh, and another common one is 'Quality Protects Jobs'.
4. Educate people on the importance of maintaining the system, and let them educate you on their reasons for not complying.
By doing this, you can work together to establish a solution which makes the employee actually want to comply, now that they understand why its necessary. There is also a sense of satisfaction in being a part of the decision making process that encourages sustainability.
When employees understand why they're expected to do something, and feel as though they had 'a say' in how they should comply with certain requirements, they are much more likely to maintain quality processes.
Example of real life application:
True Story:
During pre-assessment of the job shop where I'm responsible for quality system implementation from the ground up, I learned that we had a recent customer visit where they performed a 'full quality system audit' to their own quality requirements.
Trying to gage the employee's knowledge, I began asking around, individually, at each person's workstation, about the audit.
Do you know why the customer was here? Have you ever heard of Document Control? Are you aware of what the President is talking about when he uses terms such as 'Corrective Action' findings and audit results?
Point being, is you should be asking more questions and listening than anything else.
Each individual's perception is an important piece of the puzzle. One influential individual's 'buy in' or 'lack thereof' will make or break the sustainability of the quality system.
It's like a domino effect. I do it because everyone else is doing it. Or, no one else follows the rules, why should I?
The key is to change the perception of the importance of quality as a whole and have an open ear for common phrases that represent the overall view of the employees involved.
