J
Ah hah - then you've got one of the essential skills of the quality professional - how to extract what you need from other people.
It's amazing how often that's true.
Fuzzy's advice on planning the whole thing is very sound. The big picture - lack of this is probably one of the reasons it got so out of hand - growed like Topsy.
Planning the whole thing & knowing what it's all going to be like when you get it happening is critical. That's real systems thinking.
Don't get too downhearted - and do accept it will take some time overall: to change something so dysfunctional is a big project. To achieve real change and to win hearts and minds to the new system isn't a quick fix that happens in a few weeks. I also urge you to read the Change Agent's Handbook - it's worth going back to, particularly periodically.
But it can be done (provided that the essentials needed are there or will be, including management support (enthusiasm & skill can only go so far).
One ex-client was in your situation, with a system utterly dysfunctional & quite ghastly: document-heavy, completely incomprehensible, complex as hell, and neither useful nor used by people. Understandable, given that a 'Quality' Manager had built this thing in isolation (pushing the view that no one else could or should be involved, they should just do what he imposed). Once they understood that this was not what it 'should' or had to be, & got the vision, they pretty much did it themselves, strongly backed by the top manager. I got this feedback recently:
"The company has come a long way since we spoke last year. We all acknowledge that whatever we had previously it was not quality! Now we all are beginning to own it. Our root cause analysis has improved out of sight and if we have a batch problem its cause is identified and then it is fixed permanently.... The stock in the warehouse has never looked so clean and good.... Even Fred acknowledges that we are changing and is beginning to come around."
'Fred' had been the most anti and the most vocal critic.
So, you go for it! It can be done, you just have to carve off manageable chunks, rather than trying to 'swallow the elephant' all at once. And of course remembering that it's created by many people working on it - you will play many roles which will include that of guiding, leading, coaching, facilitating, problem-solving, brain-storming, planning, planning (even scheming at times!) cajoling, nudging, congratulating, bringing people together, and probably a dozen others I haven't even thought of at the moment. But it's enormously rewarding to and privileged to be in a position to make a difference. One of the reasons I just love working in this field.
Oh yes - and don't forget to plan the ceremonial burning/shredding of the contents of all them 3-ring binders, too!
It's amazing how often that's true.
Fuzzy's advice on planning the whole thing is very sound. The big picture - lack of this is probably one of the reasons it got so out of hand - growed like Topsy.
Planning the whole thing & knowing what it's all going to be like when you get it happening is critical. That's real systems thinking.
Don't get too downhearted - and do accept it will take some time overall: to change something so dysfunctional is a big project. To achieve real change and to win hearts and minds to the new system isn't a quick fix that happens in a few weeks. I also urge you to read the Change Agent's Handbook - it's worth going back to, particularly periodically.
But it can be done (provided that the essentials needed are there or will be, including management support (enthusiasm & skill can only go so far).
One ex-client was in your situation, with a system utterly dysfunctional & quite ghastly: document-heavy, completely incomprehensible, complex as hell, and neither useful nor used by people. Understandable, given that a 'Quality' Manager had built this thing in isolation (pushing the view that no one else could or should be involved, they should just do what he imposed). Once they understood that this was not what it 'should' or had to be, & got the vision, they pretty much did it themselves, strongly backed by the top manager. I got this feedback recently:
"The company has come a long way since we spoke last year. We all acknowledge that whatever we had previously it was not quality! Now we all are beginning to own it. Our root cause analysis has improved out of sight and if we have a batch problem its cause is identified and then it is fixed permanently.... The stock in the warehouse has never looked so clean and good.... Even Fred acknowledges that we are changing and is beginning to come around."
'Fred' had been the most anti and the most vocal critic.
So, you go for it! It can be done, you just have to carve off manageable chunks, rather than trying to 'swallow the elephant' all at once. And of course remembering that it's created by many people working on it - you will play many roles which will include that of guiding, leading, coaching, facilitating, problem-solving, brain-storming, planning, planning (even scheming at times!) cajoling, nudging, congratulating, bringing people together, and probably a dozen others I haven't even thought of at the moment. But it's enormously rewarding to and privileged to be in a position to make a difference. One of the reasons I just love working in this field.
Oh yes - and don't forget to plan the ceremonial burning/shredding of the contents of all them 3-ring binders, too!
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