Top management shows support by its actions. This might be a good topic for a discussion of what, specifically, top management can do to support improvement processes.
Is adequate time given for people to do effective correction investigations and actual corrective (not to mention preventive) actions? Are adequate resources available? Does top management show and interest, and if so, in what ways?
Coments from others?
Yes I agree that actions show support (and speak louder than mere words, to complete the saying).
I've seen organisations where it did happen - and happened well - and the opposite. In ones where it is well done or where the organisation is becoming better at it, some of the common contributing factors included:
- setting the example and leading the way, always! and knowing why it is important
- being involved, not just saying 'go do it' from a distance
- Using simple terminology - words the business understood to describe things, not necessarily the formal technical terms - some people like the formal terms, others don't. A wonderful example from one senior Executive who'd learned in a trucking firm, where they had a form called the 'F*k-up Sheet' which accompanied a procedure by the same name. It was used for every (ahem) 'screw-up'; but truckies being fairly earthy characters - at least in our hemisphere - the vernacular phrase was well-known and remembered
- investing in training people to understand the concepts and how to do it
- coaching - for example, one client coached managers in how to set up and employ a cross-functional team approach, another (much larger) had regular coaching sessions for all managers
- insisting on it being done as per process, and not accepting (after a reasonable time) half-assed attempts or refusals or blinkered approaches
- delegating the authority as well as the responsibility
- having improvement an dproblem solving as key items on management agendas
plus of course all the usual stuff of having a systematic approach, written procedure, records, etc etc.
But this is a focus more on corrective action than on proactive improvement. The ones I've seen who were good at that had a real
culture that favoured improvement, never punished mistakes, and really invested very, very highly in their people, with excellent results. Because culture doesn't just 'happen' either - it has to be created and fostered and nurtured and nourished.