Alan Pippenger
Recently I was aiding a commercial painting company with their understanding of Deming’s management philosophy and its implementation. In our first interview, the owner, John, told me of his near constant fear of catastrophy on jobs where he was not present and overseeing every task. I asked him if he had designed and put in place the procedures that would be used by his teams to produce the work. He said no because the men he hired were experienced painters and each had his own peculiar way to do things. Ouch. Next I asked him if it was working for not just each of his 4 crew chiefs, but each of his 30 men to do whatever he felt best regardless the results. And further, who, in his opinion, did the customer hold responsible for those results. He realized this explained his paralyzing fear of not being on every job. Now we were getting somewhere.
This man’s quandry was brought about by failing to start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. You need not make the same mistake.
Deming’s 14 Points for the Transformation of Management.
Point 1 – Create constancy of purpose for the improvement of product and service. With the aim to become competitive, stay in business, and provide jobs.
Thriving in a down economy starts with constancy of purpose. It is needed in any business environment, but is indespensable in a down economy. If all of your competitors run their companies without any constancy of purpose, just imagine how your enterprise will shine above the rest. To stay near the cause of John’s problem, let’s look at Deming’s Point 3.
Point 3 – Cease dependence on mass inspection to achieve quality. Improve the process and build quality into the product in the first place.
John could only keep his fears at bay by being on each job and inspecting every aspect of it. This may bring short term compliance (while you are watching) but breeds distrust between the owner and employees. Deming’s way is vastly superior but takes time to put in place, time to take hold, and time to bear results.
So your first assignment for Thriving in a Down Economy is to examine your enterprise for Constancy of Purpose. Do you see one contiguous system where all the parts work to further the whole or does it exist as a group of loosely knit separate entities, each having their own priorities and “way of doing things”? If so, spending time on this site will start to clear away the fog so you can see clearly what must be done to thrive during this downturn.
Second, are you being pulled a hundred different ways trying to inspect every aspect of your operation? You can’t do it. Even if you could, what about the things that get past your purview? And don’t think you can delegate it either, it is just the wrong approach.
Look again at Point 3. Improve the process, build quality into the product in the first place. You can’t inspect quality into a product. Your processes should be in a state of constant and never ending improvement.
The Deming Collaboration is the source for extensive knowledge of the Deming Philosophy. Full understanding of Dr. Deming’s ideas require a transformation of one’s thinking, a different view of the world if you will. We are changing management worldwide through the application of Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge. Join us.
Thrive in a Down Economy III
Alan Pippenger
Recently I was aiding a commercial painting company with their understanding of Deming’s management philosophy and its implementation. In our first interview, the owner, John, told me of his near constant fear of catastrophy on jobs where he was not present and overseeing every task. I asked him if he had designed and put in place the procedures that would be used by his teams to produce the work. He said no because the men he hired were experienced painters and each had his own peculiar way to do things. Ouch. Next I asked him if it was working for not just each of his 4 crew chiefs, but each of his 30 men to do whatever he felt best regardless the results. And further, who, in his opinion, did the customer hold responsible for those results. He realized this explained his paralyzing fear of not being on every job. Now we were getting somewhere.
This man’s quandry was brought about by failing to start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. You need not make the same mistake.
Deming’s 14 Points for the Transformation of Management.
Point 1 – Create constancy of purpose for the improvement of product and service. With the aim to become competitive, stay in business, and provide jobs.
Thriving in a down economy starts with constancy of purpose. It is needed in any business environment, but is indespensable in a down economy. If all of your competitors run their companies without any constancy of purpose, just imagine how your enterprise will shine above the rest. To stay near the cause of John’s problem, let’s look at Deming’s Point 3.
Point 3 – Cease dependence on mass inspection to achieve quality. Improve the process and build quality into the product in the first place.
John could only keep his fears at bay by being on each job and inspecting every aspect of it. This may bring short term compliance (while you are watching) but breeds distrust between the owner and employees. Deming’s way is vastly superior but takes time to put in place, time to take hold, and time to bear results.
So your first assignment for Thriving in a Down Economy is to examine your enterprise for Constancy of Purpose. Do you see one contiguous system where all the parts work to further the whole or does it exist as a group of loosely knit separate entities, each having their own priorities and “way of doing things”? If so, spending time on this site will start to clear away the fog so you can see clearly what must be done to thrive during this downturn.
Second, are you being pulled a hundred different ways trying to inspect every aspect of your operation? You can’t do it. Even if you could, what about the things that get past your purview? And don’t think you can delegate it either, it is just the wrong approach.
Look again at Point 3. Improve the process, build quality into the product in the first place. You can’t inspect quality into a product. Your processes should be in a state of constant and never ending improvement.
The Deming Collaboration is the source for extensive knowledge of the Deming Philosophy. Full understanding of Dr. Deming’s ideas require a transformation of one’s thinking, a different view of the world if you will. We are changing management worldwide through the application of Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge. Join us.