All Features
Jesse Lyn Stoner
When applied to people’s intelligence, the theory behind the bell curve says that most people will be average, with a small percent being top performers and a small percent being losers. But when it comes to performance, the truth is the bell curve only exists if you believe it does.
Robert…
Michael Webb
This month Quality Digest Daily welcomes Michael Webb, a noted author and consultant who writes about how the quality and productivity sciences improve sales and marketing departments.
How well does your company benefit from quality improvement and productivity? For instance, how well do you…
Joe Humm
While contemplating the teachings of Edwards Deming, who is widely known for being vocal on the topics of quality and statistical analysis, I thought I’d delve into a few areas where he was a little less known, but just as passionate and to a certain extent influential: leadership and innovation…
Mary Ann Pacelli
In part one of this series, we discussed the importance of providing formal skills training and having open communication. Without further ado, here are two more workforce tips, one about cross-training, and the other about employee engagement.
Implement cross-training initiatives
Cross-training…
Davis Balestracci
As I was preparing this column, one of my resources referred to chapter 48 of the 2,500-year-old Tao te Ching (quoted below), which, as some of you know, is one of my favorite sources of wisdom. It really tied today’s message together, and I hope you can apply its wisdom to your improvement…
Lolly Daskal
T
he negotiation phase of my client’s merger with a larger organization was drawing to a close. This consolidation was going to be big news, and everyone was looking forward to getting it done. I sat with my client through a long week of agreeing to terms, and then it happened: The other CEO’s…
Katherine Watts
It amazes me how seemingly disparate ideas, when considered together, can create new ways of seeing the world. Bear with me for a minute, and I’ll share an insight I’ve received lately based on two seemingly unrelated ideas.
Here’s the first idea: New York Times bestselling author Bruce Feiler…
Niranjan Deodhar
As process improvement practitioners, we get hired to drive waste and variation out of our clients’ businesses. But what if we hired ourselves, provided frank advice, and then listened to it to drive waste out of our own business or process?
Could we then drive down the cost of organizational …
Michelle LaBrosse
For many people, January is the time of the year to set and pursue new goals. As the years go on, this yearly goal-setting becomes routine. Even though you have new goals you’re passionate about pursuing each year, your faith in your ability to accomplish them or your awareness about why you’re…
Quy Huy
I
t’s no longer a secret that most companies struggle with strategy execution. McKinsey research tells us, for example, that 70 percent of change efforts fall short of desired results. The financial losses implied by statistics like these are massive, and corporate leaders have taken notice.…
Jason Furness
We all have problems in life, in business, everywhere. Many of us have “solving problems” as the key component of our daily roles. Management and any form of supervision only exist in order to help solve problems. If problems disappeared, a great many of the structures within our businesses and…
Bruce Hamilton
This is an article inspired by the glut of recent football weekends. Lou Holtz, the legendary college and pro football coach, offers the following advice to coaches everywhere: “I never learn anything talking. I only learn things when I ask questions.”
Top managers often lament their employees’…
Annette Franz
When people at your company think about “customer loyalty,” are they thinking about your customers’ likelihood to recommend, likelihood to repurchase, or likelihood to purchase additional products? How does your company define customer loyalty?
Recently I experienced a situation that caused me to…
Christine Schaefer
As a city leader, Tommy Gonzalez started using the Baldrige Excellence Framework in 2008 to achieve operational excellence within a municipal government. In his role as manager of Irving, Texas, at that time, Gonzalez introduced the framework to improve the city’s performance in all areas. The…
Lolly Daskal
A young man came to his wise leader and asked how he could be a better leader. The wise leader said, “Let me pour you a cup of tea.” And so he started pouring a cup of tea; he kept pouring and pouring and pouring until the young man screamed, “Stop! The cup is full.”
The wise leader looked at the…
Arun Hariharan
I don’t claim to be qualified to advise other quality professionals. However, having had an opportunity to work for many years in this field with reasonable results and also having made my share of mistakes, I’ve observed that certain qualities help make a successful quality professional. I didn’t…
William A. Levinson
My article, “Change and Risk-Based Thinking” describes management of change (MOC) as a safety-related phrase from the chemical process industry. MOC says that anything new, different, or nonroutine (such as repairs, equipment replacement, and process startups) creates a safety risk, but the same…
Diane Adams
Creating a great culture is a key responsibility of leadership. When you invest in building a strong culture, the business and financial results follow. Fail to do so and your business will end up in unpleasant situations.
Great leaders drive excellence in their organizations. They lay the…
Jason Furness
In part one of this three-part series, we looked at the first two layers of resistance to change. Part two looked at the second two layers. Here we look at the final two layers, obstacles to implementing the proposed solution, and unverbalized fear. We are close to achieving true buy-in, but…
Luk Van Wassenhove
Establishing a clear and consistent focus, and knowing when to change it, is the essence of manufacturing agility. Factories don’t just make things. Viewed properly, they are where the rubber of corporate strategy meets the road of the marketplace.
Ideally, then, a factory should operate in…
Jason Furness
In part one of this three-part series, we moved through the initial and often overlooked layers of resistance: first, why change; and second, how to overcome disagreement on the nature of the problem. Here we move on to the next two layers, namely, disagreeing on the solution and undesirable side…
Lolly Daskal
Leadership may be complex, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. We can always simplify. Often our greatest hardships are those we impose upon ourselves.
There are some who think that in order to be a great leader, we must allow life to teach us the hard way. But in truth, if we are open to…
Matthew Littlefield
Although there is no bad time to improve quality management maturity, an optimal time is during fiscal planning for a new year. Executives and quality professionals who are affected by the quality of products or services should ask two questions: “Just how mature is my company’s quality program?”…
Jason Furness
This is the first part of a three-part series on the “six layers of resistance.” It’s based on the work of Eliyahu Goldratt, who has now passed away. Goldratt was the originator of a body of work known as the “theory of constraints.” His bestselling novel, The Goal (North River Press, 2014 reprint…
Kevin Meyer
“I will take time to be alone today. I will take time to be quiet. In this silence I will listen... and I will hear my answers.” —Ruth Fishel
One of my great pleasures is going for a walk on the beach a couple blocks from my house. Contrary to the popular perception of California as a land of…
