|
In today's world, it seems a daunting task to predict the future of anything, especially something connected to quality in all its rapidly evolving manifestations. Who could have foreseen even 20 years ago quality's profound impact on management attitudes and traditional structures?
As quality concepts change, so will the focus for quality trainers and consultants. Futurists can
|
Selecting a Consultant or Trainer
 Know your company as well as you can. Does your organization understand basic quality language and concepts? What does your organization expect as short- and long-term revenue and profit impact? What are some of its most pressing business needs? Why do you think you need outside help? Don't worry if you don't know all the answers. Not knowing something can tell you what you do need. Don't make guesses.
Assess your organization's progress in its quality development. Is it experienced in quality practices or just learning? Look for vendors that can address your company's needs at whatever level it has reached. Chances are you'll need more consulting than training.
Based on your findings, begin to gather information about different firms. Don't be fooled by slick, canned presentations. Vendors should understand your business and its specific needs, which means you must provide them with information. Don't misinterpret their seeking to understand you as inexperience. In fact, you'll hear more and better questions from vendors that are experienced.
Avoid requests for proposals if possible. They won't help you test collaboration and fit, or investigate the broader issues that may significantly affect your success.
Find out how the consultants or trainers plan to transfer their knowledge to your organization. Don't settle for having people come in and do the work for you -- make sure they will help you do it yourself. Define some specific outcomes, such as increased ability in your organization, not just project and bottom-line results.
If you are talking with experienced people, listen to them. In the long run, it doesn't pay to ask for help but then continue to do everything the old way. Outside consultants should be much more than just another pair of hands. Insist on honesty.
Demand ownership of the consulting or training intervention. Ask for specific examples of how this will happen. Who will make a project presentation to management, for instance? It should always be the employee; the consultant should be working behind the scenes. Address this issue head on.
Ensure that the vendor you choose understands what your organization needs for long-term success. Pay close attention to how the vendor defines leadership roles. Solving specific problems and completing specific projects is easy. Transferring knowledge and expertise into an environment that can really leverage it will be the challenge.
|
|
safely predict that quality consulting and training will focus more on an organization's holistic improvement. Specifically, their focus will shift from teaching and implementing quality methods to teaching companies to do the everyday work better.
The shift can be likened to a cabinetmaker's evolving skills. As an apprentice, the cabinetmaker concentrates on using tools competently and skillfully. Having mastered the craft, however, the cabinetmaker shifts from skilled tool use to building exquisite cabinetry. At this point, tools merely become extensions of the arm and hand. In the future, quality will exist not as a teaching tool requiring attention and mastery but as an extension of a company's own productive arm.
However, to truly understand the role of consulting and training in quality's more fluid and integrated future, it's first necessary to take a closer look at quality itself. This article examines quality's traditional bag of tricks -- including consulting -- to see how evolving dynamics in business language, organizational structure and leadership trends might affect it.
Three faces of quality
Defining quality's current state -- a task that, on the surface, seems easy and obvious with a little research -- actually proves rather challenging. The word no longer holds a standard or objective meaning. It carries with it multiple interpretations and the individual emotional definitions of those who have directly experienced it.
Proponents of quality fall into three general types. To some, quality was a movement. Others saw it as an optimum state where all products and services meet expectations, and customer satisfaction soars off the charts. Still others viewed quality as a set of tools and methodologies held together by a particular philosophy. And to all these "believers," quality seemed, at first, the answer to all the most pressing business problems, a sure and rapid path to success.
Yet, as quality evolved, consultants and trainers often heard variations on the following: "Quality is dead!" "We tried that quality stuff -- it's just another fad brought in by management." "We want you to tell us how to shorten production time, but don't use the word 'quality' because everyone will get up and walk out."
These are cries from followers of a movement that has lost its shine. It didn't provide the magic it was supposed to, and people grew disillusioned, expecting so much more. However, the movement did allow the business world to make great improvements. Quality provided a framework for dedication, fervor and rapid implementation of new processes.
But doing business isn't about movements and fervor. It's about short- and long-term success based on doing the right things day after day. Consequently, the quality movement's future remains in question. To many, it's already dead. Truthfully, I'm glad -- as long as it frees organizations to focus on the real work rather than on rhetoric and false hopes.
Frequently, consultants also hear this: "I know a company that got so good at putting quality in its products that it went right out of business." "We try to engineer in high quality, and marketing tells us to take it out. It's too expensive." "Our competitor is really committed to quality; their products are killing ours."
These are remarks from those who define quality as product characteristics and technology. Many companies started their quality journey along this route. It seemed relatively easy: increase quality and streamline processes to reduce cost. Customers will buy more. The higher the quality, the more customers will buy.
The problem lies in understanding how customers define quality of products and services. Developing specifications becomes increasingly problematic because many technological and performance-driven characteristics are directly at odds with other customer needs. And yet, competitive pressure continues, and customers expect more for less.
As a result, enormous investments are made to increase the quality of products and services. Much of this has been money well-spent, but in too many cases the investment proved larger than the market could -- or wanted -- to bear. Clearly, more and more of a good thing isn't always better. To some, this perception seems like a sellout. To me, it's one of the most valuable lessons we've learned. Those companies that have continued to move ahead and build on this knowledge will continue to flourish well into the future.
Lastly, consultants hear the following: "We mapped our processes and defined areas that added value to the customer. We've significantly reduced cycle time and increased our ability to ship on time." "We used to inspect and reject. Now we work with the design teams early on to build in quality." "For the first time, we realize that how we do our jobs affects how others do theirs."
These are comments from those who consider quality a set of tools. Some have mastered their use; others have not. But here lies quality's future. Today's pace of doing business doesn't allow spending time or energy on separate movements or a new process for its own sake. Companies must focus on doing business faster and more reliably, and continually moving it closer to the customer-defined target. Skilled use of quality tools will determine who survives.
Thus, the future of quality, as well as quality consulting and training, will be defined by how well they enable businesses to succeed. Quality consulting and training will thrive only as long as they add value. In these terms, how will they fare? Very well, actually. Quality from this perspective means dedication and ability. It means dedication to efficiency, reliability, relevancy, accuracy, discipline, improvement, good working conditions and strengthening the base on which all these rest. It also means the ability to make the fruits of this dedication tangible.
Why do I see a strong future for consulting? Because I've seen the power of quality well-used. Many of its elements have become so deeply ingrained in our work culture that they no longer are seen, collectively, as "quality" but rather as the way we work.
But what will the future look like? Business needs will push quality and quality professionals at an ever-increasing pace. Expectations will continue to rise. We'll see four basic trends emerge.
Change of language
In the future, we'll see quality's language change. The marketplace will demand more direct, work-focused results. We won't hear phrases such as, "We want to adopt more quality methods." Instead, we'll hear about reducing defects, increasing on-time deliveries and maintaining production levels while dramatically decreasing costs. Quality will mean closing more sales, reducing inventory and knowing the optimal amount of product to produce each month. We'll also hear about decreasing accidents on the shop floor, creating positive work environments and allowing each employee more direct responsibility.
This will present a dual challenge for quality consultants and trainers. First, we often think that new language requires new tools and methodologies. Sometimes it does, but often it doesn't. The quality movement began in order to address these real work issues. Unfortunately, the buzzwords and glitz that come with something new and better pulled us away from the language of the workplace. History has shown that those companies and quality professionals who remained focused on the real work issues also remained successful. Quality professionals will have to master the new language and translate it effectively during this transition. They must ensure that companies understand what's really needed, and that what's delivered meets that need.
Second, the trend toward overzealous specification will present another challenge. As issues are communicated in more specific terms, we'll be tempted to accept them on face value without adequate investigation. And because they are defined in specific work terms, we'll want to address them as specific isolated issues. Increasing pressure to identify and solve problems quickly and cheaply will fuel this tendency. From a positive perspective, it will help focus investments into areas that offer high return on investment potential.
Left unchecked, however, this tendency could become counterproductive. During the past two decades, we've learned to see work and processes within a larger context. We've discovered that problems in one area may be caused by problems that occur elsewhere and way upstream. The future business environment will demand experts who can fix specific problems. This will translate into specialization, when what's actually needed are widespread generalist skills, the ability to integrate information from many areas and specialized expertise.
Increasing complexity
In the future, the problems and issues organizations face will increase in difficulty. As organizations continue to improve, they will push themselves to achieve higher performance levels. This process will demand more sophisticated tools. Organizations routinely will use advanced statistics and related processes such as design of experiments. Again, this will push us toward specialization. But the issue of maintaining and leading a work force with rapidly increasing levels of skills and diversity will hover in the background. If ignored, the problem may eventually overshadow all others.
Boredom
Unlikely though it may sound, boredom will present a significant challenge for businesses in the future. A work force accustomed to continuous improvement, problem solving and innovation will likely feel uncomfortable with things just going well. Traditionally, people bored with a smooth status quo were promoted and rewarded. Their very natures push for change and challenges. In the future, we'll need instead more process management, discipline and stability.
Consultants will have to encourage clients to identify those strategic and basic elements that provide a strong, stable base from which to grow. Boring, yes, but absolutely necessary. Quality professionals will be challenged to invest in and pay close attention to this issue. They must recognize it early on to ensure their organizations don't evolve into ones incapable of managing for long-term stability.
Changing demands on leadership
The demand for leadership at all levels of an organization will increase, particularly for strong executive leadership. Companies are looking for the key elements that will ensure their long-term success, and they realize that many of the old ways won't work. Future leaders won't be known for their core competencies but for how well they integrate self-knowledge and business sense. Blending process management, DOE, team building and other quality tools while developing leaders at all organizational levels will occupy much of an executive's time. Leaders will be required to access the very best in themselves in order for others to trust, follow and become leaders themselves.
This also means that independent consultants and trainers will need much knowledge and experience to work with clients in ways that relate directly to their businesses. This will challenge the pyramid structure normally followed in consulting and training organizations. In-house quality expertise will expand beyond a group of professionals who focus on quality and will include every employee learning and mastering ways to work better.
This is the future of quality consulting and training. Those who continue to offer merely general knowledge and tool use will be passed by. Future consultants must learn to translate quality's new language into practical systems. They will have to forestall companies' tendencies to specialize and promote instead long-term stability. To create leaders, they must become leaders themselves, encouraging others to become, like the cabinetmaker, experts in their craft. It will be up to consultants and trainers to transfer their knowledge and experience to make this happen.
About the author
Patricia A. Zander is CEO and owner of Oriel Inc. Formerly Joiner Associates, Oriel offers consulting, training and products for process improvement, six sigma, lean manufacturing, leadership development, teamwork and identifying customer needs. Zander may be contacted by e-mail at pzander@qualitydigest.com . Or visit the company's Web site at www.orielinc.com . |
