A few decades ago, Gary Gerlach asked me to participate in a continuous quality improvement training program. To be honest, he didn't really ask me to participate. He told me. It was a major time commitment during a period of my life when I didn’t have a lot of extra time to commit. Even so, I was instructed at a young age that when your boss tells you something is important, you drop everything you are doing and make that a top priority. So I did, and what I learned in those classes based on W. Edwards Deming’s models changed how I manage nearly every process in my life today.
One of the underlying principles in continuous quality improvement is understanding the inputting elements of a process. There are five, and they are equally important: person, machine, method, material and environment. They apply to most every process, from brushing your teeth, to driving a car, to writing a column. But all too often, when a process fails, we single out only one of the inputting elements as the problem — the person. So we remove that person and replace him or her with another person who fails. And we do that again. And again. In reality, the person may not be the problem at all. The machine or the method or the material or the environment may be the issue that needs addressed. Think about the processes you do every day in your job or your home and how each of these elements is equally important.
In writing this column, for example, I am the person element. My computer, keyboard and mouse, as well as the server I host this on, are the machines. My training in how to write and process this is the method. The content that I am writing about is the material. And the office I am in — and all its potential interruptions — is the environment. All of these inputting elements need to work together simultaneously for the column to come together effectively.
Of course, there are many other aspects of continuous quality improvement that I could write columns on, but the inputting elements of a process are a simple one that should connect with most all of us on some level. Keep this in mind as you work through problem situations today and are tempted to blame them on a person — or have others blame them on you. You, or the people you associate with, may begin to uncover a solution that was overlooked.
Have a marvelous Monday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman President and Publisher Big Green Umbrella Media shane@dmcityview.com 515-953-4822, ext. 305 |