I’m not going to provide you definitions found in dictionaries published by Webster’s, Oxford, or even Wikipedia. That would be too trite, and frankly inapplicable to your operation. So how do we unravel the various perceptions of what is meant by “Quality” in our business operations? Take a walk around the office and ask folks how they measure quality, and I’m quite sure you will get a variety of definitions. Employees directly involved in delivering products and services to your customers may focus on satisfaction or referral metrics to define quality. An operations manager may be more interested in the consistency of a customer’s experience across your various delivery channels (Call Center, Chat, Internet Self-Service, and Face-to-Face). A designer or software engineer may have zero-tolerance for errors (especially if system security or data integrity are at play), while a member of an R&D team will find opportunities in process failures.
So, with all this potential ambiguity, how do we build a quality culture that rolls up to a few key metrics, while at the same time addressing the cross-section of personalities that naturally exists when we have the right people in the right position? It starts with a commitment to a long-term goal of continuously improving the organization. It also needs to start out simple. And, beware of phrases of “it would be nice to see this information”, or “I wonder what xyz report would look like from another perspective”. Compilation of data is time consuming and expensive. Sure, your ad hoc reporting system may be able to churn out a variety of reports in a variety of variations. But, someone has to analyze the information – and that is the real cost.
Start by identifying just a few, high-level Critical Success metrics. Then, each business function or process can have supporting metrics that roll-up into these high-level metrics. (Looking at it the other way, you may wish to define the lower level metrics as cascading down.) Next, make sure everyone in the business understands these Critical Success metrics, and how their processes impact them- and more importantly, what improvements to their processes will move your quality metrics in a positive direction.
When you list your Critical Success metrics, it’s easy to get too focused on “bottom-line”, ”sales”, or “production level” metrics. You certainly need to have these metrics as part of your strategic and operational plans. However, today we are focusing on metrics that tell the story of how well your processes are running, the quality of your products and services, and how well / consistent you are delivering your products and services to your customer.
Start out slow. In fact, with today’s new “right-sized” staffing levels, we don’t have the luxury of the resources to necessarily go full-tilt like we did just a few years ago. Plus, if you try to map every process in your company you will go crazy just keeping the documentation up-to-date as your business changes. Start with your Key Work Processes; develop a single-page snapshot of your business alignment and metrics. Then, focus your precious resources on improving these Key Work Processes and you will naturally improve the quality of your organization – regardless of the nuances and ambiguities in the “definitions of quality”.
People run from “process improvement” exercises because we all-too-often try to do far more than what is necessary. By keeping your quality activities simple and focused you will attain much higher levels of support and buy-in throughout your company.