//Transform Your Organization through Quality

Transform Your Organization through Quality

2017-10-07T22:51:07+00:00

“Quality” is not just part of your business plan. It is a lifestyle choice - something that you do every moment of your life and in every situation.

Quality & You

Quality must affect every conversation and interaction that we have with peers, subordinates, and leaders; every interaction that we have with co-workers, friends and family. That is why Quality is Everyone’s Business.

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Books by Subir

The Power of LEO
The Ice Cream Maker
The Power of Design for Six
The Power of Six Sigma
Organization 21c

I use word “quality” as a proper noun; quality with a capital “Q”; because the effect of quality should not be limited to a policy or a set of rules. When Quality becomes everyone’s business, we see the outline for a truly transformational experience that shakes the very foundation of our beliefs and behaviors.

My belief is that the pursuit of quality applies to “all the people, all the time.” Quality is not just the organization’s mission – it is a personal responsibility that must be reflected in every aspect of work and life. Again, I say that Quality is a Lifestyle.

Quality happens at all levels of your organization and at all places where vital relationships grow and take hold. Therefore, Quality is active in the way we LISTEN to everyone who has a point to make; when we probe and challenge ourselves and others for ways to ENRICH the deliverables and outputs of the organization; and as we actively OPTIMIZE the experience so and we not only meet, but find way to constantly exceed expectations for whatever client, customer co-workers boss or subordinate we’re interacting with at any given time.

Quality injects a proactive mindset throughout the organization; a self-motivated and independently driven attitude that the potential for success lays in the hands of the individual, not someone else.

In this way, Quality injects a proactive mindset throughout the organization; a self-motivated and independently driven attitude that the potential for success lays in the hands of the individual, not someone else.  If you treat a co-worker or your spouse like a child, don’t expect them to behave like an independently minded, responsibility seeking adult. However, if you empower people with confidence and support, and allow them to voice their ideas and behaviors, then you enhance their ability to uphold the belief that Quality is INDEED everybody’s business.

Empowering People Power

Several years ago, in an article entitled “In Pursuit of Excellence” for Personal Excellence magazine, Michael Jordan said that he always had the ultimate goal of being the best. “I approached everything step-by-step, using short-term goals. When I met one goal, I set another reasonable, manageable goal that I could achieve if I worked hard enough.”

LEO Revisited: The benefits of “Listen, Enrich, Optimize”

I have mentioned “Listen, Enrich and Optimize” in previous articles and I'll probably mention them again. They are the main principles of my LEO methodology and they are integral to "Quality is Everyone’s Business” (QIEB) philosophy.  We use QIEB to ensure that everyone in the organization is driving toward the same goal of Quality. LEO helps ensure that this transformation is sustainable.

Redefine the Nature of Quality

While it is true that I am advancing a new way to think about quality, I am also reaching beyond common output metrics of a product or service. I believe that we need a fresh approach that can have a profound effect on not only the way we work, but the way we perceive our everyday life.

What does Quality mean to You?

When I ask people, “what does Quality mean to you?” I hear a wide range of answers. For some people, their answer is, “Quality means putting out the best product or service possible.”  Others may say, “Honesty and trust.” Many will tell you, “Quality means doing the right thing at the right time.” Still others will say, “Quality is a resistance to compromise.” However, more often than not, I still hear “ I have no idea, that’s why we have a quality department,” or “Hey let me ask my Vice President of Quality,” or even worse yet, “I’m not sure what quality means to me.”