I was first exposed to quality management 20 years ago and it was a very fast deep dive. At that time the company I was working for decided we would, get ISO 9001 certified. So off we went to the races and from that point on I have been directly involved in business process re-engineering for many companies.

Everything doesn’t need a procedure

I still remember like it was yesterday when the ISO consultant was on site explaining what ISO was, how it worked and giving us our first dive into this project we were undertaking. Luckily for us he was an experienced person and when he sat with me he made sure I fully understood that everything didn’t need a procedure. Embarking on my excitement of this new implementation, I drew up my processes and procedures then had my meeting with him to do a review. I thought I had only made procedures for things that were important but as we went through he began to ask me questions and many of the procedures I wrote went right out the window. At that point, I started to understand what he was looking for and what I should actually be trying to control.

We procedure ourselves out of thinking

Throughout my career, I always have a smell test when looking at what we will attempt to control within an organization. On many occasions when I have engaged with a client it is almost stunning, the amount of control they want to have over the execution of a given process. Even though I fully understand why an organization or management wants to control a process to its maximum extent. Many of these organizations forget that controls have benefits but they also have downsides. Sometimes we procedure ourselves out of thinking.

Depth and breadth of knowledge is were true value and efficiency comes from

Often times we will attempt to control a certain aspect of a process because a minor and insignificant error has occurred. Many companies do so believing that this will solve the problem, it must solve the problem. Now please do not get me wrong, you do have to have procedures and control your processes, my view is that many companies simply take it too far. Depth and breadth of knowledge is where true value and efficiency comes from not total control. The ability to think, have open discussions and find a better way to solve a problem.

Companies expect you to have what I like to call “accidental learning”

See, procedures are YES/NO in nature and you followed them correctly or did not. This naturally creates a mindset that does not particularly encourage dialogue. Add on to this that most companies simply do not invest in training and the companies expect you to have what I like to call “accidental learning”. What I mean by that as an example is “Bob has pushed this paper from one side of his desk to the other so many times he must have learned something while doing it”. There is no real purposeful attempt to increase the employee’s depth and breadth of knowledge.

I generally like to focus on the HOW and the WHY while placing less focus on the WHAT.

I strongly believe there needs to be a correction in the market when it comes to educating and helping employees grow which is why I started my company. I believe there needs to be purposeful training for the employees as this will have a direct impact on their ability to provide value to the company. When it comes to quality control I generally like to focus on the HOW and the WHY while placing less focus on the WHAT. I am not looking to micro manage and micro control the people executing the jobs unless it is required. As many reading this may know, in the power industry, there are many things that must be controlled at an exceptionally detailed level, but many things do not. I find it most important to focus on how to think and not what to think in order to enable productive dialogue to solve specific issues. It is productive to ensure your teams ask WHY because it will enable discussions that reveal the purpose / spirit of what they are doing. This will then enable them to grow and give insight that will provide value.

I was amazed at how quickly the company shut down the why questions.

One of the larger organizations I had the pleasure of working for placed me in the position to lead a team. One of the first things I did was group them together and ensure they knew I did not just “allow” them to ask why but I wanted them to do so. In addition, I explained that the more they knew about why we did things a certain way the better feedback I would get from them and the more value they would add to the company. Now this was not standard operating procedure for the large corporation but while I was there my team indeed started asking WHY. Once I left the company I was amazed at how quickly the company shut down the why questions. Not long after I was gone one of my former employees informed he was almost fired because he asked the question “why”.

Controlling everything and shutting down thought unless they are Directors is a good way to slowly and steadily sink a ship.

We must truly remember that people are what make a company. Increasing their knowledge, teaching them how to think (not what to think), and facilitating dialogue can add great value to the company. Controlling everything and shutting down thought unless they are Directors is a good way to slowly and steadily sink a ship.

If you have any questions or want to see how my company can help you, please feel free to contact us.