Category "10 Building Blocks for a Quality Culture"

This is a solid set of steps developed by James P. Womack in his book Lean Thinking. He was into the Lean stream very early and has done some great work. He mentions Taiichi Ohno and The Toyota Production System in ...

You bet we can!! When we integrate 2 or more Standards, the time savings start immediately! It takes some work to combine some of the requirements, but the benefits last for the life of the system. Top Management Benefits Management ...

You may recognize Deming's 8th 'Point' - Drive Out Fear. There's no better way to get people 'engaged' (ISO 9001, 5.1.1 h) than creating a work environment where people feel listened to and respected for their expertise, no matter how ...

This is Deming's 12th point - another great idea that can improve the work environment in any organization! Start with a few questions and see what emerges... Question: Is management REALLY listening? Or are people feeling like no one's responding? ...

John Seddon in Freedom From Command and Control identified three things that employees need to get the results you're looking for:1. Clear Instructions and purpose - what does the 'right result' look like?2. Methods that work and make sense3. The ...

John Seddon, Vanguard Consulting, released a great book called 'Freedom From Command and Control'. There are plenty of great ideas in there, and I enjoy sharing them with you! Seddon started applying the 'Toyota Production System' to the service industry ...

Three more keys to improve employee engagement... 1. Improve Communications All organizations can afford to improve communications. In fact, a video I used to show in College included the line, "Communication is a synonym for 'Life'." So true... Sending an ...

If your process improvement project has stalled, perhaps Management could give it a boost...if they're on board! The first key is to make sure they understand the context of the project and how it fits into current circumstances. If a ...

You'll notice in ISO 9001:2015 that clause 6.2.2 requires action plans for Quality Objectives. Yikes! Here's the good news: these plans will help. Design your Action Plans to help you reach your targets - hitting targets will help you improve ...

Too many well-intentioned improvement projects end up in the weeds. How does this happen? Too much focus on the process and not enough focus on the goal. Unless that process is really causing people grief they won't be all that ...