In the middle of last century, just after bombing Japan in the second world war, America sent their man to Japan to help them recover their manufacturing industry.
Japan soon became a manufacturing powerhouse and the reputation of one man, W. Edwards Deming was set. His methods and teaching formed the basis of Total Quality Management. Don't be put off by something that eventually had the life sucked out of it by a multitude of consultants determined to mine companies with problems for the pot of gold within. Rant over.
Japan became a manufacturing powerhouse on the back of Deming's methods. Many Japanese companies did too. There was a lot of really good stuff in the whole total quality management movement.
One of the most valuable concepts was: stop blaming your people. Deming proved that if your processes are rubbish your people can't do a good job. Seems obvious. But still today, most business owners with problems still complain that their staff are the problem.
To prove his idea, Deming ran a demonstration called The Red Bead Game. Fortunately someone recorded it and you can watch it below. See how frustrated and competitive the participants get even though it is pretty obvious that they can't succeed. This is an indication of how frustrating the same situation is in the workplace.
The solution to driving your people bonkers with bad processes is to find the broken parts of your processes and fix them. There are a bunch of techniques that come out of the total quality management movement that fix today's problems just as effectively as they did to get Japan back on its feet. We have taken those techniques and rescued the best bits.
Watch how people can’t do any better than the process they are following.
There is an alternative to undertaking a Six Sigma program or engaging a TQM consultant.
Because we learnt this stuff back in the dark ages, before most things were invented and before today existed. Back then, we both worked in manufacturing which was the hotbed of quality management. There was no better place to learn how to manage quality using process design.
And we are madly passionate about what can be achieved when you work on the unsexiest part of your business – after the accounting department that is.
A quick read, deceptively brief. None of the usual formula of using several examples to support a theory. This is a story about every business which you will be thinking about long after you close the back cover.
Business books are significantly more effective* when they are read in hardcopy. With its bright yellow cover, this one will be visible on your desk or dropped on the coffee table – it will be calling you to read it and implement the wisdom within!
*Big claim, based on donkey's years of experience.
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