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Getting Started on Your Quality Journey - Introduction and Three Short Examples

Roadmap for Continuous Improvement and Learning

Extracts, Chapter 7, Roadmap for Continuous Improvement and Learning. Success Through Quality, Support Guide for the Journey to Continuous Improvement. Copyright 1999 by Quality Press, Milwaukee, WI. All rights reserved.

The following guidelines provide summaries of the more detailed roadmap that is provided in Chapter 7.

Successfully making changes that result in improvement requires navigation through four phases: Problem recognition, Decision making, Problem resolution, and Follow through.

1. Problem recognition. Problem recognition consists of comparing the difference between a desired outcome with the actual situation and making a decision that there is a gap. For example, if you decide that you want to weigh 10 pounds less and choose to make a permanent and fundamental change that will result in your losing the 10 pounds and keeping it off, then you proceed to the decision-making phase. Otherwise, accept the situation. This phase also requires the collection of facts (numbers) that will provide the evidence needed that change is resulting in improvement.

2. Decision making. In the decision-making phase, you develop alternatives and choose which alternatives will improve the situation. If you decide to implement the selected alternative (s) then you proceed to the problem resolution phase. Otherwise, go back to the problem recognition phase.

3. Problem resolution. In this phase, you take action and determine if the results from the change are acceptable. Tools such as behavior-over-time (trend & control) charts are used to help determine if change resulted in improvement. On a trend chart, you need at least seven data points above or below the average, or seven consecutive points going up or down to indicate a shift in the process.

4. Follow through. The follow through phase requires the identification of the next step. Generally the options are to abandon the change, maintain the new process or improve it. Improvement can be either incremental or radical.

A Family Investment Strategy

Problem recognition. When he was old enough, my older son wanted to earn some spending money, so he started his own business of mowing grass, raking leaves, shoveling snow, and baby-sitting. My son's process for managing money was simple and predictable (i.e., stable): Make money; spend money; repeat the cycle. To my son, the fact that he wasn't saving any money was a fact but not a problem; in other words, the process was good enough. As a parent and process owner, however, I felt that the process presented a problem; in other words, the process wasn’t good enough. I envisioned what might happen once he was old enough to get his own credit cards. Customers have latent needs and, in this case, my son’s latent need was for me and his mom to develop his understanding of the importance of managing money and investing in the future.

Decision making. Our first attempt to reduce variation was to use all of the standard parent lectures, hoping that these discussions would inspire him to improve his process.

Problem resolution. After a few months, my wife and I realized that the only time he was saving anything was when we remembered to tell him to make a deposit. We then required him to save 50% of everything he earned. We also required him to plot points. When he started keeping records of his earnings and deposits, he began to enjoy seeing the balance in his savings account increase. Money should be enjoyed, but it should also be invested and put to work.

Follow-through. After a couple of years, the mandatory 50% deposit was replaced with a voluntary rate of 10%. Despite the fact that we changed the standard, he continues to save and invest a minimum of 10% and sometimes as much as 100% of what he earns.

Motivated by my son's example, my wife and I started plotting points on our own savings history. In his book The Richest Man in Babylon, George S. Clason suggests that you save and invest 10% of what you earn. In other words, you "pay yourself first" and put your money to work for you. Because of my son's example, our family has been introduced to a whole new paradigm. We are now plotting points on the amount of money our savings is earning.

Basketball Free Throw Shooting

Problem recognition. In a basketball game, when you are in the act of shooting and another player makes physical contact with you, you are given a free shot referred to as a “free throw.” I noticed that my younger son had a stable process for hitting, on average, four out of 10 (40%) free throws. He agreed to test a new process to see if his average could be improved. The desired outcome was a higher free throw shooting percentage. I defined an ideal free throw as one that goes in through the middle of the rim, lands on the same spot on the floor every time, and rolls straight back in the shooter’s direction after landing.

Decision making. I believed that a few adjustments (evolutionary improvements) in my son’s process would increase his accuracy. The first adjustment was for him to place his right foot at the middle of the foul line (he is a right-handed shooter). Other adjustments required him to visualize the ball going in before he shot and to focus on the front middle of the rim as he shot.

Problem resolution. These changes to his process resulted in an improvement in practice of an average of 36%. During the season, he hit 37 of 52 free throws for an average of 71%. While my son’s average is no where near the world record for consecutive free throws, my son was quite happy with his improvement. (Tom Amberry, who was 72 at the time, set the world record by making 2,750 free throws over a 12-hour period on Nov. 15, 1993. For practice, he shot 500 free throws a day.)

Follow-through. Between seasons, my son went to a basketball camp where one of the instructors advised him to change his process--which he did. During the next season, his free throw shooting, as well as his other shots, dropped by 20%. We then reinstalled his old process and his shooting returned to normal.

Continuous Improvement on the Free-Throw Line. More detailed version. Quality Progress Magazine, October 1997 issue.

Writing the book -- Success Through Quality

Problem recognition. I put off writing this book for several years for two "good" reasons: I don’t like to write, and the only time I have to write is in the evenings and on weekends. I associated massive pain with replacing my free time with something that I did not like doing. To help develop my desire and commitment, I started imagining (visualizing) and writing down all of the good things that could happen once the book was completed. This turned out to be an extensive list that I reviewed and updated regularly. The more I reviewed and refined this list, the more committed I became to writing the book.

Decision making. Two of the biggest barriers that I had were time and a dislike for writing. The alternatives that I selected were to review and refine my list of ideal outcomes and to spend just two hours a week on writing.

Problem resolution. The more I wrote and rewrote, the easier it became. This motivated me to increase the amount of time I spent. Also, the more I reviewed my list of ideal outcomes, the more I began to associate pleasure with working on the book, which helped me to overcome my procrastination. One of my biggest breakthroughs was accepting the fact that the book will never be perfect.

Follow-through. Once a preliminary draft of the book was developed, I gave copies to friends and customers who were interested in helping me improve it. The reader survey questionnaire provided in Appendix C was also added to solicit feedback and recommendations for future improvements.