UPSIDE DOWN EXCELLENCE

Quality that's simple

When I was working at an automotive plant, a large OEM bought our plant and brought a mature quality standard and a lot of new requirements.

Some fit our operation. Many didn’t.

However, the problem was simple. The standard wasn’t optional. The company tied bonuses to audit scores, so compliance mattered at the director and VP levels. Ignoring certain clauses could cost people real money.

So I made these seemingly “useless” requirements into value-added activities.

One particularly frustrating requirement expected the supervisor to audit every distinct part number at every workstation with every employee every quarter. In a plant with 500+ distinct part numbers that could run on any of 5 lines, this wasn’t feasible.

Simple math: 500 part numbers x 5 lines x 20 employees x 10 min = 347 days of auditing every quarter.

It’s not physically possible.

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How to make requirements add value:

When you come across a requirement that doesn’t add value:

Read for intent - understand what they’re asking you to achieve and figure out how to deliver that outcome.

Then (for a bonus) figure out how to deliver that outcome in a way that also solves a current problem or issue.

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Back to the story…

Many of our teammates didn’t feel heard and didn’t believe their ideas or contributions mattered. This department had extremely high turnover.

I took the new requirement to review all part numbers and tweaked it to review all employees each quarter.

We built an employee-centered quarterly interview process.

Here’s what we asked:

1. Are the instructions clear and accurate?
2. Do you have all the tools/fixtures you need?
3. Is the equipment/machine working well?
4. What issues or concerns do you have? What doesn’t work?
5. Is the employee certified for this job? (The supervisor answered this afterward.)

The goal of this was to make employees feel heard and ensure they had all the appropriate tools, training, equipment, and instructions.

And we made sure the employee understood their role and how they impacted the company.

We took a seemingly irrelevant requirement, identified the intent (supervisor/frontline interaction), and delivered that intent in a way that solved a current issue.

We improved employee morale and retention, and we achieved the highest audit score in our division.

The real icing on the cake was when they wanted to revise their quality standard; they asked me to help write it.

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Four steps to turn “checkbox” requirements into value:

1. Extract intent. What problem is this clause trying to prevent?
2. Translate intent to your context. Don’t copy the activity; map the outcome.
3. Solve a real problem. Choose an action that satisfies the intent and fixes something you already need to fix.
4. Measure the outcome. Choose a metric and track it.

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Implement this in your QMS this week:

What customer requirements or regulatory requirements are you constantly fighting with?

Having a hard time deciding? Reply and let me know what you're thinking about and we'll figure one out together.

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Work with me:

This is your last chance to join the Own the Outcome course. Doors close on 11/3.

This is a 7-week cohort-based course.

We cover how to unburden ourselves, free up time, and work on the critical-to-success projects.

If you feel swamped at work. This is the course for you.

Join here: https://upsidedownexcellence.com/own-the-outcome