Now that your Quality System is in place, does your staff have the mindset to support and improve the system?  Creating and nurturing a quality mindset isn’t limited to just quality type activities, such as internal audits.  It’s everything that you do in addition to audits….that includes your actions and attitudes towards quality.

I thought I’d have some fun and use David Letterman’s top 10 format to show you how your actions can shape the way your staff perceives quality.

TOP TEN ACTIONS THAT SCREAM “YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT QUALITY”

No. 10 – Your staff isn’t allowed to make improvements to the Quality System or procedures.
How it’s interpreted: You personally implemented the Quality System and wrote the procedures, so improvements are like saying ‘your baby is ugly’.

No. 9 – You don’t like the results of an internal audit, so you negotiate with the auditors what you want them to report.
How it’s interpreted: You have no interest in fixing the issues and you don’t want to be on your bosses #$%^ list.

No. 8 – You set metric targets well below historical performance.
How it’s interpreted: You want to guarantee that you meet your targets every month and aren’t interested in making improvements.

No. 7 – You select performance metrics that only showcase what areas of your department or business are doing well.
How it’s interpreted: It’s all about making you look good during the management review and you aren’t interested in knowing how well your Quality System is performing.

No. 6 – You ‘shoot’ the messenger in Quality Management Reviews when you don’t like the data.
How it’s interpreted: You don’t like hearing about issues, so next time the presenter should report only positive information (plus anything that makes you look good) and ignore the issues.

No. 5 – You get Certificates of Analysis (C of A’s) with your incoming raw materials and you never look at them.
How it’s interpreted: You’ll take anything from your supplier, because you don’t want to be bothered making sure you’re receiving quality materials that meet your requirements.

No. 4 – You have a lot of nonconformance’s for the same issue.
How it’s interpreted: You’re investigation doesn’t have to be thorough and you don’t care if the root cause is ever found….just close the record on-time!

No. 3 – Your training has lapsed and yet you’re still able to perform activities that require your training be up-t0-date.
How it’s interpreted: Training’s not that important.  It’s o.k. to continue performing your job, even if it means you’re out of compliance and you’re following an expired/different version of a procedure.

No. 2 – You don’t spend time throughout the year auditing your Quality System, then a few weeks before an external audit you plow through all of the elements.
How it’s interpreted: Internal audits aren’t important….you just need to make it look like we have an internal audit program.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE….

No. 1 – Before signing a controlled document you ask “what date do you want me to put on this?”
How it’s interpreted: It’s o.k. to back date (aka lie).  Everything documented in your Quality System doesn’t reflect what’s really going on.

Hopefully these examples help illustrate how your actions and behavior can influence your staff’s mindset regarding Quality.

What’s your top 10?  Share them in the comments section.

I don’t usually watch a lot of TV, but lately I can’t seem to get enough of The Office on NBC.  It’s a comedy that’s filmed as a ‘documentary’ about the office workers of a fictitious paper supply company (Dunder Mifflin) located in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

The writers do a nice job of portraying stereotypical characters found in Corporate America, along with the inane activities (e.g. team building, agenda-less meetings, performance reviews) that collectively make up a dysfunctional culture.

The documentary perspective of the show, gives you the impression that you’re in the room with the office workers looking through the camera lense….like you’re the cameraman.  You’ll find the characters occasionally looking directly into the camera during awkward moments so you know exactly what that person is thinking or feeling.  Sometimes the ackwardness is so intense that I have to look the other way, while still laughing.  It’s like when someone says or does something stupid in the office and you glance over at another co-worker to facially express the stupidity….we’ve all done it.

For anyone that’s worked in Corporate America, you’ll recognize the cast of characters….most likely as your co-workers!

Michael Scott (Steve Carrell) – Michael’s the idiot boss that makes you question how he ever landed his job….we’ve all had to report to a Michael at least once in our career.

Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) – Jim’s the bright office worker that performs well beneath his capabilities because anything more would threaten his boss.

Pam Beesley (Jenna Fischer) – She’s the sweet receptionist that let’s everyone walk all over her.

Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) – He’s the die-hard, loyal employee that will do anything for the company….and I mean anything!

Meridith Palmer (Kate Flannery) – Meridith brings her personal problems into the office and at times shares a little too much about her personal life….too much information please.

Stanley Hudson (Leslie David Baker) – Stanley’s just biding his time until he can retire, so he’s very removed from company activities and friendships.  He spends most of his day trying to ignore his co-workers and boss.

Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey) – Angela minds everyone’s business but her own.  She’s always reminding you that you took 5 extra minutes on your lunch break.

Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling) – Kelly’s always trying to initiate an office romance….even when no one’s interested.

Ryan Howard (B.J. Novak) – Be careful of Ryan, he’ll go behind everyone’s back (including his boss) to move up the corporate ladder….he’s very sneaky!

Holly Ryan (Amy Ryan) – Holly’s the naive human resource professional that thinks she was hired to uphold corporate policies, like ethical behavior.  She soon finds out that the written policies are for perception only and realizes that she has to look the other way if she wants to stay employed….I can relate to Holly!

Andy Benard (Ed helms) – Andy’s the back stabbing employee that tries to make others look bad so that he looks better by default.

Toby Flenderson (Paul Lieberstein) – For no good reason, the boss has decided that he just doesn’t like Toby and treats him differently than other employees….I know how Toby feels!

You should really consider tuning into the show once a week.  At the very least, it’ll give you the chance to watch NBC take jabs at American corporate culture and keep you laughing for 30 minutes.  And for anyone (like me) that missed the first few seasons and would like to catch up, TBS has a three hour marathon every Tuesday night….enjoy!