In our last post, we touched upon the difficulties Quality Managers face on a daily basis. However, we all know that being a manager of Quality, QHSE, QA, or whatever name we give to it, is a great job. You are involved in so many parts of the business and you help to improve not just the quality but the organization as a whole. There are always great opportunities for quality managers to improve, whether it’s the company or yourself. Here, we take a detailed look at four of them.
Digitization
Obviously, digitization is still a big opportunity. Lots of organizations have some of their processes automated, but there are still miles to go to reach a truly digital business. Quality isn’t always on the front of digitization and data, hence there is still a big opportunity here. When it comes to digitization, it is not just about doing the manual or semi-manual stuff in an automated way, but it’s also about things you couldn’t do before. Mobile and modern IT solutions give you Quality Management tools that really allow you to drill down to the root of why things go wrong.
Augmented Reality
This is a bit further down the line because the technology isn’t quite there yet, but some great pilots are running around the world. Great AR glasses allow people to free their hands while having relevant up-to-date information displayed right before their eyes. This not only reduces the time people need in finding drawings or other documents but also allows them to have the latest documentation. This reduces mistakes by using old documents which contain wrong information.
Change Management
One of the hardest parts of Quality Management is actually changing management and therefore still a big opportunity for improvement. We aren’t talking about the process of change management, but actually making sure people change. In order to convince people, persuasion and reasoning skills have to be mastered. Because of the nature of people being resistant to change, mastering these skills allows for great things. Improving your “soft skills” are great opportunities for Quality Managers to develop and become aware of why people don’t want to change.
Personal Development
This is in line with the previous point, but you should always go for personal development. The fast-changing world we live in requires people to adapt and understand new things. Your personal development is key in this. When you aren’t fully aware of all the products your company sells, dive into them. Learn all about them, understand the technology. On the sales side, understand why customers work with you. On the supply side, understand where suppliers get stuck with your organization. On your own level, search for skills you lack and improve them. That can be public speaking, dealing with difficult people, or more engineering skills such as analyzing data. It starts with identifying your own improvement points and then searching for ways to improve on them.
As Quality Managers, we are always searching for things to improve, but sometimes we forget about improving ourselves.
