Quality is a key pillar in every organization. When a company delivers inferior Quality, it will be out of business quite soon. Hence, maintaining high-quality products and services is very important. However, getting Quality Management deeply embedded in the organization isn’t always easy. Everybody within the organization needs to understand his/her impact on the Quality and, more importantly, the perception of Quality of the customer. Quality should be embedded in every part of the business to truly deliver the best Quality possible.
Quality Consistency
Especially when the organization gets larger and more people are involved in the products and services, maintaining consistent Quality levels can become hard. This is when having a clear vision of what Quality means to the company becomes essential. Creating this vision should not be simply handed over to the Quality Manager—this is a job for Top Management. A properly functioning Quality Management System is critical in this. Having more people touching the product and/or service means that there is more room for inconsistencies. We are all human, so we will not deliver constant Quality, which is fine. As an organization, it is important to keep the minimum Quality level steady, regardless of who is doing the job. This is guaranteed by creating proper Quality checks.
Top Management
The involvement of Top Management in the strategy is one of the most critical aspects. Top Management has to show their dedication and focus on Quality within the organization. Getting this involvement isn’t always easy, but with some techniques, this is doable. Some great tips are:
- Using data to show Top Management how Quality performs
- Show how customers value the Top Quality
- Show the costs of not having Quality
These are just a few points to use, but there is much more. The type of indicators come from anywhere in the company: logistics, production, sales or HR. This clearly shows that Quality is embedded in every part of the company. The exact triggers are, of course, also dependent on the personality of the people in Top Management. Make sure you communicate with them in a way that is in line with their personality.
Employee Involvement
Yes, Top Management involvement is critical, but without involvement from the employees, Quality Management isn’t working either. The employees are the people that do the job and see when things are going right or wrong. They are crucial in having a Quality Culture. They need to look at everything they do through Quality glasses, which will really increase the overall Quality. Never ever forget to make them part of the Quality strategy and translate the Quality to clear things they need to do.
