So fine, failure to meet standards is a problem. Repetitive problems are irritating and costly, but there's no value in dismissing the root cause as the general idiocy of the workforce (you just can't get the staff these days)
Sometime ago we were preparing a customer for a certification audit, their first, so everyone was on tenterhooks. Anyway, the day before the audit there was this weird little exchange with the Operations Manager (Alan) that went something like this (true story):
"OK Alan, so the auditors will be among your staff tomorrow, basically observing, maybe asking one or two a few questions about this and that"
"What sort of questions?"
"Oh, questions about training, communications, fault reporting, that sort of thing, just to make sure people know their job, basically"
"Who will they ask?"
"I can't say for sure, but they tend to have a bias towards new starters. You see they'd see that as the potential weak link. You wouldn't expect your seasoned experts to be wildly incompetent, so there's more value trying to establish how quickly you can get your new starters up to speed"
"So new starters then?"
"Probably, if I was a betting man"
"Good. If he sticks to new starters we'll be OK"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, they're keen, most of them, always willing to help, he'll be impressed"
"Oh ... good. And the longer serving members of staff?"
"That lot couldn't give a monkey's"
"So your new starters are keen and motivated, but your longer serving members of staff are an embarrassment. Is that what you're saying?"
"Yes, that's about the long and the short of it"
"So why did you recruit people like that in the first place?"
"Oh, I didn't. They're always keen enough when they start, but that soon wears off"
"Right ... I see ... they aren't like that when they first start. Alan, can I ask you a question?"
"Yes, of course"
"If they're not like that when they start, what the hell do you do to them?"
This, we suggest is not an uncommon scenario. It is a convenient management approach to blame the people for the failure of the system, whilst at the same time ignoring the painful but statistically very probable truth that if everyone is like that, it is much more likely to be a system problem than a person problem
In a couple of earlier posts we highlighted Deming's view that one key management function is that of making it easy for people to do a good job by removing the barriers to good work, whilst at the same time acknowledging that it is only ever once in a blue moon that we actually encounter the approach in real life. It is much more common to encounter heavy handed, cumbersome and intrusive management interventions that are likely only to lead to employee disillusionment and a high staff turnover rate, especially among your more able personnel
Effective quality management is a good part psychology. People are people and we need to deal with the reality of that, no matter how inconvenient that may be. To illustrate this point, check out this story on Sky News today. Here we see a village that refuses to face the bleeding obvious that the only realistic solution to their persistent problem is to re-name. If the name of your village on the sign post is "Lunt" the temptation for the mischievous and idle owner of an aerosol is always going to be too great. Imperfect though the world is, we do need to face facts from time to time and deal with reality as best we can
