Give a number of people a series of test questions, or a set of tasks, and you’re bound to see some errors. After all, we’re only human, and humans make mistakes. It’s simply our nature. (It’s also somewhat desirable, since mistakes help us grow and can often lead to entirely new ideas — just ask Spencer Silver and Jesse Kops, who accidentally invented Post-it Notes.)
In business, however, we generally seek perfection, and with good reason: too many errors lead to quality and efficiency issues which, eventually, can tank a business.
But businesses are run by people, and people can — and will — make mistakes. I believe it’s important to not only balance, but embrace this dichotomy.
The solution, according to T. Edwards Deming (the father of Total Quality Management), is to establish — and attend to — processes and systems that account for people’s differences in perception, attitudes and capabilities, with well-defined tasks that support quality, efficiency, and measurable results. This applies to both product- and service-oriented businesses.
When it comes down to it, everything we do follows some sort of process. (Imagine if you tried to tie your shoes an entirely different way every morning.) And so, in business we must ask the question, to what degree do we define our processes to support what we do? Not so that we all become robots, mundanely churning out widgets day after day, but to elevate ourselves above the mundane so we can provide true value, day after day.
Bear in mind, the answers don’t lie in triplicate forms and approval bottlenecks; they’re found in clear, documented definitions of vision, governing principles, methodologies, org charts, and responsibilities — and the knowledge-sharing and training to disseminate “how we think and do” throughout the entire company.
In grad school I had the pleasure of working for a woman who informed me, on day one, that if I “screwed up” on the job it was her fault, because it was her responsibility to facilitate my success by providing the training and motivation I needed to get my job done. While I don’t believe this is a panacea for everything that goes wrong in business, I do believe it holds true more than most people recognize.
On NPR this past weekend, Daniel Schorr referred to “the Katrina syndrome,” where, because the government fouled up its response to Katrina so badly, now, no matter what the issue or cause, people look toward where they can place blame when things don’t work out as anticipated (in this case, delayed Swine flu virus vaccine).
Aren’t we all just humans, generally trying our best to work things out?
The next time something gets “screwed up” at work, ask yourself where the blame really lies. Sure, someone may have made a mistake, but why? Through lack of communication? Through lack of understanding? At the root, was it due to a lack of clear, standardized norms governing the issues? Can the “culprits” — and your company — grow from the mistakes? And, if so, what are you going to do about it?
After all, to err is human. To systematize is divine.
As always, I welcome your thoughts…
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