Building a TQM Program

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions and only lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new.

The Prince – Machiavelli

Although the successful implementation of your organization’s Total Quality Management (TQM) initiative may not involve the peril and intrigue of the overthrow of an Italian city-state, Machiavelli’s quote does point at two very real issues for managers who are attempting to install a TQM system. First, if TQM is to be successful, it truly requires “the introduction of a new order of things” in the fullest sense of the phrase; and second, the changes brought about as a result of TQM may be perceived as a threat by some members of the organization who will promote returning to “the old conditions” of operation.

How to Approach TQM.

Most organizations attempt to approach TQM as a largely procedural issue. Generally, this tack begins by observing an organization that is currently enjoying the fruits of a successfully implemented TQM program. As smart individuals who recognize that actions, not results, can be managed, we look closer to discover the techniques employed by the model organization that produced such enviable results. We then resolve to adopt similar policies and procedures within our own organization, confident of the positive outcomes that will be forthcoming. In this scenario, we view the quality initiative as something to do-providing new sets of actions for ourselves and our employees.

The problem here is that life just doesn’t work this way. Unfortunately, this “doing” approach to TQM overlooks a simple but profound fact of human nature. Although we correctly observe the actions that produced the results we envy, we fail to recognize the successful organization’s commitment to “being” a quality provider, where they were “coming from,” which give rise to their actions in the first place.

You can see this paradigm in operation every day. Think back to some of the interactions you’ve had recently with any service provider; the waiter in the restaurant, the teller at the bank, or the clerk at the dry cleaners. Though they did and said all the right things, were you convinced they cared about you–when they really cared only about themselves? Conversely, did you recognize how much they genuinely cared even if they made mistakes and said the wrong things? Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “I can’t hear what you’re saying because who you are speaks too loudly.”

For decades, many organizations have been based on an authoritarian, adversarial, results-at-any-cost style of management and have been notorious for their slow response to customer inquiries and requests. A new veneer of management slogans or something else to “do” won’t begin to affect this. More than just something to do, your law organization must embrace the values of TQM as a new way of working, a new way of thinking, and even a new way of life. You must walk the walk and talk the talk before any TQM system can be successful. How then should your organization proceed with its TQM program?

Commitment to Service

First, your organization must create an authentic commitment to service. Although it doesn’t address the issue directly, Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People contains one of the best discussions of service available. Carnegie says that the average, self-interested person has mastered the art of being “interesting.” These are the individuals at any party or social function who busy themselves trying to impress others with their intelligence, status, or good looks. Their motives are selfish and their attention is wholly on themselves. Unfortunately, everyone else knows this too. Likewise, your organization’s clients recognize any self-absorption on your part when it is demonstrated by the organization, and again, that demonstration need be only a matter of “where you’re coming from.”

Like all individuals, your organization’s clients desire your genuine interest in them, in their needs, and in their concerns. As Carnegie says, it is imperative that the members of the organization master the art of being “interested” in others. But the interest must be genuine. A facade of concern, promoted by a procedural TQM program, cannot mask self-interest beneath it; this is one of the primary failures of most TQM programs. To succeed, the organization and its members must become seriously interested in serving other people and learn to care authentically about the needs and concerns of the organization’s clients.

The Need for Vision

The most important step in implementing a TQM system is to create a vision for the organization oriented around the contribution the organization can make in the community–if it gets to work making a positive, authentic difference in the lives of its customers. The organization’s vision provides a context, a place to “come from” in which all the other changes can occur. Vision provides the benchmark against which all activity within the organization can be evaluated and guides the reallocation of the organization’s resources.

One local organization created a written statement of purpose which, among other elements, included these commitments: “to express, in all that we do, our commitment to integrity, excellence, quality and service”; and further, “to provide our clients competent, effective, and cost-efficient representation; to complete all assignments in a timely manner; and to conduct ourselves with integrity and professionalism, consistent with the highest standards of ethics.” The important point is that this plaque hangs in their reception room in full public view every day. As issues arise during staff or partners’ meetings that seem contrary to this purpose, members of the organization do not hesitate to adjourn the meeting and re-convene in the reception area to consult the organization’s statement of purpose before making a decision.

Leadership

This kind of vision requires a new kind of management style as well–a transformation from superintendence to leadership. As we know, the present world view is not one that naturally and spontaneously promotes a vision of service. On the contrary, as change and uncertainty occur during implementation of your TQM program, the environmental pull is for a return to the old, familiar ways of doing things. If TQM is to succeed, the job of management must shift from directing and supervising subordinate employee activity to creating and promoting the organization’s vision of service. Further, leadership involves the on-going enrollment all the members of the organization in that vision.

This is the essence of leadership. Rather than an elusive quality possessed by only a select few, behind its mystique, leadership is the speaking of a new possibility into existence and the on-going enrollment of others into that possibility. When Lee Iaocca began to speak about his vision for the “new” Chrysler he did so even as the company faced bankruptcy. He continued to speak about the “new” Chrysler throughout the company’s reorganization and as the company committed itself to the total quality process. This kind of leadership takes only one person. If you are willing to start speaking for a vision of service, to speak it continuously and effectively, sooner or later it will take hold, and the, watch out.

Accountability

Finally, TQM’s success takes everyone’s commitment to following through. Ultimately, it is not enough to talk about your commitment to a new philosophy of service without action consistent with the talk. It’s not good enough to simply say you’re going to return all client phone calls within 24 hours, you must build the structures that ensure the phone calls are indeed returned in that time frame. In other words, the organization must design systems that account for all the promises its people make to fulfill the vision of service embodied in the TQM program.

Here, accountability refers to a precise narrative of events, what did or did not happen in the service of the client, devoid of any assignment of blame, fault, or censure. For may of us who were trained in the adversarial style of management, in which accountability became the bludgeon of the guilty, this is an entirely new way of considering accountability. Yet, keep in mind the customer is interested only in a promptly returned telephone call, and punishing someone after the call has gone unreturned won’t satisfy the customer. Without the correct structures, without follow-through, and without rigor, it’s too easy to slip back into the old habits, and the customer phone calls go unreturned.

An Orange County organization, for example, now makes duplicate copies of all telephone messages, one for the recipient and the other for the office manager. The messages always indicate the time the message was received and, periodically, the office manager checks with the staff regarding the timely return of their calls. If a return call has been missed, she graciously reminds them of their commitment.

When you consider that changing the culture of an organization is such tough work, why undertake it? Although it is certainly difficult, uncertain, and perilous to take the lead in introducing a new order of things, nothing more satisfying can be imagined. True joy in life comes from making that kind of contribution. Its pursuit is a life worth living.