10 things everyone hates about (a lot of) quality managers

 I don't know who needs to hear this, but......quality professionals can be a real "pain in the patoot".  Are you a quality professional yourself?  Do you work with one or several?  These are the most common complaints I've heard over the years.  In my earliest days in the quality profession, some of these might even have been about me.  I've learned a lot since then.  And now I teach quality professionals how to be BETTER quality professionals.  There's not a lot of resources out there for quality people to learn more about their role and how to maximize their value.

I'll preface by saying that not ALL quality professionals are guilty of this.  But guilty or not, there's a great big perception by many that that's how we'll be.  We will be a nuisance, a "necessary evil" (yikes), and generally there just to make everything difficult. 

Here's a top 10 list of things everyone hates about (a lot of) quality professionals, and some tips on how to do better. 

1.  They're unpopular and weird.  I mean, they're just weird - they aren't relatable to people.  They have poor social skills and are poor at building relationships.  They use acronyms, quality speak and other annoying forms of communication and nobody really knows what they're talking about.

2.  They blame others for problems.  They do not take responsibility for failings of a system or process, rather they find ways to point blame among individuals on the team.

3.  They're condescending.  They have the misguided idea that their department is in some way superior to others.  They throw their weight around and point out flaws without solutions to help. 

4.  They decide what needs improving.  They don't solicit input from others - they unilaterally decide what projects to pursue and impose those projects on others, regardless of what the others might think is important. 

5.  They cost the company money by implementing costly programs and adding unnecessary layers to the process.  This is often done "in the name of quality" which is a whole other level of egregious.

6.  They have a "my-way-or-the-highway" management style.  They also say "we have to do it to comply with (ISO or fill-in-the-blank)" a lot.  

7.  They take credit for all improvements in the company.  They love to show graphs of how much better something has gotten, and they love to cite project successes taking credit for projects they've merely facilitated.

8.  They want to change everything and they want to change it all at once.  They are disruptive (not in a good way) to the harmony of the organization.  People don't know whether they're coming or going.  They don't understand the quality system and don't understand when changes are made, WHY they were made. 

9.  They declare victory and move on to the next conquest.  Or in other words, they make a mess and walk away.  They boast about how they tackled a problem and won, then drift away only to have the exact same problem return.  This really kills the credibility of the management system. 

10.  They're passive aggressive.  They like to do things like take photos of problems and email them with a cc: to everyone to show how committed and observant they are.  And nobody trusts them. 

If any of the above behaviors (1-10) are familiar, here are some ideas on how to do better:

1.  Be nice, be nice all the time, ALL THE TIME (pretend you're in sales, because, um, you actually are).  Salesmanship is the most important soft skill an effective quality professional can have.  Quality is often unpopular.  Quality managers don't have to be.  Be relatable - find common interests and leverage them to be more normal and fit in among your peers.

2.  Be brave enough to fail in public - set an example by humbling yourself and pave the way for process based problem solving and trust among the team.  Make people comfortable with showing each other their "ugly babies".  We have to get comfortable with bringing problems to light, if we're to solve them. 

3.  Be completely clear and honest with yourself.  YOU.ARE.OVERHEAD.  Plain and simple.  Quality professionals should understand very clearly that they should serve at the pleasure of operations, and the cost of the quality effort should yield enormous value.  

4.  Create demand by letting people know you are there to support their efforts and what THEY want to improve.  Be the department who has helped another group improve, and be the department that others are clamoring to collaborate with.  

5. Add value by continually digging for ways to be more LEAN.  Show others that your goals align with theirs.  Other groups will always assume that the quality group is there to make things more difficult.  Change their minds! 

6.  Meet halfway, ESPECIALLY when people are resistant to change.  Learn to sync up with your audience.  If they're asking WHY, you should be too!

7.  Allow others to succeed/win.  Wherever the win, "blame" it on someone else.  Let others shine.

8.  Carefully select an area to improve.  Win that one and grow from there.  Use a consistent pattern or "franchise method" so people know what to expect when changes are to be made - everyone should know there is a repeatable pattern - we plan, do, check, act, etc so they understand the phases and know where they are in the process.  Let the change settle in (and people feel good about it) before you change another thing. 

9.  Once you've conquered a thing, continue to monitor the success.  If you've solved a problem, continue surveillance to ensure you REALLY DID solve it.  If a change has resulted in an improvement, continue to monitor it over time to confirm the change doesn't backslide.  

10.  DON'T DO THAT!  Just stop it.  Anytime you identify an issue, it should be taken privately to the process owner with a sincere commitment to assist in the resolution of the issue.  Create trust by letting all groups know you are there to help.  (Refer back to number 4). 

 And some bonus tips to improve any quality manager's relationships within an organization:

1.  Learn how to make quality "invisible".  Great quality solutions and improvements are often changes to a process that include error-proofing and process designs that have quality "baked in".  The user is adding value and getting great output without even thinking about it. 

 2.  Learn how to make quality "irresistible".  Work with your teams and groups to find the easiest, cheapest, fastest but EFFECTIVE solution.  Join them in their desire to make things as easy as possible.  That will make the solution harder to resist.  And resistance is the enemy of change and improvement. 

3.  Learn the delicate art of "Forgiveness v Permission".  Sometimes we create our own obstacles because we fail to realize we can do a thing without being constrained by bureaucracy.  We have to respect boundaries and avoid stepping on toes, to be sure.  But sometimes, we really can move the ball forward without 10 committees and and a bunch of red tape. 

This is just the tip of the iceberg.  If you need help, or someone in your organization could use a few tips on how to be a more effective and dynamic quality professional, or maybe you're building a development plan for your quality team, contact me and let's get to work!  Your organization will thank you.

I do one-on-one coaching, and can do virtual or on-site workshops too.  

www.marnieschmidt.com