The Air Force Crashes Quality

In past articles, I’ve mentioned the Air Force’s failed Total Quality Management (TQM) Initiative in the 1990’s. (Do not use the “Q” Word and Chugging the Kool-Aid ). Several readers have reached out asking more about it. To get complete insight, I’d have to write a book…or two…or three. Instead, I thought I’d regal you with a few short stories.

Story #1

When the Air Force decided to jump on the quality bandwagon they created a program based on the works of Deming, Juran, and other Quality gurus. Borrowing the buzzwords from private industry, they call the initiative “Total Quality Management.”

But it wasn’t too long before somebody up the chain of command realized that the Air Force doesn’t Manage…they LEAD!?

So within a few months, the name was changed to “Total Quality Leadership.”

There was one small problem with the new name…the Navy was calling their program TQL. (For a great Navy success story, see A Tale of Two Units ). And the Air Force couldn’t be like the Navy! So somebody in a 5 sided building in DC made another change.

“Quality Air Force” (QAF) became the title.

Having three name changes within 6 months is not a great way to start a change management program. Being a global organization, the changes were not instant: for months, the three different names bounced around in announcements, training offerings, and other announcements. This led to confusion…folks didn’t know if these were three separate programs. The military has an acronym for this…FUBAR (I’ll let you google that).

When Jack Welch decided Six Sigma was going to be the way of the future for General Electric: he committed to it. The name never changed and at every opportunity, he talked about it. Every board meeting, every investors’ call, every interview, every visit to a GE facility; Jack talked about Six Sigma. He’d showcase projects, highlight new training offerings, and congratulate graduates. Jack Welch created an internal brand, which eventually became recognized as an industry benchmark.

The Air Force’s fiasco at the launch did not bode well for the program. Within a couple of years, QAF was languishing. It lingered on life support for a few more. The changes in name and failure to establish a brand did not doom the program. There were a lot of other issues (sending people for training then not engaging them, lack of action, and a myriad of other factors). But the name changes did not help.

It was another decade before the Air Force tried a new CPI program. Despite 10 years passing, the memory of TQM, TQL, QAF was still in the collective memory. The leadership was aware of this, and so they banned the use of the word Quality ( Do not use the “Q” Word ).

The brand you build around a change program is critical to its success; and it starts with a consistent name.

Story #2

The overhead transparency projected a black blob on a white background onto the screen.

“What is this?” The facilitator’s question was answered in silence…we didn’t have a clue. She replaced the slide with one that showed more black blobs.

“What about now?” Was met with more silence. She put a third slide up.

“And now?” an over-eager lieutenant in the first row yelled out.

“A Dalmatian!” The facilitator then went on a convoluted rant about not having the big picture and the need to pull back.

This was my first exposure to Total Quality Management. I was a Captain in the U.S. Air Force. A week before the course I’d been informed that with the end of the Cold War, there was a Reduction in Force and I was to be separated from the service along with about 20 other officers in the unit.

In the wisdom only found in Government Bureaucracy, the majority of us leaving were told to attend TQM training. Most of us wouldn’t be in long enough to complete the training. The rest would be leaving shortly after the class. But it was a distraction and gave most of us time to work on resumes in class.

The class was a hodge-podge of buzz words and a lot about surveys to gather customer input. The only thing I got of value from the class was a copy of The Deming Management Method book. I read it on the plane trip back from Japan, and it changed my life.

I heard from those who stayed in and completed the training. After the multi-week course, they did nothing. No events, no assignments, no work of any kind. When some did finally get asked to be on an improvement team, it’d been over 6 months since the training.

Later, I found this was common throughout the Air Force. Tortuous training, much of it given to people being forced out, followed by long periods of inactivity for those now overworked because of reduced staffing. Not a solid foundation.

Story #3

?“Good Morning Bob.”

Normally a greeting like this would be a sign of a friendly workplace, which is what folks want. But when it’s a staff sergeant addressing a colonel like this…well…it is not conducive to a military environment.

While I was looking at black blobs on a screen, several thousand miles away at an Air National Guard unit, a newly installed Quality Officer convinced the command staff to make some radical changes. And it did not go well.

The Quality Officer, while spending months at various training courses, felt the key to quality was to provide a more equitable work environment. Addressing each other by first names was to be acceptable (though saluting would still be required).

Also, he felt it created resentment that senior leaders had reserved parking spots. So, the reserved spots were painted over, and it was open parking for all. Now, this unit happened to be attached to a civilian airport and had limited space. On drill weekends, over 1,000 Airmen could be on base and parking was at a premium. Soon commanders and first sergeants found themselves spending hours (yes, hours) during the course of a drill weekend looking for parking or taking extra-long walks from remote lots.

To his credit, the Quality Officer was providing TQM training, and doing a good job in getting people to engage shortly after training. But an odd thing became apparent with the TQM/TQL/QAF methodology. A lot of time was spent collecting data and the voice of the customer. Then the team would get together and discuss. These sessions often turned into something that could have been the inspiration for the “airing of grievances” from the Seinfeld Festivus comedy bit. A lot of talking, but no action.

The first name basis and the open parking lasted only a few months. The events did not last much longer than that.

There’s much more as to why the QAF program crashed and burned. These are just a few stories for you to ponder and relate to any programs you may kick-off.

Public and private sectors need marketing and branding when implementing process improvement. Think it through and include a marketing and communications plan to your CPI rollout. Don’t pull a QAF.

Do you have any stories about a failed initiative? Please share your insight in the comments…