ASQ Rochester - September-October 2022 Newsletter

ASQ Rochester - September-October 2022 Newsletter

Message from the Chair

By W. Frazier Pruitt

The benefit of connection (part two)

The previous newsletter was on the importance of human connection and how ASQ Rochester is working to support its members and community. Connection is still the goal, but I neglected an important aspect in achieving it, face to face interactions.

If you and I have ever talked about my education, you will know I am a huge advocate of asynchronous learning and teamwork. I think that developing the ability to work asynchronously will allow us to build more diverse teams while providing flexibility to support other obligations and passions. As a result, teams that have developed this ability will be more effective than ever. But, each of my successful remote or asynchronous teams have had one thing in common, we also met face to face.

I am not alone in this realization.?Gajendran & Harrison in a 2007 meta analysis found that teams still needed some in person interaction to maintain strong relationships. To get teams started off right, NASA sends new teams into the wilderness and my organization sends me to Mexico.?Face to face is the best way to build trust and relationship.?

The way I expressed it, much to the amusement of my Mexican colleagues, is that we need to be reminded that our team members are real people. Living, breathing, feeling people. The person on the other end of the Zoom, email or Slack channel is a real human being, with a family, priorities, commitments, dreams and feelings. Despite the amusement of my emphasis on “humans, with feelings”, we were in agreement.?

Without real connection, we are obscured by digital avatars. The effects of this objectification can be seen by the way kids treat each other online, or the way adults treat each other on Twitter. Trust and accountability are exceedingly difficult to build online. Fortunately, there is a remedy built into our biology, face to face human?interaction induced empathy.

Even a few hours of face to face interaction can do wonders for a relationship and ASQ Rochester Conference, ROC Excellence, is here to provide just that opportunity. Our in person conference will be November 1st 2022. We will have presentations to learn new skills, time to connect with others in our community, and even the opportunity to share a meal with each other. Our hope is to connect not just the quality professionals of Rochester but others that could benefit from our tools and connections. Bringing engineering, operations, supply chain, entrepreneurs and others face to face to remind us why we work to strengthen our whole community.

We hope you will join us whether attendee, speaker, or sponsor, to connect with each other. Remember to invite a friend or colleague so we can all remember that there are human beings, with feelings, in our community.

Cheers,

Frazier

Updates

It is an incredible year of rebuilding and ASQ Rochester has started some amazing new offerings.?Below are some of the highlights and upcoming events.

Coming up soon!

RocExcellence Register Now!

Are you ready to connect in person! Save the date for November 1st 2022. The ASQ Rochester conference is back, in-person, and better than ever because this year's theme is Excellence and Innovation.?For more information look for the hashtag #RocExcellence. https://asqrochester.org/

?RocExcellence Speakers

Last call for speakers is September 9th! Let us know if you are interested and if your proposal fits we can provide assistance in refining and make sure your presentation is ready in November.?Submit now at https://forms.gle/sfiaJkjhNSQvDanE8

RocExcellence Sponsors

Sponsorship is available for the conference because we see members and vendors as partners. Please reach out to reserve your vendor table today. Exhibitor_agreement

The application for our STEM Grant is open

In an ever-changing, increasingly complex world, it's more important than ever that our nation's youth are prepared to bring knowledge and skills to solve problems, make sense of information, and know how to gather and evaluate evidence to make decisions.

This year ASQ Rochester seeks to donate $4000 to extracurricular STEM programs in the Rochester Area in the sums of $500-$1000. More information can be found at https://asqrochester.org/Youth_Stem_Grants

The application for our Scholarship Grant is open

ASQ Rochester Section promotes the application of quality concepts and methodology in all professional fields through a college scholarship program. Up to four (4) scholarships will be awarded for the 2022-2023 academic?year. Scholarships are at least $1000. More information found at https://asqrochester.org/Scholarship

Coming up soon from our partners!

Join the Greater Rochester Quality Council (GRQC) on Tuesday, October 11 for a journey through performance excellence. Celebrate with area businesses, non-profits, and healthcare providers committed to best practices in organizational strategy, continuous improvement, project management, and customer success. ?https://www.grqc.org/

ASQ Rochester?

ASQRochester.org

Our vision is to be a recognized authority and champion for quality in the Greater Rochester area.

Our mission is to advance individual and organizational excellence in the Greater Rochester Community through education and training in quality principles and technologies, and to promote quality professionalism by members.