Deming Point #1: Constancy of Purpose

Last month I introduced W. Edwards Deming, and the huge impact he had on quality and management. Dr. Deming summarized his management philosophy by developing 14 points for management to follow.   Each of these points will be discussed in a separate article.

Point #1 - Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive and to stay in business, and to provide jobs.

At first glance, it may seem obvious that all organizations adhere to this point. Most companies do indeed try to be more competitive and stay in business. But very few put such a high priority on continuous improvement.

Deming is intentional with his words. Constancy of purpose means that organizations should put the highest priority toward continuous improvement, and not only when it’s convenient. Training and developing staff, improving quality, increasing customer satisfaction and value, reducing delivery time, and becoming more productive should be proactive, continuous, and expected of all employees.

And these efforts should not have the primary aim to cut costs and be more profitable. Here, Deming puts emphasis on competitiveness and job creation. I believe he would have cringed at the primary goal of many corporations to demonstrate strong quarterly financial results, or of some private equity companies to maximize short-term company value by laying off workers and selling assets. Cutting costs to improve profitability is a good thing, but saving and creating jobs is better. To me, becoming more competitive means long term growth and profitability while increasing market share. I don’t know any companies that achieve that through regular workforce reductions.

Here are a few actions you can take to help you follow Deming’s first point:

1) Train and develop you team. This is not optional.

2) Ask for process improvement every day from everyone.

3) Ask for less cost-cutting and more for improving customer value.

4) Develop a vision to grow and be more competitive. Create, communicate, and commit to goals that fulfill it.

Next month: Point #2 - Adopt the new philosophy

This article was previously published in the October, 2017 edition of VB Front Magazine. Mike Leigh is the President of OpX Solutions, LLC, a performance improvement company that specializes in helping organizations pursue operational excellence through leadership development and process improvement. Contact him at [email protected].