Total quality, knowledge and learning, and strategic management-great skills

Total quality, knowledge and learning, and strategic management skills represent key skills allowing any project to succeed, since they’ve contributed massively to the success of projects in which I’ve been involved. Those skills constitute the topic we’re going to address in this edition.

Total Quality Management[TQM] and Knowledge and Learning Management

Adam Barone has an article on TQM. It’s been reviewed by Somer Anderson, fact-checked by Yarilet Perez, and published by Investopedia[ www.investopedia.com]. Barone defines TQM as the continuous process of detecting and reducing or eliminating errors in manufacturing, streamlining supply chain management, improving?customer experience, and ensuring that employees respond to the right speed with training. “TQM aims to hold all parties involved in the production process accountable for the overall quality of the final product or service”. ?

While TQM shares much in common with the Six Sigma improvement process, it is not the same as Six Sigma, according to Adam. “TQM focuses on ensuring that internal guidelines and process standards reduce errors, while Six Sigma looks to reduce defects. TQM is considered a customer-focused process that focuses on consistently improving business operations. It strives to ensure all associated employees work toward the common goals of improving product or service quality, as well as improving the procedures that are in place for production.”

“What Does Total Quality Management Do? TQM oversees all activities and tasks needed to maintain a desired level of excellence within a business and its operations. This includes the determination of a quality policy, creating and implementing quality planning and assurance, and quality control and quality improvement measures. Involved departments can include administration, marketing, production, and employee training.”

TQM includes going through the right processes in production or service delivery, and the use of quality resources. The latter ones involve human resources with excellent knowledge, skills, behavior, motivation, and inspiration; quality materials and equipment. It also demands enough cash to achieve the desired quality.

Knowledge and Learning Management is a process meant for an organization/program/project to acquire work-related knowledge throughout work implementation. It enables concerned people such as employees and managers to understand or be cognizant of true things occurring during implementation. They then use this knowledge or information to correct or enhance their work. Knowledge and Learning Management involves generating, sharing, and using knowledge within an institution for concerned people to take advantage of this information. Usually, it’s monitoring [ observation/supervision of work or field work visits, report consultation for useful information] and evaluation that produce knowledge and learning.

To clarify it, I can use one project which has engaged me. For the conflict transformation project to accomplish its targets, I’ve performed endless improvements during the implementation. I’ve ensured that right/quality inputs, right processes and outputs are always available. Right processes are right stages/steps/paths taken from the beginning to the end. These processes are actually activities from the start to the final product or service. I have first defined quality. For example, I’ve taken time to explain what a peacefully resolved dispute is. Then I’ve set measurements apt to prove that the conflict is really peacefully resolved.

I frequently documented successes, challenges/ failures and gaps so as to create lessons learnt. I built on those issues, to encourage the Field Project Staff to be creative in order to make innovations and changes which could handle those problems. I therefore led initiatives to solve any gaps pinpointed so as to equip the staff with right skills, behavior, motivation and tools to excellently perform their work. I explained to the staff right processes-these being necessary stages/steps/paths and procedures required to peacefully resolve/transform disputes identified. Some of the processes included conflict analysis and a dialogue with concerned parties before undertaking the mediation.

Each project staff member was given time to share with others strategies s/he was using, so that the others might learn those strategies. There are those who had started exploiting already existing government platforms like Parents’ Evening Forums. The latter ones are occasions when parents meet in the evening to deal with issues mattering to them. It means that the project staff members were using these forums as an opportunity for the parents to assist in the peaceful resolution of disputes identified in their areas. Other staff members also capitalized on these forums. It even inspired some of the staff to create Conflict Transformation Committees in their territories.

Lesson Learnt

It’s good to define quality and set metrics to measure it. All project stakeholders, notably project/program staff, need to be clarified the quality and its measurements. They must further be transformed into right people executing right things in the right way. Each and every issue happening, such as success or challenge, needs to leave a lesson. I have applied this principle and it has yielded positive results.

Strategic Management

Strategic Management, as the process of creating, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating strategies which will enable you to achieve objectives, is designed to solve problems identified. It entails environmental analysis/scanning, strategic thinking& planning and problem-solving skills. Based on the project goal, objectives, milestones, outcomes &impact, you must regularly conduct the scanning of the Project Environment. This is for you to discover or forecast issues, and act accordingly.

As for projects where I was employed in the past, I frequently analyzed/scanned internal and external environments. The analysis permitted me to identify the strategic factors: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats [SWOT] around the project. I consequently developed strategies and tactics deal successfully with issues which were hampering projects.

First, I was chiefly inspired by Michael Stanleigh’s quote “A general must see alone and know alone, meaning that he must see what others do not see and know what others do not know. Seeing what others do not see is called brilliance, knowing what others do not know is called genius. Brilliant geniuses win first, meaning that they defend in such a way as to be unassailable and attack in such a way as to be irresistible.”

The quote has taught me that I must always strive to be the first person to know problems occurring in any project engaging me. In other words, I exhort all project staff members to assure that no one outside the project must know any issues before us. In this regard, we have to communicate each/one another any issues arising during the implementation.

Therefore, it permits to detect any issues as soon they happen. With this in the mind, regular SWOT analysis, Strategic Thinking and Planning have always allowed me to answer these key questions: What, Why, When and How. Responses to these questions enable you to be a quick systematic problem-solver. Quick problem-solving permits projects to run successfully.

This exercise permits you to fully comprehend problems and challenges hovering over a project, strengths and opportunities to exploit in order to overcome the problems. Yet, you must seek accurate/reliable information to be founded on, so as to come up with the right option(s)/strategy(ies)/ action(s) to handle the problems.

Impact

In the mentioned project, this exercise yielded a project strategy with a number of actions to execute, for the project to progress successfully. One of the strategies was the reinforcement of relationships with Local Government Authorities. Another one involved marketing intractable cases of disputes in communities where the project was being carried out. These intractable disputes are the ones formerly viewed as impossible to resolve but which were finally peacefully resolved.

The marketing of these amicably handled disputes was a strategy to serve two purposes. The first was to convince the Local Leaders of the undeniable importance of the project. The second one was to show other obstinate disputants that every dispute can be resolvable. The strategies were executed, monitored, controlled, and evaluated. The results were amazing. Local Government Authorities were enthralled by the project that they owned and admired it. They themselves requested the project staff in charge of amicably handling disputes to intervene to deal with intensely intricate issues. Disputants employed their own initiative to beg the staff to intervene in their matters. However before, in communities it prevailed reluctance toward the project.

Lesson learnt

Strategic Management- as the process of formulating, executing, following up, controlling, and evaluating strategic decisions/options to attain the goal and objectives- is among paramount skills. Besides, I’ve learnt that strategic management must be timely conducted. Without it, you can garner little success. Every time you notice a problem, take action to understand its true cause(s), consequence(s), and then work on the true solution. This information will massively help you to negotiate with, persuade and influence concerned stakeholders in favor of a project or program.

?By Jean Baptiste Ndabananiye

Experienced Journalist with a demonstrated history of working in the broadcast media industry and peace-building. Skilled in English and French, M&E, Media Production, Peace-building, Leadership, Marketing, Advocacy, and Kinyarwanda- English-French Translation. Strong media and communication professional with a Bachelor's and Master's focused in Journalism& Communication and MBA-Project Management respectively from University of Rwanda and Mount Kenya University.