Maybe you are wondering, “Who is Dr. Deming, and why should people in leadership in positions listen to him?”
Allow me to introduce you to Dr. Edwards Deming if you don’t already know him. If you already know him, please skip the next bullet points.
Here’s the rundown.
- Dr. Deming is well known for bringing the Japanese economy back to life after World War II. Really? Yes, thanks to his teaching and expertise, we have durable Toyotas on our highways. The Honorary Chairman and Director of Toyota, Shoichiro Toyoda, said, “There is not a day I don’t think about what Dr. Deming meant to us. Deming is the core of our management.”
- Dr. Deming created the System of Profound Knowledge, a management philosophy that stands the test of time.
- Simply put, Dr. Deming is the father of quality control— or Continuous Improvement.
- He wrote several books on leadership and management, such as The Essential Deming: Leadership Principles from the Father of Quality, The Deming Management Method, Out of the Crisis, The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education (paid links) to name a few.
Enough said. Let’s get to the brutal truth.
What people in leadership positions hate to hear
As the father of quality control and Continuous Improvement, Dr. Deming said, “I should estimate that in my experience most troubles and most possibilities for improvement add up to the proportions something like this: 94% belongs to the system (responsibility of management) 6% special.“
Put differently, systems (or management) are responsible for 94% of companies’ troubles, shortfalls, and failure. What does that mean for folks in leadership positions? Everything…
Making employees take all the training in the world (time management, diversity, harassment, compliance, ethics…) is a waste of time and money unless folks in leadership positions create systems that produce and promote desirable results and behaviors.
One more thing. Spending money on employee training in broken systems is like putting lipstick on a pig.
Have questions about how to build systems? Shoot the CBL Team an email.
PS: A few posts that you might have missed:
