Resurrecting Deming

For some weeks now I've had the pleasure of teaching my first undergraduate course in leadership at Concordia University of Edmonton.  It's been a great experience and has allowed me to further develop and articulate my perspective on leadership. Just this past week it also allowed me to revisit the work of W. Edward Deming.  Over 22 years ago I studied his work as part of my master's thesis on total quality management.  

Perhaps too often the work of Deming and of other TQM, CQI, and quality guru's was viewed only through the lens of statistical process control.  More simply put leaders and managers limited the application, and impact, of TQM by implementing a set of tools.  These leaders missed out - consciously or unconsciously - on the changes that TQM required from a cultural and leadership perspective.  As I engaged my students this past couple of weeks on the topic of leading others the import of Deming's 14 Points on organizational culture and leadership effectiveness was reinforced as we reviewed the various bases of authority - legitimate position, coercion, reward, expertise and personal reference. 

Deming provided a leadership and organizational philosophy through his 14 Points that went far beyond a simple set of tools.  His first point - Create Constancy of Purpose - speaks to me about creating a long-term vision and adhering to a set of values that transcend short-term challenges or fads.  However, all too often leaders and managers fail to sustain a long-term direction whether because of a change in governing body, shareholder expectations, or other short-term considerations.  Whatever circumstance is used as the justification an organization and its staff are often left wondering what latest and greatest management initiative they are going to be tasked with making succeed.  Do this often enough and leadership credibility suffers and employee engagement declines.  A wait and see attitude prevails.  Sound familiar to anyone?

The next most relevant of Deming's 14 Points for me from a leadership point of view is End the Practice of Awarding Business on Price Alone.  How often do we do this either in the public sector as part of an RFP process or in the private sector as we grind down our suppliers?  From Deming's perspective a focus on up-front price alone fails to take into account long-term cost of a supplied product.  In colloquial terms you do in fact get what you pay for.  As a counter approach it is suggested that you build strong and sustainable relationship built on key values and common goals.  This approach can equally apply to suppliers and employees.  And maybe even competitors.

Institute Leadership.  Dr. Deming calls upon management to lead rather than manage.  Simple statement but what does it really mean for us as leaders?  Well I'm pretty confident that if you were to talk to many of our frontline staff and management personnel outside of the executive suite they would provide you with countless examples of where they felt they were being "managed", not "led".  A typical management response is to exercise greater control and oversight to make sure results get better.  More often than not in these circumstances efforts of this nature only seem to put more barriers in the way of getting good work done - more reports to generate, more signatures to get, more unreasonable timelines to meet, multiple and conflicting demands, and failure to hear and act upon input and recommendations from staff. 

Drive Out Fear in the workplace.  Unfortunately fear continues to rule too many of our workplaces.  The recent economic downturn has only exacerbated this reality and affirmed that for some staff remain as disposable - perhaps even more so - as any piece of machinery.  Fear - like title or position of authority - can be an effective tool of leadership and compliance in the short-term.  But over the long term, compliance does not equate to high performance.  With fear in an organization there cannot be open communication, innovation, and teamwork - and these are all required for an organization to achieve the full measure of its potential.  With fear in place an organization shall continue to squander the full potential of its people and the organization to the detriment of the people it purports to serve.

Eliminate Slogans, Exhortations and Targets for the Workforce.  Deming did not intend, nor do I suggest, that system performance not be evaluated on an ongoing basis.  Rather, what Point Ten addresses is the notion of trying to assess an individual's performance without reference to understanding the system in which that individual works.  If an individual is prevented from achieving higher levels of performance by a system (that management has created or allowed to be created) then performance managing an employee, setting new targets for them to achieve, and giving them "motivational" speeches will have little impact on performance.  It is far more likely that such efforts will actually cause frustration, demoralization and reduced performance.  It's like expecting employee engagement scores in an organization to go up simply by saying that the target is 10 out of 10 on the next survey.  Only by changing the system and the organizational environment will better, more consistent results be achieved. 

Remove Barriers to Pride of Workmanship.  In this point, Deming was referring to unclear expectations, lack of timely feedback (or any feedback), lack of training and support, and systems that focused on short-term results rather than long-term goals.  Staff and front-line managers are often frustrated by multiple tasks or changing priorities as leaders change focus or react to external stimuli without, it seems, due regard to long-term objectives or stated core values.  This negative impact is often compounded by the lack of visibility and sincere engagement with internal audiences on par with leadership visibility and engagement with external audiences.  Without the kind of internal alignment that I believe comes from such effort the ability to deliver on commitments to external audiences and customers stands on shaky ground.

Finally (at least within my view of leadership) Deming proposes that an organization Institute a Vigorous Program of Education and Self-Improvement.  In contrast, what does one typically see happen at the first sign of economic challenge in any organization?  Education and training programs are often the first cuts to be made.  When one considers the amount of transition that any organization faces in its environment today that seems tantamount to posting one's own going out of business sign. Businesses are unlikely to succeed by not investing in their most valuable assets - its people.  This can take the form of training in new tools and technology but these days can also equate to leadership development, management training and executive coaching.  Pay now or pay later.

There is a lot to be learned and relearned from Deming from a leadership perspective.  Despite the fact that his perspective was borne out of his work in the 1940s and 1950s there is still much relevance to leadership and organizational success today.  The fact that we still need to rediscover these lessons in so many of our organizations says much about our leadership maturity.
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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
TEC Canada Chair/Executive Coach/Senior Consultant
hadubiak@wmc.ca

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.