Dick Webster,
Thank you very much for your thoughtful response. I learned a lot, and it
broadened my perspective on a number of fronts. First of all, I must
apologize to Deming. I have not read him extensively, and when I say I
disagree with something he says, I am really disagreeing with what others
_say_ he has said. If I have inadvertantly put words in his mouth, I
regret it.
Therefore, if Deming says that 80% of all problems are systems problems
(certainly my experience), and he says management would do well to get out
of the way so employees can fix them, I tend to agree. I recommend not
that management "get out of the way", but that they play an active role in
eliminating barriers to progress of employees. As a team, management and
employees can be very powerful.
Your view of "triage plus one" is as near as I can tell, identical to
mine. My only requirement is that there must be no doubt in anyone's mind
about those in the superior or inferior groupings. These are not areas
for gray shadings or nuance. It must be clear, or it is not superior, nor
is it inferior.
You said,
> 4) I simply did not get this sense (that Deming felt there was no
>responsibility for self-improvement in certain circumstances) from
>reading Deming and several who worked with him and wrote about him and
>his work. If I missed a citation that states this I'd (regretfully) learn
>and change my viewpoint of Deming's drive, late in life, to help
>management groups' recognize ALL work group members and work group
>leaders (i.e. ALL "employees, managers, executives - everybody) as
>"members of the company," with shared responsibility and opportunity for
>learning and using knowledge and skills for improving the company's
>performance, products, services, benefits to customers, profits, other
>valued outcomes - and thereby the chances that the company would survive
>and prosper and provide support (emotional and financial) for ALL of its
>members. If that grand-sounding set of goals overstates Dr. Deming's
>intentions then, once again, I welcome information that corrects my
>impressions - citations and comments please.
I suspect you are right, but as I said, I have not read much of his
material. My "disagreement" with him was based on what others quoted him
as saying. My regrets.
You state much more eloquently than I did the impact of effective
assessment on learning. I repeat it for anyone who missed it. It is
worth reading a couple of times.
> When work group members and leaders have data on their Superior,
>Competent, and Inferior" competencies (no. 2 above), training in process
>evaluation and improvement, and permission (including support,
>encouragement, recognition, and rewards) to make improvements - look out!
>The learning, and flow of ideas for process improvement (in those
>companies wise enough to set up an ideas program as part of their change
>process) is exciting to watch and be a part of. Done right, the company
>is self-sufficient within a few weeks after assessment data are returned
>to individuals and work groups, process training is completed, and the
>ideas program is piloted and rolled-out to all groups choosing to
>participate.
I also agree with you that INFLUENCING is a critical skill that is not
widely recognized. My real point, though was about what I refer to as
'awakening', which is the process by which someone realizes there is an
opportunity to develop some new skill. I used influencing as a pretty
common example. Assessment, if done reasonably skillfully, can help
someone 'awaken' the the realization that they can develop new skills that
will strengthen them in their work. This, in my view, is the primary goal
of assessment -- for a manager to identify the missing skill, then pursue
various avenues, direct and indirect, to enable the employee to awaken to
the need. By the way, I say "enable" (it is a handy word) because the
manager can lead the horse to water, so to speak, but that is all.
Ultimate responsibility rests upon the employee. For the vast, vast
majority of employees, this is not a problem.
Rol Fessenden
--Rol Fessenden <76234.3636@compuserve.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>