Something more important than solutions

Quality control. This is so important.

We wouldn’t be enjoying the products and services we have today had quality not been the main focus in business specifically during the dawn of the ‘80s.

Old cartoons depict products marked “Made in Japan” as cheap, breakable and the anti-thesis to quality. This was the world’s sentiment against a war-torn Japan after the Second World War as the country struggled in rebuilding their economy.

But then Japan’s electronics improved, their appliances became the top choice of families, and their cars invaded the streets of Detroit. In no time at all, business gurus were making kaizen, the doctrine of continuous improvement, a mantra; TQM became the in thing among companies with money to spend; and “Zero-Defect Quality” became the buzz word in management circles.

Alan Webber, in his book “Rule of Thumb”, says, “US companies were trying to inspect quality at the end of the assembly line. They could have executed like crazy with all those inspections, catching defect after defect, they still would have lost to the Japanese, who were preventing defects from happening in the first place.”1

The proverb says, “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.” Something that’s more important than solutions to problems is the prevention of problems from happening in the first place. It’s fatal to just be reactive to situations, especially in business.

Alan Weber continues by saying that companies don’t apply early intervention and prevention in something as basic as customer service. After a company has thoroughly alienated its customers with poor service, lousy attention and insulting marketing pitches, it then tries to make it up with insincere apologies.

I was made to wait for more than three hours for a delayed flight. The ground staff were very polite and kind, but they never explained the exact reason for the delayed flight. “We sincerely apologize for the flight delay due to air tower control problems…”

Cusses and curses poured forth from the irate passengers. “Air tower control? Three and half hours, while the same airline with a later flight arrives and leaves without delay?” “This will be my last time to take this stupid airline,” shouted a passenger. “Liars!” shouted another one. “This is the worst airline in the country, and they’ll never have my business!” exclaimed a female voice.

Unbelievably, the flight attendant continued with her spiel, “Again, we sincerely apologize for the delay in our flight due to air control tower problems, and we hope to be able to make it up to you in the future…”

“And how do they propose to do that?” I wondered.

At the top of major business organizations, leaders habitually look the other way when they know a serious problem needs their attention, hoping that the day of reckoning won’t come on their watch. This apparent lack of attention and care to dealing with the root cause of the problem only drives up the cost of doing business. Meanwhile, insincere apologies and quick-fix solutions become mere palliatives but no solutions at all.

What’s more important than solutions? Preventions, to ensure that the process runs smoothly and the end product is excellent, while eliminating the possibilities of impending disasters early on in the process and even along the way.

This principle works for business. It works for life as well.

(Only a few seats left in my upcoming seminar! Develop your leadership skills with me, as I facilitate the well-acclaimed Dr. John C. Maxwell Program “Developing The Leader Within You” on October 15-16 at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. For further inquiries, contact Hannah at 09228980196, or call 632-6310658 or 6310660.)

1 Rules of Thumbs by Alan M. Webber, Harper-Collins e-books