Quality News

Improvement requires a framework.

We all need some way to align our efforts and focus on a specific objective.  To this end I have found the following questions to be especially helpful.

1. What do you want to accomplish?
Until   you   have   a   clearly   stated   objective,   you   risk   everyone   running   off   in   different   directions,  working on their own pet projects, and not cooperating for the common good.    Whether it is a specific project with a limited scope, or the general day-to-day operations of your organization, a clearly stated purpose or objective is important to help focus the thoughts and efforts of everyone involved.  Any   situation   in   which   this   question   remains   unanswered   will   rapidly   deteriorate   into   chaos. However, merely specifying your objective will not be enough.



2. By what method will you accomplish your objective?

While it may be necessary to have a goal, merely having a goal is, by itself, not sufficient.   Remember  the old saying, “If wishes were horses then beggars would ride.”

Until you have a plan for achieving your objective, it will be nothing more than a dream.

3. How will you know when you have accomplished your objective?

If you are going to have a goal, and if you hope to move toward that goal, then you will also need some way to measure how far you have come and how far you have yet to go in reaching that goal.  Any measure you might use will vary in the normal course of events.



Some months it will go up, and other months it will go down.        If you do not know how to determine when a change has occurred,  you will have difficulty in separating meaningless changes from a signal that you have made progress toward your goal.

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