Even though the core of my consulting practice service portfolio is strategic planning, it also includes information and analysis (including all types of research) and performance improvement. I've been directly involved in quality and process improvement since the early 1990s, and I'm currently honored to be serving as Leadership Committee Chair for the Northern Michigan Section (1014) of the American Society for Quality. Joining me on the Section Leadership Committee are a group of dedicated professionals with extensive career histories in quality improvement. Needless to say I'm the student in this group, always learning from them.

Rethinking the Boundaries  One thing I've come to believe over the course of my own career is that many Quality Improvement principles and tools can be very helpful beyond the work of improvement teams and specialists when applied in other management disciplines. I've listed some examples where I've seen impressive results in the table.  The value that these principles and tools brought about in these additional applications has been so impressive to me that I'm now thinking “upstream”. What if we started teaching some of these applications as part of the curriculum in degree areas such as Marketing, Human Resources, Accounting, and Business Management?  Would graduates see more success than without them?  Would more businesses embrace quality improvement because some of their leadership team members have already experienced the impact that these principles and tools can have?  Would higher education be interested in this additional content, or have they already done so or tried it and abandoned it for some reason?

An Earlier Path to Improvement?  As a first step toward answering these questions, I'm reaching out to some Michigan higher education institutions to see if they would like to meet and learn more about these and other opportunities to build quality improvement into curriculum. If you know someone I should talk to in this regard let me know. And if you want to discuss how to incorporate any of these (or other) tools or principles into daily practices in your own organization contact me at your convenience.  I can provide training, materials with examples, and short work sessions. I can even provide coaching support on as-needed basis.

All the best,

Jeff