Another interesting “how much is too much” insight for managers looking to increase productivity; who are struggling with workloads that are slightly larger than one person, but a long way from being two; or just not in a position to raise headcount.

Consider the quality needed for each task. That doesn’t mean to accept shoddy work, but it does recognize that the quality level required for external work, i.e., for customers, or when doing the financials, may be different from what’s needed for internal work, i.e., the oil that keeps the internal wheels from squeaking,

Think of quality on a scale of one to ten, with ten being best. Obviously, external work and financials rate a ten, or very close to that; but does an internal company newsletter need to be a ten or is seven acceptable?

There are dozens of tasks that people at all levels perform that don’t really require a ten, yet good people drive themselves, and those around them, do everything at the best level. Doing a task at level X that really only requires level Y wastes precious time and resources—the cumulative total in the course of a year is enormous.

The first, and most important, step in redefining the “in quality” approach by task is communicating the idea. You want to

• clearly explain what it means;
• why you believe it will make people’s lives easier; and
• have an open discussion about it with your people (first your direct reports, then everybody), whether that’s a department or the entire company.

Once the concept is clear in everyone’s mind, have them

• sort their work using a “required quality” tag (RQT) numbered from one to ten; then
• discuss the results
  • first with their manager to refine them; then within
  • each department; and then within
  • the entire company, refining the tags at each level.

This is necessary because you need to be sure that everyone’s expectations are the same.

Managers need to adjust the RQT for each individual, since what one person may consider a six, another might see as a five.

It’s a good idea to have people note the RQT on the work in writing when handing it off to avoid confusion.

You know that there is always some confusion when implementing a new process, so the more communication the better!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 19th, 2006 at 12:14 pm and is filed under Business info, Communication, Culture, Motivation, Retention. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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