Fear

This post may be a bit off the wall, but worth consideration (well, I think so, anyway – and it’s my blog)!  Many years ago, when a relatively new engineer in a large multinational services company, there was a manager of one of the operational sites who instilled fear in the members of the projects team I worked with.  One day somebody suggested, probably in jest, that he was shy.  That got me thinking – perhaps he really was shy and his attitude (which would have been deemed bullying today) was his way of coping.  I had that in mind on my next visit to his site and, changing my approach to that of dealing with a shy person, we got on brilliantly. 

Putting Practice into Theory

If you ever stop learning you should probably scan for your name in the obituary column of you local paper.  It’s never too late to start a programme of formal study.  I had entered the quality management discipline from engineering, not because I saw it as a field I was interested in but because I was offered a job that offered a better salary and a move to a new area. 

Auditing Heresy

A brief postscript for my return to writing about audits and I want to repeat something that may be controversial. 

Anthills

As a fan of the late Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books, I recall one of the passing jokes in a televised story: one of the technical the wizards had developed a computer run by ants and the sign on the front (viewed briefly as the camera panned across a shot) read “Anthill Inside”.  At the time, a well-known brand of CPUs for personal computers had a similar sounding advertisement.

A New Approach to Auditing

I’d like to return to an idea I wrote about several years ago – something I’ll call the 5AQ approach (five audit questions)!

Last time, I suggested this (which was originally proposed by David Hoyle) for internal audits, but I now believe it has a far wider application as it requires a process-oriented approach rather than one based on the formal documentation.

Language

When thinking about the importance of punctuation and grammar for formal reports I began to see some clear reasons for a differentiation between formal written, informal written and spoken language.

Divided by a Common Language

Britain and the USA have been described as two nations divided by a common language – the language being English.  (The original quote is attributed to George Bernard Shaw, referring to England and America, but is often spread to other nations when referring to local variations in a common language).

Trust

It is said that it takes time to build trust but just a moment to destroy it. However, we trust others all the time without thinking about it.

Dissent can be Good

When everyone on the board or committee agrees on a course of action it’s often assumed to be the correct one; after all, everyone aggrees with it.  But is it the best?

Grow from the Bottom, Kill from the Top

Personnel at the work face are the key to organisational success; management is the key to organisational failure.  Good management is critical to quality but management’s ability to ensure success is limited by the staff who work on the front line.