Why did TQM Fail?

-	Employees take their cues from mgmt. more
-	Executive & middle mgmt. oversights more
-	Didn't integrate quality into organizational structure more

Why do major change initiatives fail?

-	Part 1: The eight major reasons for failure.
-	Part 2: Consequences of these errors?

Confessions of a shot messenger

An executive team not only needs to buy in, but will need to make key decisions and take the lead in working out the ramifications of any organizational initiative in their particular areas of responsibility.

In the 21^st century, customer sophistication and intelligence coupled with technological advances give organizations no choice but to strive towards creating and providing excellent products and customer service. The "bigger... better... faster... more... now!" mentality and relentless daily stress require unprecedented care in dealing not only with the psychology of workforce individuals, but also the psychology of a work culture's resistance to needed change.

The time is past for quality to be either an "add-on" to current efforts or a new arm in the organization creating excruciatingly formal machinery and unneeded overhead to manage extra projects for which... guaranteed... no one will have the time - or is it priority? Any learning needs to be integrated into daily operation, both administrative and production.

See "Measuring training from a new science perspective"

See "Dynamic facilitation and the magic of self-organizing change"

Executives Must Take the Lead

My initial recommendation is for the executives initially to work on these principles through their peer relationships and front-line interactions in daily operation Unless management demonstrates its personal commitment to change, it is all too easy to fall into the trap of creating a training "juggernaut" for the masses (with management receiving the "20-minute overview"), which will only create cynicism and confusion in the front-line culture.

To motivate this view, I would suggest that the executives privately fill out the assessments by Jim Clemmer (from his excellent books Firing On All Cylinders and Pathways to Performance) on the following pages: 'Executive Team Assessment' (and interpretation) and 'Are You Trying to Make Your Organization or Team into Something You're Not?'. It is imperative for them to realize that they are better off investing nothing than making a token effort.

See "Sharpening Your Executive Competencies"

If the decision is made to proceed, I recommend a three-step process where evaluation is made after each whether to continue.

What is the three-step process?

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Coaching

Post-retreat individual and follow-up team coaching is available on a customized basis to create ongoing skills development. The emphasis would be primarily on the skills from the Dialoguing Honestly About the Issues & Developing the Organizational Communication Infrastructure for Results retreats utilizing the reading list from the latter. There would also be dialogue about recent difficult work situations and dealing with management issues resulting from the new direction.