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Quality Starts With You and Me
As a dad and as a leader, I care about passing down and exemplifying quality to my kids and to my team. I want them to respond with quality – in the way they respond to others, in the way they produce, and in their general mindset as they go about their work and daily activities.
Unfortunately, I don’t always get it right at work or at home and neither do my kids or the members of my team.
I think it’s important to understand the benefits of doing things with quality and to recognize the downside of allowing our performance to be less than stellar.
You may know that our family currently has two dogs. Iso is our forever doe. He’s a lovable eight year old black lab who loves to lay around and sleep. Cody is our 10 week old seeing eye puppy. He keeps us on our toes with his puppy teeth and puppy energy. Isaac, our son, is responsible for taking care of Cody which leaves our daughter, Hannah, to handle Iso. Part of caring for Iso involves taking him outside and cleaning up the dog poop. It’s not a glamorous job, but you can understand that it’s essential.
When Hannah takes Iso out, she’s supposed to clean up after the dog right away. Obviously, there are major benefits to performing this task with quality. The yard is clear of “landmines” and Hannah doesn’t have to mess with it later.
But what happens when her “job” performance lacks quality? We end up with dog poop in the yard. Someone steps in it and gets it in their shoes. Then they track it in the house which leads to lots of extra cleanup and wasted time. It also means that we have to be on Hannah more to make sure she’s doing her jobs correctly. This isn’t fun for Hannah or for mom and dad. Inevitably, Hannah has to spend more time cleaning up the yard, because she didn’t do it right the first time.
Suddenly, the lesson in quality starts to make more sense. When it comes to quality, we want to do it right because we do it right – not because we do it twice. [Click to Tweet]
As I ponder quality today, it may seem like I’m picking on my daughter. This isn’t my intent. These thoughts are a reminder to me that I must act with quality first – especially if I expect my team and my kids to make quality a priority.
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17
How have you been positively or negatively impacted by your attention or lack of attention to quality? If you are a leader, how do you demonstrate the importance of quality to your team?
Ice Breaker – Quality Names
Today, we conclude Quality Week on The Stretched Blog with an ice breaker question about quality. As usual, I’ll ask a question and give my answer. Then, it’s your turn.
Question: When you think of quality, what name or company comes to mind? And why?
My answer: For some reason, I think of two car companies. First, I think of Toyota. They have been known for the quality processes that they have in place to make sure their cars are produced at a high quality. Since getting married over 15 years ago, my wife and I have had three Toyota cars. They have been great! Second, I think of Ford – at least Ford when they first started. If memory serves me correctly, Henry Ford had a strong desire to make sure his cars were produced with quality and affordability.
See how simple that was? Now, it’s your turn. I look forward to hearing what you have to share.
Quality – Time
Today is Day Four of Quality Week on The Stretched Blog. Check out the previous three days to catch up on some of my thoughts on quality. I’m approaching the word quality from a different angle today. We usually associate the word quality with a product or service… ‘they provide quality service‘… or… ‘that product is a quality product.‘ But what if we look at quality as an indication of our time? What does quality time look like?
Quality time means being present. In order for me to provide quality time to my wife and kids, my mind has to be with them at the same time my body is next to them. It’s easy for my mind to wander to work, to the big game, to my next blog post, to anything. If I’m serious about quality time, I need to focus on my wife and kids when I’m with them.
Quality time means making the time. In our house, it feels like we are so busy going from one activity to the next. We go to work, school, sports, scouts, piano, small groups, church, school activities, puppy club, etc. All these things are great, but they can crowd out time to spend in relationship together. With all of our activities, our family definitely has to be intentional with our time together (and we don’t always get it right). Try turning off the TV and play a game instead. Go for a ride in the car together. Take a walk. Each of these things can provide quality time for you and your family.
Quality time means saying no. Sometimes, we have to say no to activities that are demanding our attention. I was struck by Isaac’s decision this weekend to miss out on an event that he normally would have jumped at the chance to attend. He decided that he needed a break – that it was okay if he didn’t make it this time. I applaud him for deciding to hang out with his parents.
Quality time means being creative. This past weekend, I had the honor of taking Hannah out for a date. We ended up going to the gym to work out which honestly didn’t give us any quality time together; however, we followed up the gym with her first trip to Kiwi Yogurt, a local frozen yogurt place. We picked out our treats and we headed to the car where we enjoyed our frozen desserts and some great conversation about heading to high school next year. Think outside the box when it comes to creating quality times for you and your family.
Quality time is important. I don’t want to get to the end of my life and realize that I rushed through it just to get to the next thing.
What does quality time look like for you? How do you make quality time in your life?
Quality – Starts With Me
Quality Week on The Stretched Blog continues with this 3rd post. Go check out the past two days of discussion if you need to catch up. You can catch up my clicking here or here.
As a dad and as a leader, I care about passing down and exemplifying quality to me kids and to me team. I want them to respond with quality.
Unfortunately, I don’t always get it right at work or at home and neither do my kids or the members of my team.
I think it’s important to understand the benefits of doing things with quality and to recognize the downside of allowing our performance to be less than stellar.
You may know that our family currently has two dogs. Iso is our forever doe. He’s a lovable eight year old black lab who loves to lay around and sleep. Irwin is our 17 week old seeing eye puppy. He keeps us on our toes with his puppy teeth and puppy energy. Hannah, our daughter, is responsible for taking care of Irwin which leaves our son, Isaac, to handle Iso. (Are you confused with all the “I” names?) Part of caring for Iso involves taking him outside and cleaning up the dog poop. It’s not a glamorous job, but you can understand that it’s essential.
When Isaac takes Iso out, he’s supposed to clean up after the dog right away. Obviously, there are major benefits to performing this task with quality. The yard is clear of “landmines” and Isaac doesn’t have to mess with it later.
But what happens when his “job” performance lacks quality? We end up with dog poop in the yard. Someone steps in it and gets it in their shoes. Then they track it in the house which leads to lots of extra cleanup and wasted time. It also means that we have to be on Isaac more to make sure he’s doing his jobs correctly. This isn’t fun for Isaac or for mom and dad. Inevitably, Isaac has to spend more time cleaning up the yard, because he didn’t do it right the first time.
Suddenly, the lesson in quality starts to make more sense. When it comes to quality, we want to do it right because we do it right – not because we do it twice.
As I ponder quality today, it may seem like I’m picking on my son. This isn’t my intent. These thoughts are a reminder to me that I must act with quality first – especially if I expect my team and my kids to make quality a priority.
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17
How have you been positively or negatively impacted by your attention or lack of attention to quality? If you are a leader, how do you demonstrate the importance of quality to your team?
Quality Response Matters
This week The Stretched Blog is focusing on quality. Yesterday, I shared about Mr. Bobo, a man who clearly had an influence on me when it comes to quality. Through the comments, it’s been interesting to hear how others have had a quality influence on The Stretched Community. Today, I take the discussion of quality to another place. I hope you’ll read along and add to the comments.
When I think of the word quality, I often think about times when I have been impacted by poor quality. Poor quality is easy to remember. It happens when our expectations aren’t met. It happens when we are inconvenienced or when we’re treated poorly.
I remember a time when I picked up a brand new car several years ago. I love the smell of a new car, and I was looking forward to driving the new car off the lot and getting used to the new vehicle. You can imagine my disappointment when just a half mile down the road the transmission seized and the car stopped. Obviously, the transmission product quality was overlooked when this vehicle was shipped from the factory.
I also recall a time when my family was turned away at a hotel despite our reservations and despite the fact that we had confirmed our reservations earlier that day. The hotel had obviously overbooked for the evening, and we were victims of the poor service quality.
In both of these cases, quality was a big issue. As service or product providers, we fail when we permit our products to be released without appropriately checking for quality. Customers deserve our best. Having said this, I realize that mistakes and errors happen. When this happens, we must ask, “How do we respond to flaws in quality?”
Our failure becomes catastrophic when we ignore the product or service faults. Customers change loyalties. They can become outspoken against our product or service especially when we fail to take corrective action to improve our quality.
On the flip side, when we respond quickly and decisively to our lapses in quality, we demonstrate to our customers that we care and that we truly want the best for them. It shows them that we’re committed to getting it right.
Looking back to my new car experience, the car dealership had an embarrassing situation on their hands. Despite the fact that they did not manufacture the car, they had the uncomfortable position of taking responsibility for the situation. I honestly don’t remember all the details of how the situation was resolved; however, I do remember being satisfied with the actions taken by the car dealership. The dealership acted quickly and appropriately to make sure my total experience was a quality experience.
As for the hotel situation, the hotel staff found a room for us, but our kids had to sleep on the floor. As we made our way to our room, we heard other hotel patrons complaining about the poor service they were receiving. You can guess that our family won’t be going back to that hotel again.
Quality matters.
How we respond to lapses in quality matters also.
Share about a time when you experienced quality either initially or in response to less than stellar quality. How does quality drive your future consumer decisions? How do you make sure quality is part of your product delivery?
Quality – Lessons from Mr. Bobo
I’ve been thinking a lot about the word quality lately. In my department, we are focusing on the quality of our product. We want to produce the best product possible. We want to be proud of our work. This week The Stretched Blog will focus on quality. To start the week off, I share how quality was instilled in me at the beginning of my working life.
When I was in high school, I had a clear interest in math and science. I’ve always loved solving problems and figuring things out. Little did I realize how important quality is to the math and science fields.
My dad was one of the pastors at the church where I grew up in New Jersey. Sometimes it was tough being a PK (Pastor’s Kid), but most of the time I didn’t mind it that much. My dad was a celebrity of sorts as he knew many leaders, personalities, and business people in and around our town. He knew people from our church who were involved in all kinds of different career fields.
I’d like to think it was because I worked hard, but I’m guessing my dad had something to do with the calls I received to work at various jobs around the community. I cut grass. I shoveled snow. I raked leaves. I painted housed. I washed dishes. I hung curtains. I did all sorts of things. But one job I will always remember is the four years I worked as a land surveyor for Henry Bobo. Apparently, Mr. Bobo had heard about my interest in math and science, and he needed a helper in the field to help him survey properties around the area.
Mr. Bobo was an older gentleman who lived with his wife, Grace, in the center of Mt. Holly, NJ. He kept his surveying business going despite the physical demands of the trade that could be tough for a man his age.
When I started working for Mr. Bobo, I would ride my bike two and a half miles to his house where we would load up his equipment in his red and white van as we prepared for a day in the field measuring distances, taking elevations readings, cutting through brush along property lines, and marking out property corner stones and markers. Working for Mr. Bobo, I learned a lot about the importance of precise setup and accurate measurement and note taking. I remember how frustrated he would become when I didn’t hold the plumb-bob correctly or the rod just right.
When I started working for Mr. Bobo early in high school, I was the gopher and the “rod man.” I was responsible for holding the reflector rod or the plumb bob while Mr. Bobo used the transit and took the field notes. As time went on, I began to learn how to set up and operate the transit. Suddenly, I was looking through the transit and taking notes. Mr. Bobo was very direct in explaining how the numbers should be written in the log book. I’ve always had neat handwriting, but I would always hear it from Mr. Bobo if my numbers weren’t written correctly. This used to drive me crazy.
Towards the end of my time working with Mr. Bobo, he had me doing the drafting up in his office. Here I would take the field notes and draw out the site plan and topographical map of the places we had previously surveyed. It was through this activity that I understood why it was so important to hold the rod steady, to set up the transit properly, and why it was so important to write the field notes so clearly. If the measurements and numbers weren’t written correctly, the plans wouldn’t come out right. There would be “gaps” in the drawings.
Mr. Bobo’s demand for quality was essential to his final product. His lessons in doing things the right way has been important in my career and in my daily activities. I’m thankful for Mr. Bobo and his insistence on doing things right.
Who has had an impact on you when it comes to quality?