The Essential Deming: Leadership Principles from the Father of Quality

1The World Is Being Ruined by Best Efforts

(Best Efforts Without Guidance Lead to Failure)

People sometimes find themselves in a situation where things don’t go right. The best employees find ways to “correct” the problem. I put the word correct in quotes because often the corrections wind up making things worse. Not because of mal-intent or lack of follow-through. If the problem is caused by the way the process is designed (a management responsibility), the tweaking done by the employee may alter the system in such a way that future products or services are even worse. The correction addresses the wrong problem and winds up doing more harm than good. It’s counter-intuitive to believe that your best workers, doing their best, could make things ...