1. You will meet your customers above all things.
Because customers are the reason for your company and your work, you will create awareness in all your staff to comply with them.
2. You will make honesty your main value.
You will never lie, do what you say you will do.
3. You will fulfill your commitments in a timely manner.
This is what distinguishes a professional from an improviser.
4. You will privilege the results over the tasks.
Because what counts are the results, do not encourage the work, ensure the results.
5. You will never make the same mistake twice.
This defines pro-active people, learn from your mistakes.
6. You will treat your collaborators as you want them to treat your clients.
Because it is your people who achieve the satisfaction of your customers.
7. More than a boss you will be a leader.
to. You will never do anything that you are not willing to allow your people and
b. You will never ask your people for anything that you are not willing to do.
8. You will share the benefits with your people.
Herzberg: People are not permanently motivated by words alone, they need to feel firsthand the benefits of their achievements.
9. You will promote teamwork.
This promotes the participation of the staff, and as a team the best solutions to problems or the best results of the projects are achieved.
10. You will maintain healthy finances.
Profits for organizations are like oxygen for human beings, necessary for life, but they are not the reason for their existence.
1. YOU WILL COMPLY WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS ABOUT EVERYTHING.
Because customers are the reason for your company and your work, you will create awareness in all your staff to comply with them.
The raison d'être of any company or institution are its clients, they are the ones who give life to organizations. We can properly say "with clients everything, without clients nothing".
Although external clients are the raison d'être of the institutions, internal customers are the raison d'être of the work of each of those who make up the institution.. That is why we must see our clients (external and internal) as the most important element for the organization.
We know of three levels of satisfaction that we must achieve in our clients.
1.- Satisfaction to your needs.
2.- Satisfaction to your expectations.
3.- Exceeding your expectations.
Satisfying the first, we achieve simply satisfied customers. Satisfying the second we achieve very satisfied customers. Exceeding expectations, we achieve fully satisfied customers.
Only this last level of satisfaction achieves customers loyal to the business, "delighted" customers, customers who recommend us. Remember: the worst savings you can make is by limiting the service you offer to your customers.
No matter what you do, all organizations are "service companies" so develop a customer service orientation in your people. Let people know that if they have returning customers it is because of the service they offer them.
Here is this definition of quality from the renowned business writer Peter Drucker:
Quality is selling products that do not return, to customers that do. It is in your hands to develop strategies to achieve fully satisfied customers. Remember that if you don't, your competition will.
2. YOU WILL MAKE HONESTY YOUR MAIN VALUE.
You will never lie, do what you say you will do.
In quality we have a principle that says it all: "Lack of honesty is unapologetic." When it comes to customers, sooner or later the bill is paid, becoming very expensive: the closing of the business.
Never say you did what you didn't do, or stop doing what you promise to do. Perhaps, this is the most important commandment to achieve the credibility of the client and your staff, necessary to build on it the entire monument of quality.
What should not be done:
to. Use raw materials of lower quality than offered.
b. Allow hidden defects in the products you sell that the customer will not notice. c. Saying work was done that wasn't done, just to get paid.
d. Charging above what is quoted, without real reason.
and. Collude with your "competition" to set high prices so that the customer has no alternative.
F. Get a contract based on corruption.
And so many other things that qualify as dishonesty. What you can do:
Develop a philosophy based on honesty, take as a reference the following:
INTEGRATION AND HONESTY TO SERVE WITH QUALITY. ALWAYS BEING THE BEST.
Encourage and evaluate your observation periodically until you make your message a habit that everyone lives.
Acknowledge their observation, and reinforce it when you detect non-compliance. Some ideas to recognize her are: name the "Honest Employee of the Month"
Post your achievement: Internally in the organization, on chalkboards, bulletin boards, computer screens, etc. Externally in local newspapers, etc. This is welcomed by the staff, imagine the value you have in front of your relatives and friends. This also serves to reinforce honesty in those who have not.
3. YOU WILL FULFILL YOUR COMMITMENTS IN TIME AND FORM.
This is what distinguishes a professional from an improviser.
A manifestation of quality is precisely the fulfillment of commitments. When a quality institution has made a commitment, it does the impossible, if it has to, to meet its clients and staff.
In order to fulfill your commitments, it is important to know that you can fulfill them, this will lead you to exercise a quality principle:
Never accept a commitment that you cannot keep!
Now the problem is how to know if you can comply or not. Sometimes it is the most difficult, because the capacity of the processes that intervene in the fulfillment of the acquired commitment is not known. It is not enough to "think" that if you can, it is necessary to know the "work" but more important is to know the processes.
Now, if we are saying that to accept and fulfill a commitment you have to know the processes that intervene in its fulfillment, the most important thing is: “NEVER ACCEPT A COMMITMENT THAT YOU KNOW YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO FULFILL, JUST TO BE GOOD WITH A CUSTOMER, WITH THE BOSS, OR WITH ANYONE.
Many people make commitments very quickly if not very irresponsible. He easily says "YES" even when he does not even analyze whether he will be able to comply or not, and to top it all, once he becomes aware of the commitment he accepted, he realizes that he had already accepted another commitment that is in opposition to the one just accepted, so you meet one or you meet the other, and you have no choice but to look bad with one of the two, and in the best of cases you have to offer an apology.
Some recommendations:
1. Use an agenda and get used to consulting it when accepting any commitment.
2. Schedule your agreed work or projects for your clients, based on your technical and human resources, use a Gantt chart.
3. But most importantly: Know your processes, evaluate them, know your times and your ability to respond to your commitments.
4. Learn to say "NO" without feeling guilty.
4. YOU WILL PRIVILEGE THE RESULTS OVER THE TASKS.
Because what counts are the results, do not encourage the work, ensure the results.
What matters in any organization are the results, you will have to do chores, but only to achieve results. This, which is so simple to understand, has not been taken into account in many cases and we continue to ask staff to do things, not to achieve results. Staff job descriptions are cluttered with roles and responsibilities and place little emphasis on goals and objectives.
It is important to make a clear orientation to the results of the processes and in general of all work carried out in all positions, when the staff knows the results they must achieve, they have the option of changing, improving their tasks, and ensuring their results.
In fact we have another principle in quality:
"TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE AND I'LL TELL YOU WHAT YOU SHOULD DO"
The tasks should only be those necessary to achieve the expected results. The formula is as follows:
Everything in an organization are processes, everything you do is a process or part of it, the objectives of the processes must contain the satisfaction of the client of that process, and the actions of the process must be only those necessary to achieve the objective, thus simple, that simple.
And it is that the circumstances force to establish actions, but the circumstances change and the actions remain. So it is a good opportunity, based on this principle, to establish a routine review periodically.
Specific:
1. Review your processes and make sure they have a clear, understandable and oriented objective to achieve the satisfaction of the clients of that process.
2. Make sure that the processes have documented only the actions necessary to achieve the objectives.
3. Each time you give an order, clarify the intended achievement.
4. Recognize achievements, remember there are those who do a lot and achieve little.
5. YOU WILL NEVER MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE TWICE.
This defines pro-active people, learn from your mistakes.
We are full of bombardments, it seems that the problems do not end, in fact in many places the role of the supervisor or the boss is to solve the problems that arise every day, production problems, sales problems, with customers, with suppliers, Anyway, of all kinds, but what happens? Why does it seem that they never end? Is this a common situation for companies?
The answer is overwhelming: NO, it doesn't have to be this way. Unfortunately we have become accustomed to seeing things like this, but problems that arise once must be solved in such a way that they do not arise twice, in fact the former director of Ford and Chrysler Lee Iacocca said: I only ask my collaborators two things before errors:
1. That they stop the errors as soon as they detect it.
2. That the same mistake is not repeated twice.
But in order to prevent the problems that we solve from arising again, it is not enough to ask or have the will to do so, it is necessary to learn analysis and problem solving techniques based on statistical techniques, in fact this is what
that makes people and companies "PROACTIVE" to achieve it, we recommend the following:
1. Establish a policy in the sense of "WE LOOK FOR SOLUTIONS, NOT GUILTY"
2. Train yourself and your staff in a methodology of analysis and problem solving, with statistical bases and practice it, until they make it common throughout the organization.
3. Recognize the people who are achieving it, and each problem that is repeated, investigate the causes and eradicate them, to prevent it from reappearing.
It may seem like a long and even expensive process, but remember, ignorance and repetition of problems costs more.
When you do it, supervisors and bosses will have time to better plan their work, to apply continuous improvement to their processes and to see the future of their work areas, which is their true role and not be playing the role of "firefighter", just put out fires.
6. YOU WILL TREAT YOUR EMPLOYEES AS YOU WANT THEM TO TREAT YOUR CLIENTS.
Because it is your people who achieve the satisfaction of your customers.
Entrepreneurs have three main occupations to attend to:
1. Your customers.
2. Your employees.
3. Your finances.
The rest can be delegated or attended in the second place.
We already talked about the customers, now we will talk about the employees.
The importance of personnel in the results of organizations had not been recognized until quality systems arrived, and writers on these topics found that it would not be possible to achieve quality products if the people who produced them were not quality people. In fact, it was determined that quality is in the people and not in the products or processes, and it is that QUALITY PEOPLE manufactures quality products and offers quality services. So the secret is to have quality people, now we reproduce a thought of Sadami Wada from the Sony company:
CAPITAL CAN BE INVESTED IN MACHINERY, AUTOMATIC CONTROLS, COMPUTERIZED ROBOTS, WITH OWN TECHNOLOGY OR WITH LICENSES, BUT WITHOUT THE DEDICATION OF THE PEOPLE, YOU CANNOT OBTAIN QUALITY OR PRODUCTIVITY.
YOU CANNOT BUY THE DEDICATION OF THE PEOPLE, THAT IS, THE TRUE DEDICATION.
Some recommendations:
1. Review the social processes they have instituted in your company, documented or not, and document them according to their new philosophy of "People are important." Social processes are all those that have to do with people, such as: recruitment and selection of personnel, hiring, induction and training, participation, communication, recognition, promotion, development, and even separation.
2. Create a code of behavior and deal with staff, for example, you can include: "We acknowledge in public and repress in private", and so on.
7. MORE THAN A BOSS YOU WILL BE A LEADER.
to. You will never do anything that you are not willing to allow your people and b. You will never ask your people for anything that you are not willing to do.
Shekaspeare would say: Be a boss or be a leader, that's the dilemma!
And it is not bad to be a boss, nor is it good to be a leader, per se, but it all depends on how we exercise our role as boss or leader. However, it has been understood that being a leader is good by definition, but let's think of Hitler, no one can deny that he was a leader, however his behavior with his people was dictator and tyrant. Let's land the
concept of leader, in the positive sense with the differences:
• The typical boss:
• His workers are at his service.
• Give orders and watch over your staff.
• Punish, scold and repress.
• Makes your people work.
• File complaints because they failed.
• Stands above his people
• Has skill and practice, does not share it is his only possession.
• Work with individuals (divide and conquer)
• He is the boss to watch out for.
• Leader of quality:
• It is at the service of its workers
• Gives guidance, help and support
• Corrects and teaches.
• Achieve results through your people.
• Solve problems and present results
• Train people.
• Knows their work, knows the "how" and why "and shares it.
• Form teams, the sum of wills generate synergy.
• It is the specialist who is asked for help and advice.
These differences have been detected in different situations and it cannot be said that a single person has all the behaviors that are listed in the Typical Boss column.
Some recommendations:
1. Create the profile of the leader of your staff who has collaborators.
2. Propose the created profile to the staff and make an observation agreement, signing it.
3. Evaluate your observation and acknowledge whoever complies with it
8. YOU WILL SHARE THE BENEFITS WITH YOUR PEOPLE.
Herzberg (Human behavior writer): People are not permanently motivated by words alone, they need to feel firsthand the benefits of their achievements.
This assertion of the psychologist Frederick Herzberg, is very clear and forceful, people need to be recognized for their achievements. Not from their efforts or their time in the company, their achievements and if they have achievements, because it comes from there to share their benefit with them.
Having achievements and recognition is a need of all human beings, according to psychologist Abraham Maslow, and if they do not satisfy it in their work, they will look for somewhere else to satisfy them.
Due to the above and the previous commandments, we can conclude on the need to create a system to recognize the achievements of the personnel. We suggest considering that any recognition plan must comply with three principles:
to. Be timely
b. Be fair
c. Be fair
When said timely, they should be awarded as soon as the achievement happens. By fair it is understood that for a small achievement a small recognition and for a large achievement a large recognition. For fair, it is equal to all, without favoritism.
On the other hand, the three steps that must be taken to establish a recognition plan are:
1. Define what will be recognized, for example: achievement of results, quality level, punctuality, etc.
2. Establish how achievements will be detected, establish indicators and goals.
3. Decide with what to recognize achievements.
This practice of recognizing your people greatly strengthens their integration, their dedication to work and their commitment to its results, and that is because people are tired of the fact that they have always seen and lived that "everything is for the winner." those above.. Establish a principle of recognition "Recognize is part of my being", or something similar and make it valid for all leaders of your company.
9. YOU WILL ENCOURAGE TEAMWORK.
This promotes staff participation, and as a team, the best solutions to problems or the best results of the projects are achieved. When Japanese entrepreneurs were asked what the secret of their success with quality systems was, they replied: "The secret is Teamwork." North American businessmen understood "Form work teams" and obviously the results did not occur as they had seen in Japan. And it is that "Teamwork" is not the same as "Work Teams".
Work teams is to form small classroom groups that attend to the solution of a problem or tackle an improvement project. With all the characteristics of successful teams, however, “Working as a Team” is bringing the characteristics of work teams to daily work, where team members are co-workers: bosses, colleagues and collaborators.
But developing teamwork has never been easy, it requires preparing people for effective participation, we have formed it into three stages:
1. Develop a participatory language, where the participation of people in decisions in their work areas is allowed and provoked.
2. Create an official channel of participation, where people know that they can contribute their ideas and opinions with the confidence that they will be heard, analyzed, answered, implemented and recognized.
3. Now they are in a position to implement work teams as a way of training staff in teamwork, but remember: the goal is to "Work as a team in everyday life"
Don't forget to create a recognition system, where credit is given to staff who have been able to develop as a true team. The best element is the one that best contributes to the team's achievements.
Includes staff evaluations to award incentives, bonuses or promotions, their contributions to teamwork.
10. YOU WILL MAINTAIN HEALTHY FINANCE.
Profits for organizations are like oxygen for human beings, necessary for life, but they are not the reason for their existence. "
With this assertion we do not want to take away one iota from the importance of the profits of organizations, only to place them in their proper dimension. It has never been positive to see profits as the reason for being or mission, if it were, we would look for a way to maximize profits in the short term to better fulfill the mission. Said Kaoru Ishikawa, a professor at the University of Tokyo: “Mr. Entrepreneur: If you really want to make money, think about your customers first. "
Indeed, it is the clients who give us the opportunity to make a profit and the better they are served, the better the profits are generated, the relationship is directly proportional.
Well, with these clarifications made, we will fully enter the comment on the company's finances, and we will touch on the specific aspects to take care of.
1. Inventories: in many cases, the lack of inventory control has been a severe headache, too much money immobilized in them, or slow-moving, obsolete materials that no longer have an outlet, that when we try to "carry them out" we We realize the negative impact they have on finances.
2. Accounts receivable: It is not uncommon that we have a good part of the capital in the accounts that clients owe us, and there are no clear policies and norms to grant credits, nor an effective collection system, many times we do not even have to the appropriate personnel for this purpose.
3. Bank credits: Be careful with the credits that you request from banks or credit institutions. Many entrepreneurs say, we sell and earn well but we are working for the bank. The credits are good, when it is possible to pay it with the own profits that it generates us.
4. Productivity: This is perhaps the most complicated aspect that we must take care of. We will never be able to fill the "pitcher" if the water comes out of the hole. First locate the hole and cover it, see where the money is going.
CONCLUSION.
We have documented the ten commandments of quality, and if we continue with the analogy, we will say that NOT observing them is the best way to attack the organization, and like all sin we will have to pay the penance.
The worst penance that we could pay is the closing of the business, however, this extreme is not always reached, it will be enough for us to recognize our “sins” in time and take remedial actions. Here we have only given general solution guidelines, however, it will be necessary to delve into the issues seen and carry out complete projects with objectives, strategies and actions that guarantee us the solutions to the detected situations, planning their development with dates, managers and resources necessary for the implantation.
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