William Edwards Deming was world-renowned as a prolific statistician and consultant. He is most well known for improving the means of production in the United States during World War II. He also taught management personnel ways to improve the efficiency of their design, in all aspects, from product quality to sales. Interestingly enough, Deming was more famous in Japan for his work, and only later in life did he truly earn a reputation in his home country.
William Edwards Deming believed in continuous improvement, as a philosophy and as a means of operation. He stressed that management must adopt new principles as times change in order to increase quality of service and reduce overall expenses. His concepts of what he defined as ???profound knowledge??? entailed a successful individual who was ???transformed.??? This person was successful because (1) he set an example for others; (2) he was a good listener but cautious in compromising any principles; (3) he continually taught others; and (4) he helped others to come away from their current practices and aspire towards a newer philosophy. He believed that all management and leadership personnel needed these essential qualities.
Therefore, one of his primary teachings was that those who saw themselves as unsuccessful had to be willing to transform their lifestyle and seek continuous improvement. How do you reconcile this belief with (2) that one cannot compromise his or her principles?
The simple answer is that the morals and principles of a person cannot be compromised if that person wants success on his/her own terms. However, survival and thriving in an ever-changing world does require some adaptive abilities. Every creature that survives a drastic change in surroundings must be willing to adapt to these new surroundings.
Therefore, people who see themselves as unsuccessful must cease in their current efforts, and change their way of doing business, with no regrets and no looking back. Even the ones in society who seem themselves as successful must be cautious as to changing conditions in the world, if they are to keep their prosperity in tact for a new generation.
If you want to find professional and personal success in life, be willing to accept individual failures but press on to greater success by taking stock of your assets and detailing needs of improvements. This is the idea behind continuous improvement. No person should ever stop looking for ways to improve, as that would signify the beginning of the end.
Remember These Three Points to Continuous Improvement
1.Set a strong example in leadership.
2.Define clear and measurable goals that are step-by-step and realistic.
3.Define roles and train staff to be ready for specific assignments.
Remember that a continuous improvement plan involves transformation management, as previously discussed. Preparation is the key, as is learning from setbacks and always adapting to the market.