Williams’ Law 8
You CAN teach an old dog new tricks.
Guerrilla Tactic 8: Learned Behaviors
Many of the QMS audit concepts discussed in this blog series may seem unconventional and may not come naturally. That is to be expected, but the good news is that they are easily learned with practice, diligence, and continuous positive reinforcement.
A learned behavior is a behavior observed by someone that they find beneficial to them in some way. There’s a motivating factor behind it. Unlike innate behavior, a learned behavior is one that you make a conscious decision to learn; in other words, nurture rather than nature. Think about writing; when you first began to learn to write it required constant thought and attention. Now, when you jot down a note it is automatic; second nature. That is how all learned behaviors are developed. The below list is a way to initiate and reinforce the learned behaviors that will be required to foster the culture needed to get the full benefits out of all the concepts, techniques, and methodology discussed throughout this book.
Prepare all employees much as a trial lawyer would prepare a witness
- Coach responses
- Not just answer, but tone, eye contact, politeness, etc.
- Confidence (a learned behavior)
- Script for common questions
- Where is your procedure?
- How do I know you are trained to do this operation?
- Where are your training records located?
- How do you contribute to the QMS?
- Memorize Quality Policy and Battle Cry
- Teach and practice with internal audits & rally’s
- Query employees with every interaction
- Operators MUST understand procedures
- Don’t teach memorization, teach structure
- Content & Structure
- Importance of standardized sections
- Know where to find answers
- Operator certification: open book test
- Train operators not to guess at auditor questions
- Teach “Please let me refer to my procedure”
- Supervisor or ISO Rep can assist in guiding employee to correct answer
- Practice response time to Steve’s 15 Second Rule
- Must be comfortable with 100% of employees ability to deal with auditors/customers
- Condition employees through internal audits
- Practice, practice, practice
- Cheating is not acceptable; facilitate applied learning!
- Character & Integrity are everything!
Contact TRAC
Contact me to start our Guerrilla Training before your next QMS (Quality Management Systems) audit.
Steve: 920-841-3478
Steve@tracQMS.com
The other “soft” benefit of audits is that every single one is an opportunity to properly condition the workforce. It is easy for the management representative or department supervisor to have all the right answers, so encouraging auditors & customers to interact with the employees actually doing the job will demonstrate the strength and competency of the workforce, and the quality management system. The internal audit program should be used to help condition employees to be comfortable in this situation.
techniques that pass the integrity smell test. I happen to personally believe that in life, character and integrity are everything. This belief was somewhat validated during a recent conversation with one of the few politicians worth their salt, JC Watts. Before he became a member of Congress, JC was quite the quarterback for the University of Oklahoma, and later professionally in the Canadian Football League. Over a cold beer one night, JC said “Steve, I’ve always felt that character means doing the right thing when nobody’s looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that’s right is to get by, and the only thing that’s wrong is to get caught.” Words to live by…
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