What are the best ways to overcome resistance to quality improvement processes?

The most important 3 points to overcome - Do what what matter to them -To success build QM with them for them keeping there point of view. - To have a practical approach not the textbooks one. Ground in different from what we see in textbooks.

To overcome resistance is to communicate the benefits and expectations of quality improvement. Be specific, do not hide the additional efforts, or drawbacks. The best way is face-to-face and do it engagingly.

Q&A sessions with stakeholders also build trust and allow them to get specific information they want. Mini trainings or lunch and learns also help stakeholders get comfortable with the change before it is implemented, alleviating resistance.

Communicate directly with key stakeholders. Present current results/data that supports why the change in process is needed, while simultaneously casing the results of change is not made.

Getting to the root cause is always a good step in solving quality non-conformances. Assuming the resistance without proper investigations, will lead to reoccurring issues that can negatively impact the finances of the company. Mostly the heads / CEOs of the company need to buy in on the "Why". Why is Quality maintenance important.

Quality consciousness is the key towards the success of any organization. It builds goodwill of the products and confidence among the customers and stackholders. Human resources, capital expenditures and operational expenditures are in my view are the major resisting factors for Quality improvement. Although considering the business aspect of organization they can be planned in terms of short term and long term goals rather than ignoring improvement of quality.

It's important to note that the benefits and expectations will be different across different levels of the organization, and communication strategies need to be tailored accordingly. A machine operator on the production floor will have a different set of priorities than the supply chain manager, for example. The communication format, the level of formality and expectations of owership, accountability and responsbility all need to be considered and personalized for each stakeholder group. To adequately highlight the benefits, we need to have a strong understanding of the fundamental activities and processes being improved or optimized, as well as the priorities of the stakeholders themselves.

It is important to communicate feedback to the project specifier to justify the benefit of changes with facts and reasoning. This could lead to innovation and patents.

The tools stated are ok. When initiating change, the benefits need to be clearly communicated from the start. In the middle of the change is where your leadership needs to shine. Be available and present with the team. If they question why they’re changing, reiterate the benefits, kindly repeat your initial justification. Keep sharing your vision as the leader. Don’t get upset. Keep calm, change is hard for everyone. Be confident in where you are leading the group, and keep communication that vision and the reasons to your team.

Clarifying the "why" behind this initiative is crucial because it not only helps individuals maintain focus, resilience, and commitment, but it also empowers them to overcome obstacles and remain steadfast in their pursuit of the goals. This communication should also emphasize how the quality improvement process aligns with the organization's overarching objectives and emphasizes how it will bring benefits to all stakeholders involved.

One of my favorite feedback methods is the “consider…so that” method. Ask stakeholder to provide their feedback in a way that ensures enough the context is understood. 1. Start the feedback with “Consider…” - this is the what. 2. The add “so that…” - this is the why. And a bonus to really be heard: provide a possible alternative or solution that shows how your feedback could be implemented.

Would you like to wake up tomorrow morning and have me great you with brand new instructions for how to do your morning routine? No! Of course not. It's the same situation at work when we make changes. If we want people to "buy in" to our changes they need to be a part of the change. I won't do a kaizen event without the process owner and the people that actually do the process as participants. They are the ones with the BEST ideas in how to improve the process. It's my job to expose the genius in all of them to find those great ideas through process improvement activities (kaizen is just one example).

It is important to understand "the law of inertia of habits" (Adamiecki) and the fundamentals of both: 1. How individuals adopt new ways of thinking 2. How groups adopt new ways of thinking, and Regarding the latter: both the "model line" (described by others here) and the "harmonization" approach have stood the test of time. With "harmonization," leadership initially avoids changing 𝐻𝑂𝑊 people perform tasks and instead changes only 𝑊𝐻𝐸𝑁 they perform the tasks, iterating toward "ideal," similar to role of the conductor of a symphony orchestra. Output often doubles or quadruples overnight without anybody working any harder, but working as a team. Job methods are improved later after trust is built with leadership and one another.

Involve them from the beginning since early involvement helps build a sense of ownership and commitment. Recognize and value the expertise of employees who are closest to the processes being improved. Their insights and practical knowledge are invaluable. Create an open and transparent communication culture where employees feel comfortable expressing their thoughts, concerns, and ideas.

Giving the employees access to skill-building workshops and professional development opportunities gives them the confidence to take on quality improvement initiatives. Employees are encouraged to explore new ideas and pioneer innovative solutions when organizations fully embrace the cultivation of a continuous learning culture. The leadership team's active participation serves as a shining example, demonstrating their commitment to fostering employee involvement and empowerment.

Pour impliquer et responsabiliser les agents / employés, il est essentiel de les inclure dans le processus de décision, de reconnaître leurs contributions, de définir des objectifs clairs (SMART) et de leur apporter environnement où l'apprentissage est encouragé et le développement professionnel accompagné. Les points clés pour y parvenir seront une communication ouverte et transparente ainsi qu’une délégation de responsabilités, de façon à favoriser le sentiment d'appartenance et optimiser l'engagement.

The answers to your quality concerns may already lie inside your organization. Ensure that voices are heard and the best ideas have a chance to be developed and evaluated. Team engagement isn't just about convincing teams to follow a strategy. It's about fully engaging them in developing, refining, and executing the strategy.

Quality improvement processes need to be driven from top management to lower order through strategy models and policy deployment techniques where individual level KPIs are defined for each role. This will enable the organization to work as a whole with laser focus and goals, while ideas, suggestions and collective input of all employees are considered for process improvement.

Soliciting and involving employees for their input is a key step to ensuring their support for necessary changes. They also need to be informed of what changes have been made and the resulting outcomes. You get more buy-in when they see the success that is achieved.

When employees feel engaged and valued, they are more likely to embrace the changes and actively contribute to the success of quality improvement. Ask their recommendations , experience and bottlenecks and more importantly recognised their unparalleled contributions. Establish also a feedback mechanism that allows them to share their challenges during the implementation and a feedback that you are addressing their complain.

Be careful when linking processes with personal or professional goals or values of the employee, don't give promises hard to be realized, otherwise you'll lose credibility.

Align with the goals and objectives and clearly communicate that upfront. This is part of the open and clear communication to proactively ward off resistance to the change.

Pour aligner les processus d’amélioration continue sur les objectifs et les valeurs, il faut qu’au préalable, ces derniers aient été clairement définis. Des critères de réussite devront être liés aux objectifs dans l'évaluation des processus. Une communication régulière sur la manière dont les efforts d'amélioration continue contribuent aux objectifs stratégiques et aux valeurs de l’entité permettront d’attester cet alignement.

Ensure that performance metrics are aligned to organizational goals and do not encourage behavior that is counter to those goals. If employees are evaluated based on metrics that are not aligned with organizational goals, they may focus on activities that don't contribute to the overall success of the company. Along other things, this misalignment can lead to wasted resources and efforts on tasks that do not drive the organization forward. For example, in a service environment, customer service representatives incentivized to minimize call times can lead to rushed interactions with customers. This could result in unresolved issues, frustrated customers, and a negative impact on overall satisfaction.

Some people may argue that aligning quality improvement processes with the goals and values of the organization and employees is not always possible or practical. For example, in some industries, such as manufacturing, there may be strong regulatory requirements that dictate how products must be produced. In other cases, the goals and values of the organization may be in conflict with the needs of employees. For example, a company may have a goal of increasing profits, while employees may be more concerned with job security. Involve employees in the process and Use data to drive decision-making are the key to improve the quality metrics.

What is most important is achieving a successful end result of any project with all parties in agreement with the goals. Any personal resistance to this pathway to end results needs to be addressed and resolved by reminding them how important it is to work together, align values and improve credibility. Any resistance within the team is likely to ask for help that depends on others to assist them to better align with each other and achieve the goal in the end.

Quality processes never reach the nirvana of perfection. Opportunities to improve will always arise either through changes in regulations or standards, nonconformance a or audit findings, or potential for efficiency gains.

Promoting teams and networks that foster sharing, learning, and innovation in quality improvement is crucial. Additionally, encouraging cross-functional collaboration helps strengthen these processes, leading to a culture that firmly supports ongoing quality enhancement through trust and collaboration.

Si on prend l’exemple de la machine à café où où des membres d'équipes différentes se retrouvent pour discuter librement. Ces conversations informelles peuvent donner naissance à des idées novatrices et solutions collaboratives. De petites équipes peuvent alors se former spontanément pour travailler ensemble, sans forcément être calées sur la structure hiérarchique. Ici, la machine à café représente un espace de discussion où chacun se sent à l'aise de partager ses perspectives en apprenant les uns des autres. Ces interactions décontractées jouent un rôle clé dans la création d'une culture de l’amélioration continue où l'innovation et la collaboration sont encouragées au quotidien.

Humor and food are potent tools in building trust during healthcare quality improvement. In one instance, we hosted a "Process Improvement Olympics" with playful challenges related to a new patient flow system. Laughter brought teams together. Then, we organized potluck lunches, where sharing meals fostered collaboration. By combining humor and food, we made quality improvement a shared experience, bringing everyone to the table, both figuratively and literally.

Transparency: Be transparent about the process, progress, and results. Openly share data and outcomes to build trust. Remember that resistance to change is natural. Don’t shame individuals because they are experiencing it. It’s essential to address it proactively to ensure the success of quality improvement initiatives. Tailor these strategies to your specific organizational context and challenges.

One thing to remember: You should be fair with everyone. Everyone involved in the change should win at least something from the improvenents and the changes. If someone doesn't gain anything then you have to invent something for him/her.

My experience has proven practically that sharing the plan of implementation from the start and the involvement of teams in the development and design of the system drastically reduces any form of resistance. The key is top management leading by example and deploying the strategic objective effectively with sincere commitment and allocation of needed resources.

Ensure that top leadership actively supports and participates in quality improvement initiatives. When leaders model commitment to improvement, it encourages others to follow suit.

put the "problem" Root Cause in focus, not People associated with it. It is extremely rare that people deliberate cause bad Quality. When notion of "guilt" or "blame" appears then you foster strong defensive resistance. People "associated" with the issues might be the very best in getting it changed. In that respect demonstrate that times changed and new learnings are available. So when they say "we did try this and it failed" it is actually documenting they were convinced and committed to a change but it was then not succesful. It shows they did understand the "why" for the change but had not found a "how". Hence the new attempt needs to help them with new insights, and they will be champions instead of resistance fighters.

En résumé , pour dépasser la résistance quant à l'amélioration continue, il est essentiel d'impliquer les parties prenantes, de communiquer sur les bénéfices, d'offrir la formation adéquate et de reconnaître les contributions de chacun. Un fonctionnement en mode agile allié à une écoute active favoriseront l'acceptation des changements.

Il y a quelques temps, avec mon équipe, nous avons eu à surmonter la résistance aux processus d'amélioration continue et avons organisé des séances interactives avec les personnels. Une communication claire des avantages et des attentes a été assurée au travers d’anecdotes et retours d’expériences, démontrant concrètement les résultats positifs. En partageant comment chaque initiative contribue à notre vision commune et en favorisant la confiance et la collaboration, l’amélioration continue a été intégrée à chaque aspect de notre quotidien. Cette expérience a démontré que surmonter la résistance peut être l’opportunité de renforcer l'engagement et l'efficacité pour l’équipe.

Strong sponsorship is a key element for success in implementing and maintaining quality improvement change. To gain strong sponsorship monetise the improvement benefit.

Try to understand the resistances and address them continuously. Improve transparency, The best solution is implementing TQM as a long term action plan to drive towards excellence