To achieve "World-Class" performance there must be a starting point a "Milestone Day!"
The Cultural Quality Awareness (CQA) event is designed to overcome the natural resistance to change and creates momentum. The CQA includes all management, staff and as many other key personnel as possible. It is desirable to have every employee present.
A strong signal must be sent inside your organization; the signal must be consistent, clear and decisive. The Cultural Quality Awareness Day allows the entire management team to understand the magnitude of the challenge we face. Your team will leave the event with a clear understanding of why the culture must change.
Examples
Though improvements are made in small steps, the starting signal must be CLEAR, DECISIVE and CERTAIN.
As the day progresses, our world "as it is" (Dissatisfaction) is brought into sharp contrast with our world "as it could be" (Vision). We hear and respond to a possible vision from one another, top management, customers and suppliers.
Finally, we send and receive "valentines." Here we give and receive a clear message from other functional groups. We see more clearly how our performance impacts other functional areas, and ultimately quality and customer satisfaction.
Enriched with new clarity about what is missing in what we do and how we perform, each functional group formulates a Three-Step Action Plan (First Steps), including time tables. This Action Plan helps close the gap in our performance, contributes to excellence, and begins creating a world of continuous improvement.
No one is left out. Everyone sees clearly that they have a part to play in creating a "world class" company.
Experience has shown that trying to implement culture changes and programs for breakthrough performance a little at a time will most likely fail. The natural resistance to change, the pockets of cynicism and skepticism, blocks improvement efforts to implement the changes required to create breakthroughs in performance.
The Cultural Quality Awareness effort is a way to attack the natural resistance to change and form mutual agreements and agree on the answers to these questions.
You leave the event with an inventory of priority problems and three specific action plans per performance team.