TQM: 16th October 2009

Run by Clive Alderson; I like this man's delivery. He makes a lot of sense to me. Here are the things that struck me from today's session:

• Remember that my student journey project will need to factor in any impending government changes / policy influences - I'll need to know what these are;
• There are a number of industry standard quality frameworks: EFQM, ISO 9000, Voice of the Customer (1980) that I'll need to look into;
• In terms of our brand, the college's brand is weak (my opinion). We're not clear about our mission and we don't celebrate and advertise success, both internally or externally well enough yet;
• FISH: That when we come to work, we choose our attitude (mood hoovers);
• That it's harder to be positive than it is to be negative due to the human condition;
• That sometimes negative brainstorming is easier to do than positive - e.g. "tell me all the things that make a bad brand" rather than the good version;
• Greg spoke about the customer's recommendation, and that we're growing our reputation in that way (viral) - whilst I agree that this is powerful, I felt that the comment was as an alternative to a branding initiative; I don't think that the two are mutually exclusive, and that one can inform the other;
• I liked the analogy of 'scatter gun' marketing as opposed to 'sniper' - meaning that selecting your audience to market to carefully is far more effective!
• I liked the notion of using EVERY route to promote good news stories, rather than tired, tried, tested ones;
• In terms of the 'cost of quality', Clive endorsed 'getting it right first time'. I struggled with this, as it contradicted my observations on 'bedding in' of a system or process - when something is new, there are bound to be mistakes due to the lack of familiarity. Take learning the piano for one, or touch typing. Repitition makes for perfection.... however, perhaps Clive is simply talking about processes rather than stuff that requires skill?
• Conveyance: means moving people about and is an element of waste. He endorsed the 'one stop shop' idea. Need to consider this as part of PID;