ASQ Deming Medal

[Lloyd Provost <lprovost@fc.net>]

Below are the brief remarks from Tom Nolan upon receipt of the Deming
Medal from ASQ last week.

Lloyd Provost
API

American Society for Quality Awards Luncheon
Thomas W. Nolan
May 7, 2001

Dr. Joyce Orsini called me one evening and told me that I was the year
2000 recipient of the Deming Medal. My feelings were one of pride mixed
with astonishment. But these feelings shortly turned to chagrin for
receiving an individual honor for what has been a team effort.

My wife, Helen, who is here, and my two boys, Patrick and Brian, have
encouraged me in my personal and professional development. Allow me to
illustrate with a brief story. I was pursuing a Ph.D. in statistics from
George Washington University while Helen and I were raising our two
sons. I had finished my course work and was having some success
consulting with organizations who were attempting to make quality a
business strategy. The work on the dissertation seemed daunting. In
addition, the sacrifices that Helen was making were mounting because of
the extra work she was assuming while I was pursuing the degree. I told
her of my thoughts about abandoning the dissertation and moving on. Her
reply: “Oh no you don’t. We can make it one more year – but not a day
more!” Perhaps thousands of Ph.D. candidates more talented than I have
faced the same dilemma but did not receive their degree because they
lacked the encouragement that Helen so generously gave to me.

Tens or even hundreds of persons in the United States are as deserving
of this medal as I am. They simply lack friends and colleagues as
generous as mine. It takes time to nominate someone for this medal. The
nominator must write an application and obtain the requisite
endorsements. As near as I can tell Dr. Jim Espinosa of Overlook
Hospital in New Jersey hatched the plan and many other friends and
colleagues carried it out.

I most clearly recognize the team-based nature of this medal when I
think of my colleagues at Associates in Process Improvement: Lloyd
Provost, Ron Moen, Jerry Langley, Kevin Nolan, and Cliff Norman. We have
been together almost twenty years although we are scattered in or near
Washington DC, Austin, Detroit, and Sacramento. We have no titles or
hierarchy and no common financial statement. Freed from budget
preparation, salary negotiations, and maneuvering for the corner office,
we endeavored to learn and apply the science and methods of quality
improvement. When Dr. Deming was alive we listened eagerly for his
latest thinking – not to accept it as dogma but as a provocation for how
we might become more helpful to our clients. We integrated Dr. Deming’s
ideas with wisdom from other greats in this field such as Dr. Joseph
Juran.

I have read the application submitted in my behalf. Organizations
supplied many examples of ideas, methods, or advice that I had brought
to the organization or helped them execute.  I can trace the methods or
advice in every example to their beginnings in discussions, debates, or
disagreements carried out in a spirit of constancy of purpose and
cooperation with my API colleagues.

The receipt of this medal has prompted me to reflect on Dr. Deming’s
legacy and to wonder in what new directions he would be sending us if he
were alive today.

I suspect that he would chastise us for not sufficiently exploiting the
power of cooperation. In today’s interconnected, global business
environment almost anything is achievable with cooperation and almost
nothing without it. What could be more difficult to copy than an
organizational culture built on cooperative interactions at all levels?
Let me cite an example. I and my colleagues at the Institute for
Healthcare Improvement have just finished reviewing 227 applications
from health care organizations for six grants from the Robert Wood
Johnson foundation totaling more than $20 million dollars over three
years. The aim is to demonstrate that the quality of health care can be
made significantly better and thus provide motivation to the industry to
seek perfection in care. Many of the proposals were spectacular in their
proposed aims, methods, use of technology, and leadership commitment. I
am optimistic that the initiative will accomplish its aims. I would be
close to certain of it if I knew that the six grantees would be
successful in fostering cooperation. Specialists and family physicians
will need to work together in new ways. Physicians, nurses, and
pharmacists will need to see themselves in a common system and to
cooperate if they are to pursue perfection. Three years from now the
list of those who were successful in raising the standard of performance
will be those who were successful in raising the standard of
cooperation.

All of you here can contribute to Dr. Deming’s legacy by raising the
standard of cooperation in your company and your industry. This will
take new knowledge about cooperation and new methods to increase
cooperation in everyday work. What could be more fun!

I am grateful to the American Society for Quality for sponsoring the
Deming Medal and for selecting me as the year 2000 recipient.

Thank you.