RE: Air Force speech, Deming and Quality

[Rip Stauffer <rstauffer@bluefirepartners.com>]

I really enjoyed John Hamilton's post regarding the General's speech. I
empathize with most of what he said. It was entirely consistent with my
experiences in the Department of the Navy.

An interesting paradox has struck me lately, after reading the General's
speech and John's post. It runs in my mind that one of the biggest problems
we may have had in the early days was the power of Deming's message, and the
powerful way in which he projected that message. I think it's possible that
many quality advisors in the Navy may have found Deming a little too
refreshing and inspirational. We all saw the way that Deming handled
high-level managers and executives who didn't "get it;" the mistake some of
my colleagues may have made in the early days was in thinking that they
could get away with acting toward senior military leaders the way Deming
did.

It's not that many of our military leaders didn't need some extra help to
get over their resistance and lack of understanding. Of course they did;
their evidence told them that they had been most successful in the old
paradigm. And it's not that they were stupid or lazy. But junior people
arrogantly telling them that "we can no longer afford this nonsense" may
have been a less than effective approach to changing their minds, no matter
how true it was. Some of them were already turned off by a "crotchety old
civilian" (direct quote) telling them how to run their military; having
their junior people acting like that crotchety old civilian almost
guaranteed that they would turn away and miss the underlying concepts and
themes and thus, the real power of the message.

It's not that they were all that way. Some of our senior military leaders
got it right away. They took Dr. Deming's chiding and admonishment for what
it was, recognized the mistakes of the past and the power of these ideas to
improve things, and began breathing fire as much as I did. But they were few
and far between--and way too close to retirement--to truly form a critical
mass for change.

Thanks, John (give me a call if you have any questions about what it's like
out here!)

Best regards to all,

Rip

Rip Stauffer, Senior Consultant
BlueFire Partners
1300 Fifth St. Towers, 150 So. Fifth St.
Minneapolis, MN 55402
612-344-1027
mailto:rstauffer@bluefirepartners.com
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