The quality manager: a central actor of change in the service of excellence

A process making a major contribution to a company's success

It is true to say that each organisation is a living organism, operating according to its own principles and culture. Its history, values, relationship systems and management styles cannot be swept away or replaced overnight.

In short, if the principles of quality and excellence seem universal, their effective implementation inevitably requires a concerted, structured approach that takes into account the company’s social and cultural specificities.

The implementation of a quality approach is therefore comparable to a profound change process, which must be carried out while taking the human component of the organisation into account. Indeed, the success of the approach depends on the support and involvement of all the employees.

"The success of the process depends on the support and involvement of employees"

The quality manager should play a central role in this process. His or her role is to orchestrate the actions and support the employees in the implementation of the approach. To do this, (s)he must be accepted as a key contact person, able to unite all stakeholders in the service of quality and overcome resistance to the planned changes.

This is a delicate task, however, since quality procedures are still very often associated with additional constraints that irritate employees and complicate their daily activities.

Change in the service of quality: two possible approaches

In order to change the corporate mindset and to create a favourable environment for the implementation of thisapproach, a quality manager can use a change management approach. In simple terms, this is based on four main pillars: informing employees, explaining the “why”, gaining support for the project and involving all everyone in the company’s new objective.

In this article, we will present two approaches used by change management experts which could help a quality manager to establish a dynamic environment of sustainable improvement in a corporate context. The first concerns the setting up of quality workshops and the second the development of a network of quality advisors.

Training teams in quality management

As we have seen, the introduction of a quality approach is similar to a major change project. It is therefore essential that the management sponsors the project and that it shows its support for the quality manager from the start of the project. It is also necessary to make the teams understand what is at stake, so that they take ownership of the project and support it. It is important to legitimise the change by insisting on the importance of the role played by everyone in contributing to the success of this initiative. This is why it is essential to implement a participatory approach, the facilitation of quality workshops will support this objective.

These workshops should be organised with the different teams so that they can collectively define their vision of the implementation of quality management. The aim is to determine a set of concrete actions to be carried out, which are then prioritised by the participants according to their importance and then planned accordingly. Certain actions requiring little means and energy could be considered a priority if their implementation enables tangible progress to be made quickly and motivates the teams. The workshop will enable the quality manager to draw up an action plan in which the objectives and roles of each person are defined in a collegial manner.

In addition, the setting up of such workshops contributes to reinforcing the visibility and legitimacy of the quality manager within the company and thus to nourishing the dynamics of change.

Developing a network of quality management referents

It is often very difficult for the quality manager to reach out to all the stakeholders in the company. In order to encourage the support and involvement of as many employees as possible, (s)he must therefore be able to rely on a core group of stakeholders, who are favourable to change.

These employees are the quality manager’s allies. They are selected because of their ability to act as spokespersons and rally their colleagues around the project. They play a driving role in the evolution of representations of quality and make it possible to obtain a legitimate force for action because they are in the field. They thus help to make their colleagues aware of the importance of the approach. These ambassadors are commonly called quality referents. Their number may vary depending on the size of the company.

It is of course necessary to provide them with the necessary resources to act as an interface between the field and management and to act as relays for the quality manager within the company’s various departments. The organisation of regular meetings, the setting up of an online forum and/or the use of a quality barometer are tools which may be used to gather perceptions from employees in the field.

"Change management tools constitute additional “weapons” to enable the quality manager to drive sustainable and virtuous change in the service of excellence."

The mobilisation of quality advisors can also help to overcome the fears and resistance that can slow down the effective implementation of the approach. The quality manager is responsible for leading the network of quality advisors. (S)He must be able to bring them together on a sufficiently regular basis to be able to monitor the evolution of employees’ perceptions of the approach and to allow the ambassadors to share their bestpractices and details of any difficulties encountered. The quality advisors must dispose of all the necessaryinformation for the project to be successful, but they must not take the place of the quality manager.

The success of the approach therefore depends on the ability of the quality manager to use the various levers at his/her disposal to inform, gain the buy-in from and involve employees at different levels of the organisation. Change management tools can be very useful in this context, as they constitute additional “weapons” to enable the quality manager to drive sustainable and virtuous change in the service of excellence.

Consultant and head of the People and Change department @MindForest group of which StandardsAlive* is a member

Dr. Michaël Bénédic

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