INSIGHT
saying there is a problem. When
management has gone to great
lengths to formulate a vision,
developed a way to implement it,
started a laboratory, but they do
not listen when lab staff report
problems, they could just as well
have saved the initial costs and
time invested. Staff must feel free
to report to management and to
discuss with management when
they identify a quality problem.
More importantly, they must have
the confidence that management
will act on their communication.
If this confidence does not exist,
after a while the technicians and
operators will just keep quiet and
allow poor quality to go through
because they believe management is
not committed to quality.
If for any reason at all you are
going to allow substandard quality
to go through, you must explain the
reason to the staff. Otherwise they
are going to reason that you are not
serious about your commitment to
quality.
Interdepartmental
communication
There is an often-
overlooked third channel of
communication: between staff
in various departments. Usually,
interdepartmental communication
takes place on management level
only. This is a mistake. If staff
from one department understand
the challenges that staff in other
departments face, they are often
willing to make adjustments in
their own actions to mitigate the
other department’s challenges. This
is where we come back to Maxwell’s
“interaction fuels action”.
Effective communication on
this level solves problems quicker
because they do not first have to go
up the management chain, and back
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QUARRY SA | MAY/JUNE 2019_39