Records, Retained Documented Information, and ISO 9001:2015

ISO 9001:2015 does a lot of things right, but using clear language is not one of them. One of the most glaring examples is the transformation of the word “records” into “retained documented information.” That’s right, they took one word and turned it into three. And the three words are not nearly as intuitive as the one word they replaced. Regardless of what you call them, records are the proof of something happening. They are historical, referring to past events. As such, they are not revised. Records might be “corrected” in some cases, but they are never revised. Only documents are revised. (We’ll address documents and their status in ISO 9001:2015 in a future article.) The primary control of records is that of housekeeping: knowing where they are stored, who is responsible, how long they’re kept, etc.

Here is a summary of records requirements in ISO 9001:2015:  

·         24 records are required in ISO 9001:2015. This is compared to 21 records required in ISO 9001:2008. Some of the 24 records required by ISO 9001:2015 are actually repeat requirements.

·         20% of all the record requirements come from section 8.3, Design and development of products and services. That amounts to 5 records, which is the same number required by ISO 9001:2008.

·         A completely new record that is required in 9001:2015 is retained information on changes: review of changes, persons authorizing the change, and necessary actions arising from change (section 8.5.6)

·         ISO 9001 continues its redundant ways. ISO 9001:2015 requires records of evidence of processes being carried out effectively TWICE, once in section 4.4.2 and again in section 8.1.e.1.

·         More redundancy: ISO 9001:2015 requires records that demonstrate conformity of products & services processes TWICE, once in section 8.1.e.2 and again in section 8.6.

·         5 of the records in ISO 9001:2015 have qualifiers. They are “to the extent necessary” and “as applicable.”

·         One item listed as “retained documented information” (i.e., record) is actually a document. That is design outputs. Design outputs are living information such as specifications, engineering drawings, recipes, formulas, and bills of material. Since they are living, they are subject to revision, meaning they are documents.

·         A handful of requirements would be virtually impossible to have evidence of without records, and yet records are not required by ISO 9001:2015. These include context of the organization (4.1), interested parties (4.2), planning of changes (6.3), and customer feedback (9.1.2).

·         One of the strangest record issues of all is the omission of calibration records in ISO 9001:2015. This has been replaced by the requirement to ‘retain information on fitness of purpose for measuring instruments,’ which would include calibration. I expect many people implementing ISO 9001:2015 will get a bit confused by this. 

Do not let anyone tell you that the “correct” terminology is retained documented information. If you like that term, then by all means use it. If you prefer the term ‘records,’ you can use that in its place. Always remember that documents are records are two different things. That one fact alone will make any QMS easier to use and understand. 

Nobody believes in communication more than Darryl Keeler. As President of Tech Systems Inc., communication is possibly the single biggest part of his job. After all, Tech Systems Inc. (www.techsystemsinc.com/) is security systems integrator with employees in over 32 states, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Being a medium-sized company with business across such a wide geographic has its challenges. Darryl Keeler long ago decided that robust and continuous communication needed to be a guiding principle. “Communication is the key factor in maintaining a high level of employee satisfaction,” Darryl assured me. “And satisfied well-informed employees ensure that we have highly satisfied clients.” Darryl personally writes the Friday Finale, a company newsletter summary that ends each week and which goes out to every employee. It maintains a warm touch, covering birthdays, work anniversaries, and anything personal of importance that is happening with teammates. It also addresses business updates from the previous week. TSI Family Emails (TSI stands for Tech Systems Inc) is their way of communicating items that are of high importance to the entire company, sort of “red alert” emails. These include process changes, policy changes, and major customer developments. The TSI Family Emails are one step beyond the Friday Finale’s in terms of business importance. The Tour De Focus is one of the company’s most impressive communication processes. This is where Darryl Keeler travels around the country and meets with every company employee. He simply sits down and asks for comments or opportunities for the company to improve based on individual opinions.  These are all captured and recorded, and the leadership team works through all of them and gets back with the folks who suggested the improvements.  This entire list is posted on SharePoint for everyone to review, and the ideas always number in the hundreds. The employee portal is the live repository of information that team members use for their jobs. Only the most current versions of documents are available, and it also includes phone lists, updates, tutorials, and training materials. Finally, the leadership team of Tech Systems meets every Monday to go over financials, hot company topics, and opportunities for improvement. The Monday meeting also serves as the primary feeder of information into their monthly management review. Communication is clearly the oil that flows through the engine of Tech Systems Inc. And the president of the company, Darryl Keeler, is head mechanic and communicator. 

Control of production at I. Technical Services

Managing operations can be as simple as ringing a bell. That’s the philosophy that I. Technical Services has taken in Alpharetta, Georgia. I. Technical Services (www.itechserv.com) performs electronic manufacturing services, including PCB assembly, system assembly, test engineering, repair, and logistics. They compete against low-cost companies in Asia and elsewhere, so they have to be as efficient and lean as possible. One of their most efficient processes for managing production is their “bell meeting.” At 9 AM every morning, their production supervisor rings a ship’s bell mounted on the wall. All the managers and supervisors assemble under the bell for a stand-up meeting that lasts about 15 minutes. They discuss what is running that day, what needs to be shipped, and any obstacles or concerns. Important notes are recorded on a white dry-erase board right below the bell. “Everybody leaves that meeting knowing exactly what needs to happen,” Quality Manager, Hector Rivera, stated. “It’s the best investment of 15 minutes you can imagine.” Throughout the day, employees refer to the production notes on the white board, keeping themselves focused on what was agreed to. They ring the bell again at 3 PM every day, and the key players once more gather around the bell. The focus of this later meeting is to get everybody caught up on the current status of production. Where are we right now? What is left to be done? Will we meet all of our commitments today? Resources are re-arranged, as needed, and last minute roadblocks are removed. The General Manager, Lauren Thompson, summarized the process by saying, “When we come together under the bell, we’re not managers of different departments. We’re a single team working to wow the customer. It reminds us why we’re there in the first place.” I. Technical Services has conducted their bell meeting twice a day for years. It’s a very simple, yet powerful process for controlling production. 

Goodbye, Quality Manual

Who loves their quality manual? Please give me a show of hands. Hmm, not much enthusiasm. That’s because the quality manual for most companies serves no other purpose than something to give to customers or auditors. Most employees have never seen or heard of their company’s quality manual. And yet it has been a required document of ISO 9001 since the standard was first published. That has changed in ISO 9001:2015. There is no mention of the words “quality manual,” and the only true leftover requirement is that you have to document your quality management system (QMS) scope. I expect that many companies are going to drop their quality manual altogether now that it’s no longer mandated. But wait! Let’s re-imagine the quality manual as a document that actually helps the organization. First of all, let’s get rid of the rehash of ISO 9001 requirements. Most quality manuals feature this, and the rehash constitutes 95% of the words included. If you want to see what ISO 9001 says, get a copy ISO 9001. The quality manual should be completely focused on the company, period. Secondly, let’s think of the quality manual as a sort of “User Guide for the company’s QMS.” What would an employee or interested party need in a user guide? Well, let’s provide the following:

• Structure and contents of the management system 
• Road map to lower-level documents within the system 
• Company history and background 
• Overall process flow of the organization 
• Company’s products and services described in a clear, practical manner 
• Organization’s strength and capabilities 
• What to expect during an audit and how to prepare for one 
• Responsibilities and authorities of key personnel 
• The scope of the QMS 

Some of these items have always been included in quality manuals, and others are new additions. The point is to assemble all the high-level content that people need to know into one consolidated location. This could be accomplished in 3-4 pages at the most. Since it’s so lean and streamlined, employees might actually see value in using it. The quality manual could truly become the gateway to your company’s management and business systems. Now we’ve got something useful. But let’s drop the name “quality manual.” Any thoughts for what this information should be called?

Problem causes versus problem symptoms

This segment addresses the differences between problem causes and problem symptoms, their relationship, and the nature of actions taken to address both.

What is problem solving?

This segment is entitled "What is problem solving?" and it provides a basic overview of problem solving, including the nature of causes, the fallacy of a single root cause, and the need to match corrective actions to the most significant causes.

New book: Problem Solving in Plain English

Buy it HERE

New Book Explores Best Ways for Organizations to Solve Problems

Effective problem solving is the most neglected organizational competency, often perpetuated by complacence about the status quo, a culture of blame, reluctance or inability to pursue true causes and lack of time. To address these issues, Craig Cochran, the north Atlanta region manager for Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, has written a new book, Problem Solving in Plain English (Paton Press, 2010).

“Managers need to re-examine their processes and problem-solving and think beyond the surface. If they understand their current process, then they can consider causes and potential causes of problems,” Cochran said. “Rarely is there a single root cause to be acted upon; most problems have a web of interrelated causes and potential causes.”

According to Cochran, effective problem solving is equal parts art and science, and he explains why problem-solving efforts that start out strong with motivated team members and supportive managers often fizzle out before they produce any benefits. Cochran suggests using a structured problem-solving method that focuses on processes rather than people.

“There are two major problem-solving myths: the perfection myth and the punishment myth. The perfection myth is the belief that if everyone tries hard enough, no mistakes will be made. The punishment myth says that if we punish wrong-doers, fewer mistakes will be made,” he explained. “Using a structured problem-solving method ensures a degree of consistency and provides the framework for the successful application of analytical tools.”

This book is ideally for managers with long-standing business problems, as well as front-line employees who are often intimately familiar with dealing with them. Cochran covers a variety of topics, including selecting the right problem; forming effective problem-solving teams; planning and implementing corrective actions; verifying effectiveness; writing a problem statement; identifying root causes; and defining the current process.

Cochran has an M.B.A. from the University of Tennessee and a bachelor’s degree in industrial management from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is a Certified Quality Manager, Certified Quality Engineer, Certified Quality Auditor, and Certified HACCP Auditor through the American Society for Quality. He is also certified as a Quality Management Systems Lead Auditor through the Registrar Accreditation Board of the Quality Society of Australasia (RABQSA).

Cochran is also the author of The Continual Improvement Process: from Strategy to the Bottom Line; Customer Satisfaction: Tools, Techniques, and Formulas for Success; Becoming a Customer Focused Organization; and ISO 9001: In Plain English, all available from Paton Press (www.patonpress.com). He has written numerous articles in national and international publications and is frequently featured as a speaker at conferences on quality, performance improvement and management.

For additional information, please contact Craig Cochran (678-699-1690); E-mail: craig.cochran@innovate.gatech.edu).

Writer: Nancy Fullbright
Media Relations Contact: Nancy Fullbright (912-963-2509); E-mail: (nancy.fullbright@innovate.gatech.edu)

Buy it HERE

Santa’s Customer Survey

What an exciting time of year! Yes, it’s exciting because it’s Christmastime and all, but it’s also because we’re doing something we’ve never done before. You’re probably asking, “What could a worldly and sophisticated fellow like Santa Claus never have done before?” Why, implement a customer survey, that’s what.

I admit it sounds a little odd. Santa brings joy and happiness, right? Right! That’s the way it’s been for hundreds of years. I had a 110% customer satisfaction rating. Not that I actually asked anyone, it was just one of those things I knew. Everybody knew. Santa Claus topped the JD Power list before J.D. Power was even born.

Lately things have changed, though. People are so demanding. Gimme, gimme, gimme! I blame it on video games and a lack of exercise. We’ve even started getting complaints. That’s right, complaints. Who on Earth would file a complaint against Santa Claus? Crazy, right? Well, it has happened more times than I would like to admit. I’ve heard it all: “I didn’t get what I wanted,” “The toys seemed cheap,” “It didn’t come with batteries,” “I wanted money,” “Jewelry is what really grates my cheese.” I even got a complaint from a guy who said I didn’t leave a present for his girlfriend, and he was married to someone else! I’m telling you, people have gone nuts. Nuts or not, they’re my customers. That’s the bottom line.

So, complaints were becoming an ugly fact of life at the North Pole. My head elf, Horatio, and I were sorting through complaints one night when he said something that really grabbed my attention.

“Handling complaints is a mug’s game, old man,” Horatio said. “We need to get ahead of the curve.”

I set down my mug of eggnog and squinted at the little devil. “What are you talking about?” I growled.

That’s when Horatio gave me one of my most important lessons of my long life. He said we’d never succeed just by trying to deal with complaints. We needed to be proactive. When I heard that, I felt like busting him into Saint Patty’s Day. After all, I’m the King of Proactive. How could I possibly pull off Christmas Eve without being proactive? Gimme a break. But I had to admit that I wasn’t proactive when it came to customer feedback. I assumed that everyone who didn’t complain was satisfied. Horatio said that for every complaint we received, there were probably hundreds of other people who had a complaint, but didn’t bother to tell us about it. He said that we needed to reach out to our customers and find out what they thought, and take action on their perceptions before they ever had a chance to complain. At first, all this MBA mumbo-jumbo just made me mad.

“I’m Santa Claus!” I bellowed. “Isn’t that good enough?”

Horatio looked me dead in the eye and said, “The Easter Bunny is kicking our butts. Heck, even the Tooth Fairy is gaining ground on us.”

It turns out that these jokers already had customer surveys and focus groups. And their objective was overtaking us in customer loyalty and brand recognition! We had targets on our backs and I didn’t even know it.

We had to act fast. Horatio and I made plans to begin working on a survey the very next morning. We convened my Executive Elf Council at 8 o’clock sharp. The first thing we did was brainstorm service attributes that our customers cared about most. Horatio cautioned us that we couldn’t ask about every possible service attribute. If we did, we would end up with a 100 question survey that nobody would bother to complete. We had to focus our survey questions on the few important drivers of customer satisfaction. The trick would be identifying these few important drivers.
The elves brainstormed dozens of issues related to customer satisfaction. The issues ran the gamut from my rosy cheeks to where the reindeer relieved themselves. I counted up the ideas and was dismayed to find that we had brainstormed over 60 issues. Clearly, not all of these were created equal; we would need to prioritize. Horatio led us through a voting exercise whereby each elf had three votes to assign to what they believe were the three most important issues. And guess what? Nobody could agree on what were the most important! The votes were all over the map and we hadn’t succeeded in prioritizing anything. What did you expect from a pack of elves? We were at a standstill.

"Let’s take a break,” Horatio said. “Everybody get up and stretch your legs. We’ll reconvene in ten minutes.”

The break was a good idea, as it relieved a lot of tension. Have you ever seen a North Pole elf get tense and frustrated? It’s an ugly thing, I promise you. I spend at least half my time dealing with elf problems. After everyone had cleared out of the conference room, Horatio called me over.

“It’s time to use some data,” he said. “Do you still have all the letters sent to you from children?”

“Of course,” I said. “They’re in the big file cabinet in my office.”

“Great. Give me a hand,” Horatio said.

We carried 2 years worth of letters to Santa into the conference room. When all the elves had returned from the break, Horatio divided us into 5 groups. Each group was given a stack of letters. The task was to scan through each letter and see if it included any feedback. Most of the letters just asked for things, of course, but a few included some ideas for improvement. We tallied up the feedback and consolidated them into categories. Once we did this, the most important drivers of customer satisfaction became clear:
• Jolliness
• Generosity
• Communication
• Santa’s lap

That last one seemed a little strange, but it came directly from our customers. I guess that’s the value of using real data to develop your survey, instead of just guessing at what your customers care about. Horatio said we could easily create a survey based on these satisfaction drivers. He suggested a simple question followed by a four-point scale. The scale would represent the best and worst possible responses on each end, with two additional points at equal intervals in between the extremes.

“Santa, would you care to use your poetic wit to create some survey questions for us?” Horatio asked.

“It would be my pleasure,” I said.

Within a few minutes I had dashed off four concise questions:
• How would you rate Santa’s overall mood?
• Did Santa give you everything you wanted?
• How easy was it for you to communicate with Santa?
• Did you sit on Santa’s lap this year? If yes, how would you describe the experience?

All the elves agreed that the questions accurately represented the four main issues. The elves, led by Horatio, developed a customized scale for each question. We all smiled with a sense of accomplishment. I was just about to suggest a big bowl of eggnog, when Horatio said, “We’re not quite finished.”

You should have heard the chorus of boos and catcalls that rose up from that motley gang of elves. I thought I was going to have to spray them down with a garden hose, when Horatio soothed everyone with a wave of his hand.

“Calm down,” he said. “It’s no big deal. We just need a couple of open-ended questions to put at the end of the survey.”

Horatio explained that no matter how good a job we did at identifying the key drivers of customer satisfaction, we didn’t address everything. There were bound to be some issues that customers cared dearly about and which weren’t even on our radar screen. A couple of open-ended questions would enable customers to add anything that they thought was important to them. Horatio suggested two simple questions along the lines of “What did you like most” and “What did you like least.” They sounded fine to me. My cyber elf typed up the whole survey, which stretched to a whopped three quarters of a page long. Nice and tight, as I like to say.

I told Horatio that we would mail it out right after the first of the year, using the addresses in my Rolodex. Horatio just laughed. He said we needed to use technology: our website, email, virtual focus groups. It would be cheaper, easier, and faster. Horatio said we didn’t have the luxury of time, and from what I saw from these complaints I believed him. We needed to make improvements now.

The first of our electronic surveys have gone out and we’re already getting some great feedback. Review of customer feedback is one of the key agenda items during our weekly North Pole staff meeting. We go over each survey, discussing what people like and don’t like. At first I wanted to take action on every single comment. That’s when Horatio pulled back the reins.

“Whoa there, big boy,” he said. “Let’s focus on the important few, not the trivial many.”

Turns out that Horatio had been reading a W. Edwards Deming book. Now I’m reading it. If you want to know anything about the Pareto principle, you just talk to your ol’ friend Santa Claus. I’ll get you squared away.

Anyway, we prioritize our feedback and select at least one issue to take action on at every staff meeting. A team is assembled to come up with an improvement plan. We track process improvements through our corrective and preventive action system. That’s another new thing we developed. It’s just a simple database that applies project management to problem solving and process improvement. We enter the issue into our system, assign a champion, appoint team members, agree on a due date, and track the action all the way to completion. At the beginning of each staff meeting, we review open corrective and preventive actions. When elves and reindeer know that I’m going to hold them accountable, our improvements never slip through the cracks. A good dose of follow-up always ensures success.

Of course, anything that looks or smells like a complaint jumps to the front of the line. We handle complaints immediately like we always have. The difference now is that complaints aren’t the only tool we use for feedback. We’re addressing perceptions long before they have a chance to turn into complaints. Complaints are an important feedback tool for our customers, but the proactive feedback we’re capturing on our survey is even more important. It’s the engine that drives our improvement machine.

You’re probably wondering about the improvements we’ve made, and I don’t blame you. Here are just a few:
• I now attend jolliness refresher training, just to sharpen my game. I don’t want anybody to say I wasn’t jolly, dammit.
• I’ve established a toll free phone number that is staffed with elves 24/7. This should make it easier for kids to get in touch with me.
• We repainted my Santa Throne a nice white color, like vanilla ice cream. I learned that the fire engine red throne was intimidating to some children.

I can’t tell you how much we’ve learned from our survey. One of the many valuable lessons is that customer sometimes have unreasonable expectations of what Santa can and will do. We’ve begun a PR campaign to calibrate expectations. When our customers know up-front what to expect, they tend to be much happier in the long run. For example, we’ve had to educate people that Santa does not bring money, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, guns, or items of a sexual nature. This is a kid’s program, for goodness sake! You would think that people would have a little common sense, but you know how that goes. We explicitly state our limitations right on the website for all the world to see. Just click on the tab that says, “Stuff that Santa Doesn’t Bring.”

Another thing Santa doesn’t do is bring presents to naughty people. Trust me, I know who’s been naughty. We have some state-of-the-art technology that can detect naughtiness from half way around the world. Horatio pointed out that the term “naughty” was a bit vague. Now we clearly define the actions that could lead to a judgment of naughty. There are no surprises, but here are just a few to give you a flavor for what Santa doesn’t appreciate:
• Cruelty to animals or children
• Lying
• Cheating
• Stealing
• Relying on others to do what you should do yourself
• Voting Democratic

Ho, ho, ho! That last one was a joke. Don’t anybody get bent out of shape; Santa has a right to be funny every now and then. The lowdown is we have a list, so if you want a present from Santa don’t be naughty. And don’t send me an email asking for sex toys or a big fat spliff. Even asking for these things can get you bumped into the category of naughty.

We have even more plans for next year. My idea is to leave a little comment card in every stocking. The card will ask everyone to go to my website (with parental supervision, of course) and leave feedback online. Before Christmas Day is even half-over, we’ll have thousands of feedback entries. Horatio is going to write a computer program that slice and dice the feedback in every imaginable way. He has all kinds of wild ideas for statistical analysis, but I told him, “Santa wants it simple. Give it to me in pictures, little fellow.” So Horatio also plans on boiling the trends into some simple charts and graphs that even an old fat man in a red suit can understand.

So, would you like to see our customer survey? I would value your comments on it. We’re constantly trying to fine-tune our feedback tool so we get the right information. We could ask 100 questions, but the key to success is keeping it short and sweet. Let us know what you think, and of course feel free to provide some feedback on my performance in general. Like our Quality Policy says, we’re dedicated to providing a profound, positive, and memorable Christmas experience, while continually improving our performance. Those aren’t just words on the North Pole conference room, they’re the beliefs we live by. Oh, and if you leave cookies for me this year, please note that I’m especially partial to Do-Si-Dos from the Girl Scouts. Leave out a plate of those babies and I might just overlook some naughtiness!

Don't Fail Your Customers with the 5 Whys

So you have a customer complaint. It’s not just any complaint, but a huge one from your biggest customer. The problem affects millions of dollars in business and threatens the survival of your company. Are you going to take action? Of course! You put together a team of top players and attack it head-on.

Team members investigate the problem and perform a detailed 5-Why analysis. They start with the problem statement and ask, “Why did that happen?” repeatedly, drilling down deeper with each iteration:

Problem: There were seven data errors in reports issued to our largest customer in the last month

• Why? Because lab reports are getting in the wrong project folders.

• Why? Because the project numbers are written illegibly on the folders.

• Why? Because the customer service representatives are rushed when preparing folders.

• Why? Because there are only two representatives taking calls for all divisions.

• Why? Because business expanded rapidly in the past year and management neglected to re-examine the work load of the customer service representatives.

After 5 Whys, the team has found what it believes to be the root cause of the problem: customer service representatives who are overworked. The team takes action to remove the root cause, which is the addition of a third customer service representative. A person is quickly transferred and trained, and the action is deemed effective by objective observers. A pizza lunch follows, including a congratulatory address by the president of the company. A week later, three more reports have data errors in them. Your company is dropped by its largest customer. Everybody was certain the problem solving was effective, but it obviously wasn’t. What happened?

Why the 5 Whys alone don’t work

Asking why one time after another assumes that the problem is perfectly linear, with one cause directly related to another. If we keep asking “why?” we’ll eventually get back to the root cause. However, real problems are much more complex than this. One cause does not always lead directly to another cause. There are contributing factors and hidden variables that mess up our ingenious chain of causes. If we try to treat every problem as nothing more than the result of a single chain of causes, we’ll miss the complexity that exists in the process.

The other reason that the 5 Whys is ineffective is that it focuses only on today’s causes. People enter the problem-solving process by asking, “In this exact problem that occurred, what was the chain of causes that led to it?” The 5 Whys ignore the causes of tomorrow. For problem solving to be truly effective, we can’t only consider the causes we know about now. We’ve got to consider the potential causes of tomorrow. The 5 Whys will expose some of the current causes, but it will rarely reveal potential causes. We need to consider the entire universe of causes: actual and potential, present and future, large and small, obvious and elusive. The key to uncovering this is gaining an understanding of the process that produces the problem.

Understand the process first, and then ask why

To address customer complaints in a thoughtful way, we must achieve an intimate understanding of our process. I don’t mean what the process should be; I mean what the process actually is. Whatever process is involved in the complaint must be described, step by step, as it is actually happening now. Existing procedures may not be much help to us in this regard. Procedures often describe how a process is supposed to operate, without any obstacles, surprises, errors, or creativity on the part of employees, but the world deals up all of these things on a regular basis.

Put away your procedure when investigating a complaint. Instead, assemble a team of people intimately knowledgeable about the process. The people you want are the ones who actually do the work and get their hands dirty. Utilize people from different perspectives: production, quality, engineering, logistics, and purchasing. Managers should be represented also, but their perspective is often woefully uninformed about the tasks and activities taking place.

Explain to your team that you’re working to address a complaint and you need to understand the process that results in the complaint. The team will create a flowchart for the process as it actually exists. This will lead to an exploration of causes, but only after we’ve gained an understanding of the process from start to finish. Here are the supplies you’ll need to facilitate a session:

• Flip chart

• Markers

• Large sticky notes

Plan on keeping your flowchart exercise very simple. Fancy symbols won’t help you understand your process any better. In fact, the only “symbol” you’ll use will be large sticky notes. Also, avoid the temptation to use a laptop computer or other electronic device to help you construct the flowchart. Creating the flowchart on a flip chart will enable all team members to crowd around and personally contribute to the process. You don’t want to introduce any barriers to the creative process. Computers, by their nature, relegate the majority of team members to observers, which is the opposite of what you want.

If possible, tell team members a day or two in advance that they’ll be making a flowchart for the process. Ask them to think about the various tasks, activities, and decisions that are part of the process. This way they’ll be well-prepared when the session begins and the team will use its time more efficiently.

Here are the key steps to constructing a flowchart that we can use in problem solving:

• Determine boundaries. Decide on starting and stopping points for the flowchart, and keep in mind that many problems originate on the periphery of the process. Make your starting point far enough upstream in the process to capture the early planning and logistics steps. Likewise, make the stopping point far enough downstream that you capture inspection, storage, and follow-up steps.

• Identify each step in the process. Beginning at our assigned starting point, identify the first step (task and decision) of the process. Write this on a large sticky note, writing only as many words as will fit. Continue doing this sequentially for each step in the process. Decide if each is a task or a decision, and put a “T” or a “D” in the lower right-hand corner of the sticky note to indicate this. It’s also helpful to write the decision steps in the form of a question to fully differentiate them from the task steps. Encourage participation and dynamic discussion of the process as a team. Anybody who attempts to dominate the process should be gently reminded to allow everyone to take part.

• Arrange the steps in order. Determine the sequential order of the tasks and begin placing them on the flip chart. The first step will go at the top, with subsequent steps flowing downward. As the team begins assembling the flowchart with the sticky notes, forgotten tasks and decisions almost always spring to mind. That’s the point of using sticky notes--they can be easily moved. Add new tasks as necessary and rearrange existing tasks until everybody agrees that the flowchart accurately represents the process.

• Connect the steps with arrows. Connect the tasks and decisions with arrows, indicating the flow of the process. Each task has a single arrow exiting it. Each decision has two arrows exiting it, with each arrow representing a different decision outcome. Make sure to label the arrows that exit the decision boxes indicating which answer to the decision outcome that they represent. The most common labels for decision arrows are yes and no, although they can be labeled with anything that makes sense in reference to the decision required by the decision box.

• Check for accuracy. No matter what kinds of preparations are made or how smart the team members are, there are bound to be errors with a flowchart. When the team is finished constructing the flowchart, verify it by “walking the process.” Take your flowchart to where the work is actually being done and check that you haven’t forgotten any steps or made errors in sequencing. Make corrections as necessary.

Identify causes

The big benefit of starting with a flowchart is that it forces us to consider the entire process, not just the parts that we know best or are most likely to be involved. The team can now begin to identify the actual and potential causes that occur at each step of the process. Start at the top of the flow diagram and brainstorm what could possibly go wrong and lead to our customer complaint. Instruct the team members to think about the following possibilities at each step:

• Mistakes that can be made

• Confusing tasks

• Incomplete instructions

• Conflicting goals

• Communication barriers

• Anything else that can go wrong

Cast a wide net as you speculate on causes. Hunches are OK, and no proof is needed. The spirit of this is the same as brainstorming: All ideas are treated as potentially significant, without criticism. Write each of the potential causes on the flowchart next to the steps to which they apply.

Another way to think about causes is to call them failures. Ask the question, “What failures could lead to our customer complaint?” Whether they’re called causes or failures doesn’t really matter. The point is be to as inclusive as possible, taking a full inventory of what could go wrong at each step of the process as it actually exists. At the end of the exercise, your team will have identified dozens of potential causes. Now it’s time to narrow the field.

Narrow the causes to the most significant

It’s unlikely that you have the resources to act on all the actual and potential causes. That’s why you have to narrow your focus. One of the easiest ways to do this is through a multiple-voting process. Each person on the team is assigned four votes to use for what he or she believes to be the most significant causes. Team members can cast their votes anyway they wish: placing one vote on each of four separate causes, placing two votes on two causes, whatever they decide. Choose a colored marker that is different from the ones used for constructing the flowchart and writing the causes. The votes can be cast as check marks beside the causes to which they relate.

After all votes are cast, the facilitator will tally up the number of votes for each cause. You’re going to take action on not one root cause, but on a number of significant causes that contribute to the complaint in question. How many causes should the team act on? There’s no magic number, but taking action on five to seven causes for relatively obvious problems and 10 or more causes for complex problems seems to work well. List the top causes, as indicated by the number of votes they received, on a separate flip chart. It’s helpful at this point to allow a brief discussion on each of the top causes. The facilitator can begin this by saying, “Who would like to say a few words about this cause?” The point is to bring everyone up to speed on each of the top causes. This builds a richer understanding of the causes and creates a basis for taking action.

Plan and implement action

Now we come to the most important step of all--action. Each of our top causes must be matched with an action that will remove it or reduce it to an acceptable level. The team will consider each cause in turn and agree on an action for it. Here are the specific variables that should be identified:

• Action to be taken. Be as specific as possible in defining the action to be taken.

• Responsible party. Who will lead the implementation of the action? Preferably, each action should be assigned to someone who has participated in the problem-solving session. Team members are invested in the process, due to their involvement up to this point, and they have an understanding of the process variables.

• Required resources. List the money, people, supplies, time, and other resources that will be required to carry out each action.

• Expected completion date. State when the team believes that the action can be completed. Because you’re striving to assign actions to team members, you can get commitment from each responsible party on the completion date.

Agree on a date when the team will reconvene and review the progress on action items. Let it be known that top management will be present during the review meeting. This will highlight the importance of making progress on the assigned actions. Team members don’t want to appear remiss in front of their peers, but they’re mortified to appear remiss in front of top management. Visibility and accountability ensure that nobody drops the ball.

Keep your customer abreast of the progress you’re making on the complaint. Because the actions were triggered by customer feedback, it only makes sense to provide some feedback of your own. “Here’s what we’re doing to improve our service to you,” sends a powerful message. It also cements the organization’s commitment to follow-through on the actions being implemented. The ultimate result of the entire process I’ve described is to create customer loyalty. Focusing on the entire process when attacking customer complaints, instead of just asking 5 Whys, will achieve this.

High Impact Auditing

Internal auditing, the process by which an organization examines its ability to meet internal and external requirements, can be one of the most effective tools for triggering continual improvement. It can also be an expensive waste of time and a source of endless frustration and conflict. Which it becomes for you depends on how your organization plans and manages its audit system.

Auditing is not only a balancing act--identifying positive and negative aspects of a company’s performance--but also a planned activity, with auditors and auditees agreeing on the audit’s time, place and scope. Surprise audits are neither necessary nor desired. Internal audits generally use an organization’s existing personnel for the task, although outsiders are occasionally called in.

Internal audits offer huge benefits, both to the organization’s top management and the auditors. Top managers can:
* Discover what’s really going on within the organization, which allows for more objective decision making
* Learn of potential problems before they explode into issues that pose significant risk to the organization
* Ascertain where failures occur, enabling the containment of these problems and initiation of corrective action
* Identify where resources should be directed
* Determine how effective their training efforts are
* Learn which processes and personnel are particularly effective, which can trigger recognition

For their part, internal auditors:
* Gain exposure to other parts of the organization, which broadens their experience
* Are exposed to best practices they can implement in their own departments
* Learn how they contribute to the organization’s success, which increases motivation and employee retention
* Expand the organization’s competency and knowledge base through their experience

An effective internal audit system must work in concert with other systems, especially corrective and preventive action. An internal audit takes a snapshot of the organization, identifying nonconformities, opportunities for improvement and positive practices. Auditors don’t propose specific actions, fixes, solutions or recommendations. They simply identify where failures and successes occur. By their nature, audits typically identify more failures than successes, and these failures are called audit nonconformities.

Requirements vs. opinions

To identify a nonconformity, a requirement is needed. You might have a concern, remark or opportunity, but it’s not a nonconformity unless it’s clearly tied to a requirement, a fact that’s often overlooked.

Any activity, process or outcome that doesn’t meet requirements is a nonconformity. A number of sources, such as ISO 9001, inspection checklists, purchase orders and product specifications, could introduce specific requirements the organization must implement. The auditor’s opinions, notions, philosophies and personal experiences, however, don’t constitute requirements. When people audit with an eye toward driving continual improvement, requirements are sometimes “invented,” albeit usually with good intentions. One of the best techniques for ensuring audit nonconformities are written correctly is insisting that they’re structured in two parts:

Requirement--Exactly what the organization has committed itself to do

Finding--Exactly what the organization has or hasn’t done that contradicts the requirement

Objective evidence

Objective evidence is a factual recounting of what was seen, heard or experienced during the audit. Gathering this evidence takes the most time and effort.
It is recorded in the “finding” portion of the requirement and describes exactly how the organization failed to fulfill the requirement.
Objective evidence meets a number of criteria. Among other things, it’s:
* Not subject to bias or prejudice. Auditors can’t allow their personal feelings to influence their interpretation of the evidence.
* Traceable. As many identifiers as possible should be recorded (e.g., date, time, function, department, machine, customer, order number and product code).
* Expressed as simply as possible. Sometimes auditors will provide a paragraph or more of detail, thinking that more data will provide more convincing evidence. However, the objective evidence is best streamlined and to the point.

Objective evidence is stated in such a way that the first half of the nonconformity directly contradicts the requirement. Enough detail is provided to facilitate traceability--but not so much that it overwhelms. Auditees expect concise and clearly written findings.

Consider the following correct audit write-up:

* Requirement: The general manager stated that all employees are expected to understand the facility’s key measures and how to contribute to them. (Note that the requirement comes from the general manager’s statements, which function as requirements when he’s talking about something under his control.)
* Finding: Three out of five employees sampled randomly in the shipping department didn’t understand the facility’s key measures or how to contribute to them. (Note that the finding’s language mirrors that of the requirement, stating exactly how the organization failed to meet its commitment. The sample size is defined, and the location is also identified. Employee names, however, are appropriately omitted.)

Now look at this incorrect write-up:
* Requirement: All employees should understand key measures. (Note that it isn’t clear whether this is an opinion or a requirement. Where did this “should” come from?)
* Finding: Employees were ignorant of the organization’s objectives and strategic direction, and they were obviously unprepared to assist in continual improvement. (Note that here, the finding’s tone is subjective and accusatory. Sample size and other identifiers are omitted, which provides insufficient traceability.)
It generally takes a number of audits before an inexperienced auditor can confidently draw conclusions from objective evidence and write nonconformities clearly and concisely. Practicing the audit process with an experienced auditor is time well spent.

The system, not the people

One of the best ways to understand the system and its effectiveness is through people: how they receive and interpret information, carry out instructions, produce goods and deliver services according to requirements, and satisfy customers. Nevertheless, an audit must always focus on the system itself.

Some auditees might suspect that an audit constitutes a personal attack on their jobs, and auditors must be prepared for that reaction. They should calmly explain that the audit process is all about the system, put the auditees at ease and depersonalize the process as much as possible. If people are uneasy about the audit process, they won’t provide objective evidence, and the audit, in turn, won’t trigger continual improvement.

Does this mean people never screw up? Of course not. But when failures are identified during an audit, they’re system failures. Very few nonconformities occur due to willful employee misconduct. If someone makes a mistake or fails to carry out a job step, it’s usually because the system is flawed and error-prone. Fix the system, and people will have less opportunity to screw up.

Auditing strategic processes

Not all organizational processes have the same strategic significance. An internal audit system that’s oriented toward continual improvement will focus on strategic issues. Most management system standards such as ISO 9001 require that organizations schedule audits based on status, importance and prior audit results. This means organizational processes with more strategic importance will be audited more often.
The following audit questions reflect on processes that typically have high strategic importance:
* Customer satisfaction. What methods does the organization use to capture customer perceptions? How are data on customer perceptions reported and analyzed? Has overall customer satisfaction improved?
* Corrective and preventive action. Is there proof that root causes or potential root causes are being identified? Are actions taken to eliminate root causes or potential root causes? Are data on corrective and preventive actions reported and analyzed?
* Leadership. Has the organization determined its mission and strategy? Are organizational performance and direction communicated throughout the organization? Has top management led the review and action on key measures and other important information that indicates organizational success?
* Internal auditing. Do auditing schedules clearly reflect the strategic importance of processes and the results of previous audits? Does the organization’s management take corrective action on nonconformities raised by audits? Are the corrective actions effective, based on the evidence?
* Design and development. Are design inputs and outputs recorded and approved? Is progress against the design plan periodically reviewed? Is the design process’s output validated under conditions of application or use?
* Transformation. How is work planned and scheduled? What information guides work performance in general? How do employees receive feedback on their work? Do employees understand how their efforts affect key measures?
These audit questions are examples and might not be applicable to all organizations. Other processes could have strategic significance, depending on the organization’s nature and competitive environment.

Training auditors

Many audits produce poor results because auditors haven’t received proper instruction or been given opportunities to practice what they’ve learned. The organization must invest the necessary time and effort in making its auditors competent and confident before they’re assigned an audit.

Auditors must be familiar with:
* Practical interpretations of the standard adopted by the organization
* The audit’s purpose and how it drives continual improvement (i.e., by providing a balanced picture of the organization and triggering corrective and/or preventive actions)
* Phases of the audit and various activities within each phase
* Sources of audit requirements (e.g., the standard, procedures or sales orders)
* Methods of gathering objective evidence and drawing valid conclusions
* Diplomacy skills and effective interpersonal communication
* Audit role-playing under controlled conditions
* Writing nonconformities in the prescribed format
* Actual auditing with an experienced auditor

Auditor training doesn’t necessarily need to be formal or even classroom-based. The style and format of training will differ significantly from one organization to the next. However, auditors must have a conceptual understanding of the process and a practical grasp of techniques, both backed up by sufficient practice. When auditors truly understand their roles and responsibilities, the process should result in strategic continual improvement.

A successful audit almost always results when an individual takes personal ownership of the process. He or she must be able to carry out the following five complex and linked activities, which create strategic continual improvement.

Audit scheduling

An audit schedule defines the auditing that will take place during an extended period of time, usually six months or a year. The purpose of the schedule is to communicate when and where the audit team’s services will be needed, when the organization can expect to be audited, and what requirements will be included in the audit.

Audits scheduled far in advance always produce better results. Note, too, that the processes considered more strategically important to the organization are scheduled for audits more often. Processes and functions that have performed poorly in previous audits are also scheduled for frequent audits. Regardless of other considerations, all processes, functions and departments within the scope of the management system must be audited at least once a year.

The schedule can be keyed to organizational processes, departments, functions, facilities, an ISO standard element or something else. However, it must clearly communicate which audits are coming up and when. Audit schedules should provide enough detail to guide the overall process and help with the next step, audit planning.

Audit planning

An audit plan is focused, detailing a single audit’s scope, objectives and agenda. The plan provides a chronology of the audit from start to finish: which processes will be audited, exactly when they’ll be audited, who will do it and which requirements will be audited in each segment. Even details such as meetings, breaks and lunches are shown on the plan in order to clear up any timing conflicts between auditees and auditors and keep the audit on track.

Typically, the audit plan is distributed several days prior to the audit. Auditees often request alterations to the plan based on logical concerns and existing commitments. By all means, modify the plan to accommodate them. The one variable that usually never changes, however, is the audit’s scope.

Audit supervision

The audit’s on-site phase consists primarily of gathering evidence. The lead auditor takes part in this and also manages the overall process. These duties typically include:
* Leading the opening meeting
* Managing and communicating changes to the audit plan
* Ensuring that the audit stays on track
* Insisting that auditors remain objective, consistently evaluating all evidence
* Encouraging auditors to write up their findings during the audit to avoid a time crunch directly before the closing meeting
* Reviewing all nonconformities to ensure that they’re logical, valid and clear
* Providing performance feedback to audit team members so individuals can target areas for their personal improvement
* Resolving all conflicts constructively
* Apprising the auditee of the audit’s progress
* Leading the closing meeting
* Ensuring that the entire audit is conducted professionally and positively

If these duties sound difficult, it’s because they are. Many organizations have ineffective audit processes because the so-called lead auditor doesn’t understand his or her responsibilities. An accredited lead auditor course is a very good investment for individuals who function as lead auditors for their organizations.

Audit reporting

The first formal reporting that takes place during an audit is the closing meeting. The lead auditor presents a verbal summary of the audit, including positives and negatives. Depending on the audit’s size and duration, the closing meeting might last from 15 minutes to more than an hour. The meeting allows for back-and-forth dialogue between auditors and auditees. During the closing meeting, auditee management is presented with the written audit observations and/or corrective action requests, and these form the basis for discussion of the audit results.

Subsequent to the closing meeting (and occasionally during the closing meeting), an audit report is presented to the auditee management. This summarizes the audit’s overall themes and trends. Usually it’s written by the lead auditor, based on evidence gathered by the entire audit team. The report doesn’t belabor every audit observation because these should have already been addressed during the closing meeting. Audit reports should be as concise and streamlined as possible. Graphics such as matrices and Pareto diagrams are helpful.

Verification and closure

The auditee management is usually asked to respond to audit nonconformities by an agreed date. The response should include investigation into the root cause, proposed corrective action and a date when the action should be completed.

The lead auditor reviews the responses to determine whether the investigation and proposed corrective actions are adequate. This is the first stage of verification.
One of the most important jobs the lead auditor and auditing team can perform is a careful scrutiny of auditee responses. Accepting weak investigations and/or corrective actions does nobody any favors and certainly doesn’t trigger continual improvement. If a response doesn’t identify a plausible root cause or propose a corrective action related to it, the lead auditor must diplomatically reject the response and explain to the auditee why it’s adequate. The auditee is the audit process’s customer and should be treated with the same respect that any other customer would receive.

The second stage of verification occurs when the auditee notifies the lead auditor that corrective action has been implemented. At this stage, the lead auditor or a team member will verify that the corrective action has been fully implemented and the root cause of the original nonconformity has been eliminated.
Verification is sometimes performed by reviewing records or documents submitted by the auditee; alternatively, an on-site visit is made to review evidence in person. The nonconformity’s nature and significance will determine whether on-site verification is necessary.

Once all audit nonconformities have been addressed with effective corrective action, the audit is considered closed. However, this doesn’t mean it’s forgotten. A high-level discussion of audit results is an important input to the business review process, and audit trends influence resource allocation and strategic decision making.

ISO 9001 in Plain English

New Book Translates International Quality Standards into Plain English

Buy it HERE

Although international quality standards were written to apply to a wide variety of organizations worldwide, many companies have a difficult time interpreting them. To address this problem, Craig Cochran, the north Atlanta region manager for Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, has written a new book, ISO 9001: In Plain English (Paton Press, 2008).

“To make the international standards applicable to everybody, they are not particularly applicable to anybody,” he noted. “The words and phrases used are not typically those that workers are accustomed to using. If you don’t have extensive experience interpreting international standards, putting them to use in your own company can be very difficult.”

ISO 9001 is an international quality management system standard that presents fundamental management and quality assurance practices applicable to any organization. The generic requirements of the standard represent an excellent foundation of planning, control and improvement for just about any enterprise. Companies that are ISO 9001 certified have a demonstrated baseline of managerial discipline and control, and, according to Cochran, they also have higher rates of customer satisfaction.

The newly-released book is targeted toward anybody who has to implement or audit within an ISO 9001 management system. After a 20-year career in quality, Cochran wrote the book to share some of his experiences in implementing quality systems.

“People interpret ISO 9001 in diverse ways, including those that are often just plain wrong. Because I’ve been working with the ISO 9001 standard since 1988, I thought people might benefit from my experiences,” he said. “I have assisted in implementing ISO 9001 in nearly one thousand organizations, ranging in size from two to 20,000 people, and in every imaginable industry.”

Cochran’s book includes sections on process approach, relationship with ISO 9004 (a standard on continual improvement), compatibility with other management systems, application, vocabulary and definitions, general requirements, management responsibility, resource management, product realization, and measurement, analysis and improvement. For additional information about this book or Georgia Tech’s quality services, please contact Craig Cochran (678-699-1690); E-mail: (craig.cochran AT innovate.gatech.edu).

About the Enterprise Innovation Institute:
The Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute helps companies, entrepreneurs, economic developers and communities improve their competitiveness through the application of science, technology and innovation. It is one of the most comprehensive university-based programs of business and industry assistance, technology commercialization and economic development in the nation.
http://innovate.gatech.edu

Press release writer: Nancy Fullbright

Buy the book HERE

Don't Survey Your Customers!

Scaled customer surveys are among the most widely used tools in business. Unfortunately, they're also some of the worst. There's nothing evil about surveys, but they can turn an inherently simple task, such as gathering customer feedback, into something complex and unwieldy. When that happens, there's a good chance it won't satisfy its original purpose, which in this case is making improvements. Why exactly are surveys the wrong tool for most organizations? Let's explore the reasons and then consider an alternative approach that's far more appropriate.
Surveys don't produce timely data

Most traditional customer surveys are sent out periodically to a sampling of an organization's customers, typically once or twice a year. This is a manageable frequency from an administrative standpoint because implementing a survey requires a significant dedication of time and effort. The downside is that by the time the organization receives the feedback, the information is at least six months old and usually much older. The information is almost worthless because customers have already acted on their perceptions before the organization has had a chance to do so. Customers don't wait around to tell you what they're going to do before they do it. If you're not tuned into your customers on a regular basis, you'll never know what hit you.

It makes more sense to gather customer feedback continually. Make the customer feedback process something that's always happening, not a grand event that occurs once or twice a year. This consumes far fewer resources, and it also ensures that the information is current. If you can't take action on customer perceptions within a few weeks of the perceptions being formed, there's a strong chance that you will lose your window of opportunity.

Too many questions

Another downfall of most surveys is that they try to do too much. They probe the customer experience from every imaginable angle. Although admirable, this approach results in long, unwieldy surveys that most customers run away from as fast as they can. I have personally gotten into the habit of scrawling "TOO LONG" in huge block letters on these kinds of surveys. I'm providing feedback, but not exactly the kind expected. Most people don't even bother to provide this much; they simply toss the long surveys into the trash.

The key to successful customer feedback is to ask about the few aspects of the customer experience that matter the most. By asking about everything under the sun, you're establishing the expectation that you'll take action on everything, which is impossible. You're also telling your customer, "Your time isn't very valuable, so the imposition of this long and boring survey should be no problem for you." Focus on a few vital issues, and these obstacles go away. The dilemma is that most organizations don't know what the few vital issues are--thus the need for long surveys. Your organization must back up and get its arms around the things that really matter to your customers.

Difficult to design

If you like defusing explosives, you'll love creating surveys. They include so many failure modes that they're nearly impossible to design correctly unless you do it for a living. Why are they so hard? Let's examine two of their more challenging aspects: questions and scales.

Most surveys comprise a series of questions or statements, followed by a response scale. The response scale usually represents degrees of satisfaction (e.g., "very satisfied," "satisfied," "neutral," etc.) or degrees of agreement (e.g., "strongly agree," "agree," "neutral," etc.). Both of these scales present huge challenges. Most people don't have the writing skills to craft clear, unambiguous survey questions. The result is that the questions don't accurately reflect the attribute that's being queried. In the spirit of getting the job done, customers will often take a guess at what the questions really mean. Like all guessing games, sometimes they'll be right and other times wrong. At best, your data will be 50-percent valid--not a very good percentage.

In the unlikely event that the survey questions are clear, there's still the obstacle of designing a logical response scale. This would seem to be an easy task, but it's extremely complex. Typical errors I've observed are scales that aren't balanced, scales that are biased, scales that don't have equal intervals between the points, scales that don't match the question or statement, and scales that have too many degrees of resolution. If the scale is flawed, then the data that come from it are also flawed. Junk in, junk out, as the saying goes.

No direction for improvement

The fourth downfall of traditional surveys is that they don't provide much guidance for improvement. Sure, they provide data, but what actions are you going to take based on those data? For example, let's imagine that you've asked customers to rate the technical knowledge of your sales force. The average response is 3.4 on a five-point scale, roughly halfway between "neither good nor bad" and "good." What does this number really mean? Even more important, what are you going to do about it? The data help you produce fancy charts, but they probably won't steer you toward specific improvements.

If you aren't able to take action on survey data, their value as improvement tools is zero. Had you asked customers an open-ended question such as, "What do you think is our biggest customer service weakness?" you might have received some feedback that provided a clear path for improvement. In the world of customer perceptions, data don't always rule. Perceptions are by their nature qualitative and subjective, and the attempt to produce data from such a fuzzy source can be misleading. It's better simply to get actionable information than to attempt to turn human beings into precise measuring instruments. If you capture customer perceptions, analyze the trends and take action, you've accomplished a great deal.

So, what should you do?

I've made the case that a traditional customer survey using scaled responses probably isn't the best way for most organizations to capture feedback. If not a survey, what should you do? Here's what I recommend:

Step 1: Examine your existing customer interactions. Your interactions with your customers are limitless. These contacts are conducted via telephone, e-mail, mail, fax and in person. Because you already have numerous contacts with your customers, there's no reason to invent a new contact for the sake of collecting customer feedback. Make use of the connections you already have, and all parties will generally be much happier.

Step 2: Choose an interaction suited to collecting feedback. Not all customer contacts are created equally. Certain conditions should be met when you decide which contacts will be leveraged for collecting customer feedback. In general, the contact should be neutral, routine and candid. Here's what each of these mean:

• Neutral: The contact isn't related to an existing problem or complaint. Attempting to collect feedback when a customer already has a problem is obnoxious and counterproductive. Use an interaction that's neutral in tone and purpose, such as a query or order placement.

• Routine: The contact happens on a regular, routine basis. Feedback collected from routine interactions of this sort is likely to be fresher.

• Candid: The contact occurs between parties that trust one another and are willing to communicate freely. A candid relationship is key to collecting accurate and representative perceptions.

Step 3: Develop a tool that's matched to the customer interaction. Choosing the right tool for the job is critical in every endeavor, and that goes for collecting feedback, too. Once the organization has selected an appropriate customer interaction for collecting feedback, it must develop a tool that works in that context. This is a subjective task, and certain guidelines can assist in knowing what tools work best in different situations:

• Telephone contact: An unobtrusive tool that's conducted at the end of a routine telephone call. Brevity is critical with this kind of tool because most people are anxious to get off the phone once their business is completed.

• In-person visit: A tool that enables the company to see its product in use, just as the customer experiences the product or service. The tool should also enable different people to be queried, depending on the nature of the feedback sought.

• After service or consumption: A tool that enables the customer to conveniently provide "flash feedback." Make the return of this feedback seamless. If the customer
has to expend any effort to return the feedback, it probably won't be returned.

• E-mail: A live link within the body of the message that takes the customer to a simple and visually appealing evaluation of their experience. Make sure the link works fast and is compatible with a variety of Internet browsers and computer monitors.

Benchmark customer feedback tools with other organizations. There's no virtue in being original. Borrow good ideas and approaches as you see them. Hundreds, if not thousands, of examples exist for each of the tools described above. See what other people are doing and adapt the methods to your own needs.

Step 4: Focus on open-ended questions. If you want to grab the attention of your customers, ask them what they like and don't like. It's that simple. Asking simple, open-ended questions of this sort enables the customer to dictate the content of their feedback. What's important to them is what you'll hear about. This is exactly the sort of feedback you want. Trends in open-ended feedback will inform you on the issues that customers care most about, something that many organizations don't understand.

Open-ended feedback also provides a clear path to improvement. Numerical ratings can help you prioritize issues, but they don't tell you exactly what to do. Open-ended feedback can. When 75 percent of your customers answer the question, "What makes you most frustrated about being our customer?" in the same way, you know exactly what you need to do to improve. There's no ambiguity.

Open-ended feedback doesn't help you make fancy charts. But do you really need more fancy charts to cover the walls of the conference room? No, you need improved customer satisfaction and loyalty. Open-ended feedback will reveal exactly what actions lead to long-term success, which is much more important than fancy charts.
Here are my favorite open-ended questions. Three are about all you need. They will quickly point the way to improvements that matter to your customers.
• Do you have any problems with our products that you haven't told us about?
• Is there anything you think we do particularly well?
• What could we do in the future that would make your job easier?

Step 5: Act on your opportunities. Action is the most critical step of the entire process. It starts with identifying trouble areas. Problems that are revealed through feedback must be addressed immediately. This is the business equivalent of triage: Stop the bleeding and stabilize the patient. Let's hope you won't discover too many issues that require triage, but it's better to learn of these proactively while the customer is still your customer, and not a former customer.
After addressing the trouble areas, the organization must analyze the trends. Open-ended feedback follows the same rules as most traditional numerical data: It tends to clump into categories. Group the feedback into categories and apply Pareto analysis to the results. Your opportunity areas will quickly emerge. Input these opportunities into your corrective/preventive action system and track them to completion. Treat every improvement action as a mini project, with assigned tasks, responsibilities, time frames, resources and reviews. The more sunlight shines on your improvement action, the better it will be. In other words, communicate widely. The final communication about your improvement will be to your customer: "Here's what we've done based on your feedback." These may be the most important words you ever say--and you don't have to use a traditional customer survey to say them.