Hi Jim
Just to say thanks very much for the very useful insight you give in your regular updates. They are an inspiration.

One book I have just completed which you may have already read, but if not I would highly recommend is by John Seddon called “In pursuit of Quality – the case against ISO 9000” It has really challenged me in our organization and I recognize many of the failings we have fallen foul of over the years since we gained registration. We have become very ‘procedure driven’ at the expense of understanding what really matters to the customer and I am considering ways in which we can get back to focusing on the people who pay the bills!!

The book is out of print currently but I managed to get the UK public library service to track down a copy!

Thanks again for your wisdom

Regards

Paul Phillips
Head of Operations, Environmental Monitoring Services, West Sussex, UK

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your message I am delighted to hear that you find Improvement Points are useful and inspiring.

I have not read John Seddon’s book. Your comments on it are certainly something we hear a fair bit. Many organizations fall into that same trap. Our focus at The CLEMMER Group continues to be on helping management teams integrate improvement or change efforts into larger and more integrated strategic efforts. You will be able to read more about that in this month’s issue (August) of The Leader Letter coming out this week.

(See “Why Changes Processes Fail” in last month’s Leader Letter)