A New Tool for All Quality Initiatives: Systematically Addressing the Human Behavior That Leads to Quality Improvement
Quality experts have always maintained that “It’s not the people; it’s the process.” What they really mean is, “Don’t blame the people for defects; fix the process.” This advice is good but incomplete. The behavioral approach says, “Fix the process and systematically address the behaviors necessary for people to effectively execute solutions and perform the critical-to-quality behaviors needed for quality excellence.” A well-designed process must still be implemented by people. Those people need to know exactly which of their behaviors influence the process the most and how well they are performing those behaviors.