Did you know that quality circles can improve the quality of your business processes while increasing the performance of your work teams?
Quality circles are a 2×1, a win-win in which you can improve the quality of processes, while training and strengthening the confidence of some employees in a particular area.
In this post we want to teach you everything you need to know to create quality circles in your company.
Are you ready? Let’s get started!
What is a quality circle?
A quality circle is a group of several Vietnam Phone Numbers professionals from the same area or department whose purpose is to find and solve quality problems in the service. Therefore, production and performance of the particular area.
The main objective of the quality circle is to reduce the participation of managers and increase the collaboration of employees who belong to the department.
Behind this methodology is the philosophy that employees who belong to the department are usually better prepared to detect and solve problems in their area. Therefore, thanks to their experience and expertise.
This concept emerged in post-World War II Japan after Japanese businessmen embraced American quality systems. It is a combination of Japanese and American quality systems.
It was so effective at the time that other companies began duplicating quality circles in Europe until it became an effective method for many organizations.
Today it is one of the methodologies used by the human resources department to increase employee performance and the quality of services.
What are the main objectives of a quality circle?
A quality circle can be implemented with different objectives. But we consider these to be the most essential:
Discover opportunities to improve company processes
Problems are always opportunities. By creating a quality circle. Therefore,we will have the ability to discover opportunities to maximize the processes of a particular department or area.
Improving collaboration between employees and managers
Far from distancing managers and work teams. Therefore, quality circles improve their collaboration. Quality circles propose valuable solutions that managers can implement in their departments with greater success.
Quality circles are a source of solutions for managers.
Increase motivation and sense of belonging
The direct implication of quality circles is that employee suggestions are considered. Employees feel that they are more involved in the company and that their decisions are taken into account to improve processes.
This increases motivation and sense of belonging. Therefore, strengthening their commitment to the company.
Train the personnel involved
Career plans and training programs are essential for people in quality circles: you must ensure that your employees are as well prepared as possible to analyze and propose top solutions.
Set more realistic goals
Do you know what the direct benefit of involving department employees in the quality of processes is? That is: a more realistic perspective on the capabilities and needs of the area.
By not being involved, it is normal for managers to not have a complete understanding of the real situation of the department. Therefore, as a consequence the proposed objectives are often unrealistic.
Potential benefits of quality circles
Well implemented quality circles are a source of benefits for your organization and for your work teams. Check out all the benefits you will get:
Improve the quality of the organization’s processes
We’ve mentioned it before, but we’re putting it here again to make it clear. Quality circles can help your department reach its full potential by improving services, processes, and productivity.
By their nature they also have the ability to detect and solve department problems in the most convenient way.
Foster an environment of collaboration
And not just among managers and members of quality circles. Therefore, but also with executives and other members of the department . Everyone begins to understand that they can rely on each other to perform their tasks better.
Likewise, communication between workers. Therefore, managers and directors becomes stronger and more constant.
Detect potential talent within the company
Did you know that quality circles are one of the strategies that Human Resources uses to detect potential talent and promote it to another position in the organization?
Take advantage of this opportunity to detect the hidden talent of your employees in order to train them and promote them to another position within the company.
8 essential elements that can never be missing in a quality circle
If you want your quality circle to be a success, these 8 elements are essential:
1. The number of members is limited
The first thing is that the quality circle has to be made up of a certain number of members to achieve success. Ideally, the number should be between 6 and 10 employees.
Neither too few nor too many. Just the right amount to make the whole process easy to manage.
2. Involved members of the same department
Ideally, members of the quality circle should belong to the same department or work area, or at least have a similar job. The idea is that all members know about the topic and the processes that need to be improved so that they are able to contribute their knowledge.
It is also important to only choose involved and proactive members. Choose people who really want to commit and immerse themselves in optimizing the processes they work with.
3. Managers and superiors willing to collaborate
Having the support of management is essential to creating a quality circle.
What is the point of investing so much effort if superiors are not willing to listen and/or approve the proposed solutions?
It is necessary to have the support of the company to carry out meetings. Therefore, reward the time invested and integrate monitoring tools.
4. Regular meetings
Quality circles must meet regularly to monitor each of the measures implemented in order to make adjustments over time.
Consider that the first meeting should establish the objectives and KPIs that allow measuring the performance of the proposed solutions. After that, the following meetings should serve to evaluate and make the corresponding adjustments.
Ideally, they should meet at least once a month. Therefore, although the frequency can change depending on the needs of the company.
5. Have a healthy and positive work environment
Respect, honesty and trust in communication are fundamental to a quality circle. Here there are no hierarchies , everyone is on the same level, that is, there is horizontal communication.
It is advisable to assign a moderator for periods to lead the meetings and these can be more effective. But never take a position of authority over the other members.
There should also be no friction or inconvenience between members of the quality circle.
6. Set clear goals
Objectives are key Belgium Business Phone List to achieving maximum productivity in the quality circle. Set objectives from the beginning so that everyone involved knows what they need to do and what they are working towards.
Furthermore, this will be the best way to evaluate the performance of the quality circle and the proposals made.
7. Create and present reports
Although it is not mandatory to create reports on such a regular basis. Therefore, it is a practice that can generate confidence in the company’s executives and managers. Reports allow:
Learn about the implemented solutions.
Knowing the objectives you want to achieve.
Measure the performance of strategies.
Evaluate the integrated settings.
The reports will also facilitate future audits.
8. Voting system for decisions
Since everyone is on the same level. Therefore, the quality circle works democratically. That is to say, the opinion and vote of each employee is taken into account and the majority votes for it.
This also prevents favoritism being given to a particular person or decision.
8 essential elements that can never be missing in a quality circle
6 Steps to Develop a Quality Circle for Your Organization
Well, it’s time for us to teach you step by step how to develop your own quality circle in your company. Let’s get started!
1. Identify areas of need
The first step is to identify the needs of your organization’s departments. You can do this through a performance evaluation or a departmental talent mapping to detect gaps and needs.
We recommend starting with one department at a time so you can gain some experience and then implement it in the others.
2. Ensures support from management and superiors
Once you have identified the areas of need. Therefore, the next step is to present a report to management and directors for approval of the creation of the quality circle.
In this way, the quality circle will be something official and known to the entire organization, allowing everyone to be aware of the work that this team will carry out.
3. Make an invitation to the employees of the department
Now it is time to make the invitation to be part of the quality circle. In this invitation we must establish what the objectives of creating this team are, which department it is aimed at and how many vacancies are available.
It is important that each member joins voluntarily without pressure or obligation. Quality circles add additional responsibilities to employees, so you should allow each member to join voluntarily.
4. Create an effective model for meetings
Without direction, meetings can easily become unproductive. We therefore recommend establishing guidelines that will help you increase the productivity of your meetings. Here are some ideas:
Objectives of the meeting.
Topics to talk about.
The way of presenting the proposals.
Who will be the moderator and the secretary.
How to track performance.
Another important aspect is the regularity of meetings. You must consider the needs of the department, the established objectives and the availability of each of the members.
As with the beginning of any new project, it is normal for the first meetings to be more frequent ( once a week or twice a month ).
Note: if you involve the members from the beginning you will increase the sense of belonging and you can get better results
5. Share progress in the quality circle
Reports build trust and provide a clearer perspective for managers, but also for the members of the quality circle themselves. This report can contain the agreements established in previous meetings, the analyses carried out, the solutions implemented and the available data.
6. Evaluate its performance and the possibility of implementing it in other areas
Reports and KPIs will provide you with the data you need to evaluate the performance of your quality circle. If you find that it has been a success, then you are ready to implement it in other areas of the company.
As a bonus, this evaluation will allow you to measure the talent of the members and the possibility of promotion for some of them.
Quality circles are a very effective method to improve the quality of your company’s processes.
6 Steps to Develop a Quality Circle for Your Organization
If you don’t have experience, we recommend starting with just one department, and only when you start seeing good results decide to create quality circles in other departments.
Remember that collaboration and willingness are the keys to success for the quality circle to work.
If you have any questions, leave them in the comments box . Don’t forget to share this content.
