An Introduction to Behavior Based Quality (BBQ) – Part 1

I have helped develop and promote the Behavior Based Quality approach because of my belief that having a strong positive Quality Culture is good for business and generally good for the human condition. I believe that deep-down people truly want to do what is right. It is just “other stuff” that gets in their way.

Quality Needs To Follow Safety’s LeadIndustry has done a tremendous job in improving safety. This has been hugely helped by the use of Behavioral Based Safety. Behavior based Quality is predicated on behavioral based safety and was first conceived as an idea in March 2007 when I attended a Quarterly Operations review at a Covidien site in Galway, Ireland. We were reviewing safety data and the presenter was being congratulated for the number of safety observations and opportunities to improve and that over time were increasing. The general feeling around the table was that great progress was being made and that this was a good thing.

I could not help thinking that if a member of the Quality team got up to present the fact that the number of opportunities for Quality improvement were increasing that the question would be asked “Why are we getting worse and what is the plan to addressed the poor performance”? It became clear to me that a no blame and more mature approach to quality improvement and opportunities was required if companies were to emulate the success of safety improvements in the quality area. Uncovering and finding better ways improve safety or quality should be supported and encouraged and seen as a big positive for an organization.

Not Always Employees Poor Attention to DetailMany companies have spent much time and effort improving Quality. This is usually addressed by improved systems, remediation plans and training. Over time these usually produce improvements. However, in many cases a trend of underlying Quality issues persist. They often appear resistant to all efforts at removing them.

Many of these get attributed to employees poor attention to detail or quality behavior but most of these are triggered by deeply ingrained at risk quality Behavior. Behavioral based

quality addressed these by making use of proven management techniques which almost always result in positive step change in Quality Performance and Quality attitudes.

80% of Quality Incidents Triggered By RiskAlthough there is no hard data published to support it I believe based on my experience that greater than 80% of all quality incidents are triggered by at risk quality behaviors. Because BBQ focuses on particular sets of at risk quality behaviors, people tend to be more aware of their potential to cause quality issues. In turn this gives people the mechanisms by which they can control their own Quality Behavior and that of their colleagues.

Risk Quality BehaviorFocusing on risk quality behavior also provides a much better index of ongoing Quality performance than incident rates for two reasons. Firstly, incident rates are the end result of a causal sequence that is usually triggered by an at risk quality behavior. Secondly, at risk quality behaviors can be measured in a meaningful way on a daily basis.

Prevention is Better Than CureBy focusing on the at risk quality behavior you are therefore focusing in a proactive and preventative manner rather than a traditional reactive manner. This reactive manner typically means companies look at the negative lagging Quality trends and only react when a limit is broken or dramatic rise in incidents occur. When the issue appears to be under control or resolved, management’s attention and resources are diverted to other more pressing issues until such time as the incident rate rises once again, and so on. This is regularly referred to as fire fighting. As a result the focus tends to be reactive rather than proactive.

The TakeawayBecause Quality Behavior is the unit of measurement, a collaborative, problem-solving approach involving management and employees is adopted to identify a set of Critical to Quality (CTQ) and at risk quality (AR) behaviors in the form of a list or inventory. These become the basis for employees to systemically monitor and observe their colleagues on-going Quality Behavior, on a daily basis, in an empowering environment.

Using the first few weeks of peer monitoring the employees set their Quality Improvement Targets (QIT’s). Information feedback is then provided on a weekly basis to allow the workgroups to track their progress in reaching QIT’s. Companies that adopt this approach are usually rewarded by fewer Quality incidents, consistent Quality Management, Improved compliance, better communication and greater employee involvement and engagement. These all result in improved business and bottom line profits.

Part-2

I have helped develop and promote the Behavior Based Quality approach because of my belief that having a strong positive Quality Culture is good for business and generally good for the human condition. I believe that deep-down people truly want to do what is right. It is just “other stuff” that gets in their way.

Before you dive into this article you can read Part 1 by clicking this link.

Why do people behave in an at risk quality Manner?

Generally, people do what works for them. In many cases they may not have had a Quality Incident as a result of doing their job in an at risk quality way. This may be true but over time the risks stack up against you. Heinrich’s triangle although specific for safety related issues suggest that for every 330 unsafe acts, 29 will result in minor injuries and 1 in a Major or lost time incident.

I believe that a parallel can be drawn in Quality terms that for every 330 at risk quality acts, 29 will result in minor non-conformances/compliance issues and 1 Major product recall/compliance issue. Having trended such issues in the past I believe the correlation of 300 to 30 to 1 is about right.

Overtime the greater number of at risk quality Behaviors that you accumulated the greater the probability that minor and eventually major issues will occur. People behave in an at risk quality Behavior for a number of reasons. Examples that I have seen are;

Workflow when more steps are introduced without consideration to adding additional time to complete the steps

Additional checks added with no additional time to complete them

Line managers ignoring bad practice Increased product demands

Steps that should be completed in a process are having other negative impacts on the operator and this is not understood at the time. The operator stops performing the required steps because of these negative impacts.

Fear of disciplinary action for at risk behavior events

Generally the reasons for the at risk quality behavior reveal themselves during the ABCD analysis phase of BBQ.

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How do you stop people behaving in a risk quality manner?

When incidents are identified in Non-Conforming reports or Internal Audit reports or other sources they tend not to focus on the behavioral aspect of the issue. Often they point to training or a system issue without going into the people aspect. This often results in renewed Quality slogans, Campaigns or retraining to address and bring about change in people’s attitudes to Quality.

The link from attitude change to behavior change is very weak. This can be explained by the fact that a single attitude comprises of at least three components. Thinking (cognitive), feeling (emotional) and the intention to the act (commitment). In addition a single attitude is usually linked with a set of other related attitudes.

To change ones attitude you need to target each component of each linked attitude for all employees and this becomes an enormous and next to impossible challenge.

Positive Quality Behavior change can then lead to new belief

Thankfully the link from Behavior change to attitude change is much stronger. If you consciously change your behavior you also tend to re-adjust the associated attitude and belief systems that fit the new behavior. This is because people tend to resolve any conflict/discrepancy between their new behavior and attitude in an attempt to align them. They want to reduce the tension caused by the mismatch between their new behavior and old attitude.

Positive Quality Behavior change can then lead to new belief and attitudes that underline and support the new set of behaviors. An example of this is an Oxygen sensor that was manufactured at a Tyco Healthcare facility that I worked in. One of the biggest issues we had in terms of in house scrap (circa 10%) was air bubbles in the silicon window that took the Oxygen level reading. I demonstrated that the bubbles made no difference to the performance of the device and spoke with and showed the operators the data. A scrap target of less than 1% was agreed and this was exceeded within a week.

The new norm reflected the fact that air bubbles were not an issue and this aligned with the new agreed scrap rate target. There were no complaints from the customer base and this was also shared with operators to help with the reinforcing of the new norm.

Positive reinforcement brought about by peer pressure

An additional factor that enhances attitude change by focusing on behavior is the positive reinforcement brought about by peer pressure. Psychologists have known for some time that group acceptance demands conformity to the groups behavioral and attitudinal ‘norm’.

If a working group adopts the thinking and ‘norm’ that quality focus and standards is best for all concerned then the group as a whole will tend to apply social sanctions to the individual who deviates from this norm and behaves in an at risk quality manner. If people wish to remain part of the social fabric of the group they soon revert back to quality focus and standards.

Part-3

I have helped develop and promote the Behavior Based Quality approach because of my belief that having a strong positive Quality Culture is good for business and generally good for the human condition. I believe that deep-down people truly want to do what is right. It is just “other stuff” that gets in their way.

Recap on part 1 and part 2 before reading this article.

How Do We Stop People Behaving In An At Risk Quality Manner? Punish Them?

Some approaches to Quality management are focused and reliant on fear, use of authority and punishment. These approaches often focus on the discipline and punishment to discourage at risk Quality behavior while Quality behavior is often largely ignored.

This often results in the opposite intended effect. People become afraid to report issues to management or to identify or focus on them. This is because it results in a potential disciplinary type action. Consequently less at risk Quality issues are reported and an increase in the occurrence of minor and major Quality incidents.

As a result of this increase management tend put greater focus on punishment and discipline and this compounds the issue. In the short-term discipline and punishment can sometimes have the intended effect on improving the behavior but more often in the long-term it does not.

Consistency of Application

The effectiveness of discipline and punishment is dependent on its consistency of application. It only works if given immediately and every single time an at risk Quality behavior occurs. It is clear that punishing someone every time they behave in an at risk Quality manner is a very difficult thing to do. More resources are required to enforce this but also because at risk Quality behavior will not always be seen by those that are enforcing the discipline.

This means that those the soon, certain and positive reinforcers gained from behaving in an at risk Quality manner (remember people do what the feel works for them) will gain the upper hand on any uncertain, late negative reinforcers received from punishment.

How Do We Stop People Behaving In An At Risk Quality Manner? Reward Them?

So how can you ensure that the reinforcers for Quality behavior outweigh the at risk Quality reinforcers? People tend to respond to more praise and social approval than criticism and social disapproval. Think of motivational speakers, motivational sporting leaders and children.

Try taking a critical approach with children and see what happens? They will either withdraw into themselves and close up or you have a battle on your hands. The same is true with people in the working environment. It make sense, therefore, to make use of this fact and to praise and reward people for Quality behavior. In my experience this is very rarely done and is a huge untapped source of motivation for many companies.

I have seen systems that link events to points and points turn into rewards. I have seen other systems where overall nominations are proposed by peers and managers for individuals and teams and awards are presented at Quarterly meeting in the form of a Q-Award. This constant focus on positive reinforcement has led to strengthening of a positive Quality Culture due to increased trust and confidence between management and workforce resulting in a reduction in at risk Quality Behavior.

Where To From Here?

We know that focusing on people’s Quality behavior will bring about the desired positive changes and that attitude changes follow behavioral changes. Change the behavior then you change the attitude. We know that social approval and encouragement can bring about positive changes in Quality culture. We know that the workforce is best placed to redefine their Quality norms as they control their own behavior.

It follows, therefore, that any Quality improvement initiative which relies always exclusively on management efforts is less likely to be as successful as one that empowers and enables the workforce itself.

I could not post this article without drawing attention to what has recently taken place at Volkswagen. A different industry but most definitely a Quality issue that allowed cars to pass tests that should not have passed tests. The root cause of the issue is not known at this point but most likely decisions were consciously made to work around the tests.

I believe that had BBQ been used in the area in question prior to the events unfolding that senior management would have learned a lot more about the culture and behaviors in the area and could have prevented what subsequently unfolded.

Tune in Next Week

In my Final Article I will cover the BBQ process itself and the steps involved in implementing it in your company.