Are You Looking at the Right Things?

Just completed the 4th mentoring session with a quality manager of a medium size company from Germany – let’s call him ‘Y.’ Our process together, as well the following verification of ‘Y’ within the organization, reveals a shocking truth (If you think I am dramatic, wait until you see ‘Y’).
‘Y’ discovered that current KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) are far from reflecting the real quality issues the company is facing. We also learned that different people use different data and methods to measure the same things. (Believe it or not, this is a recurring theme for all my mentees, no matter where they are from the globe). An immediate action plan is redefining the KPI’s matrix to tell the real story and come up with a standardized process to reflect and measure so everyone will use the same data set and be able to slice and dice it as needed.
The 3rd letter in the E.PI.C model stands for information, and there is a good reason for it. Over time I get to learn that quality leaders waisting more time on chasing and understanding the data rather than solving the issues the data show. And this is an Elephant you must move out of your way. Agree?