1. Data is king but not always gospel.
Yes of course your decisions should be backed by data but what is the bigger picture and is your data reliable? Data can be biased, incomplete or lagging. And correlation is not causation. Ever heard of a false negative? Imagine having a new illness but the tests were coming back negative because the lab hadn’t mastered the correct methodology. Measure measure measure… and then validate your data.
2. Trying to rush production has a cost.
What is that old navy seal saying? “Slow is Smooth and Smooth is Fast”. Execute with intention and focus and get it right the first time. Often when manufacturing is rushed we see more mistakes, products that aren’t to specification and a reduced overall yield. With additional pressure, issues can slip through the cracks and out into the market. Quality should always come first before your production target.
3. Culture in a business has a huge impact.
A place where people are inspired by the leadership team, deeply believe and are passionate about the product made, will make all the difference. No matter the role everyone should feel empowered, whether that means having a say in the most efficient way to do their work, feeling seen and safe enough to raise a concern, to having autonomy and trust to take action when needed.
4. Having to deviate from your process is obviously not a good thing.
Even if you think ‘just this one time’ and you are short on stock. Your tests usually pass, are all okay and you’ve never had an issue. What is not working that you need to do something different? If you are frequently deviating from the process and taking shortcuts it’s telling your team that there is no value in following the method that’s been set out. It's also likely that it’ll be the occasion that something goes wrong. Hello Murphy’s Law.
5. Standardisation does not stifle creativity or innovation.
It will actually enable it as structure creates freedom. When your processes are already figured out, tried and tested, the cognitive load is reduced and provides space to think. Standard processes give you a clear baseline on which to improve upon and test a new approach or tool.
6. People are everything.
Hire for the values you have and an aligned mindset. At the end of the day we’re all here to enjoy life, so it’s important to connect to the people you work with. A high performing team will always push each other to do their best work, “A players want to play with A players”.
7. Anticipate problems and stop them before they occur.
A lot of the work I do is silent in the background and sometimes unrecognised. Success isn’t always about recognition. Prevention beats firefighting every single time.
8. Often the simplest of mistakes have the biggest repercussions.
The minor step missed, the process you didn’t think was needed. What seems obvious to you isn’t always obvious to others. It’s been done a million times? That artwork label that wasn’t checked by the right person? Imagine sending out a new product with an undeclared allergen on the label. Now you’ve got to do a costly product recall just because it wasn’t built into your processes. It happens more often than you think.
9. Quality doesn’t fall on one person, it’s everyone’s responsibility.
There is sometimes an unspoken assumption that the QA Manager or the quality team will catch an issue if there is one. This breeds a culture of passive complacency. True high standards mean every individual acts as a gatekeeper.
10. Good quality management is about strategy.
Most think quality is only about control checks, ticking boxes and compliance. When you shift the mindset to a strategic quality mindset, quality moves from the end of the pipeline to the steering wheel of the business. When processes are clear, data is used well and issues are resolved quickly you are using systems to your advantage. Businesses with good systems keep customers loyal and scale 10 times faster than chaotic ones because they know exactly which levers to pull.
