The CQI presents: establishing a culture of quality

On 7 April CQI Corporate Partners tuned in to a hands-on webinar hosted by the CQI and Corporate Executive Board (CEB).

CEB practice leader Sarah deLiefde gave her advice on the value of creating an innovative quality culture, including information about the return on investment and the cost of quality, as well as a step-by-step guide for implementing a quality culture in any organisation.

She explained how creating a successful quality culture is a $350m (£280m) opportunity that cannot be missed.

A company with 1,000 employees could gain more than £11m in added employee productivity

CEB surveyed organisations across the globe to better understand the drivers behind a successful quality culture. DeLiefde and her team found on average 60 per cent of employees felt their company was weak at embedding a culture of quality. 

She presented her model for evaluating the culture of quality, defining a quality culture as one where employees hear others talk about quality, feel quality around them and see others take proactive quality focused action. This then leads individuals to transfer quality to their peers, embedding the quality culture in the organisation.

She found a company with 1000 employees, which is able to move from the bottom 20 per cent of the quality index to the top 20 per cent, could gain more than £11m in added employee productivity. For a company with 5000 employees, this figure can be estimated at £56m.

DeLiefde also revealed a list of tried and tested drivers for creating a culture of quality, with the top four being employee ownership, peer involvement, message credibility and leadership emphasis. According to the research, an organisation that fails to implement these drivers is unlikely to embed a culture of quality.

Next time

The second event in the series will take place on 5 July, giving quality professionals from Corporate Partner organisations practical advice for exerting influence at board level.