If you have ever heard or uttered the words, ‘the quality manager does that' then this article is for you. The quality role is often delegated to one person with everyone else thinking quality isn’t part of their job. The problem here is that when you delegate responsibility for the design and implementation of your quality system you can end up with a system which doesn’t work for you.
Leaders and quality managers tell me it can feel like an impossible task to have an integrated quality management system and leaders tell me one reason it doesn’t happen is that they just don’t know which tasks to delegate to whom.
Everyone is just so busy that leaders feel adding one more layer will be the tipping point. Take one human services organisation I am working with who are transitioning to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), getting ready for their certification audit, trying to write a new procedure and implement processes for the client information management system (CIMS), getting consent from all of their disability support workers to check them against the Disability Support Worker Exclusion Scheme (DWES) register since the expansion of that scheme to all disability workers, rewrite human resources procedures to include this, audit and write processes to meet the Child Safe Standards and start thinking about how the registration and accreditation scheme for Victoria’s disability workforce will affect them.
Many if not all of these tasks get delegated to quality (because they fit nicely into compliance) and the workload suddenly becomes overwhelming.
Leaders hope the quality manager will implement something that works for the organisation but without input from leaders and other stakeholders it can result in a process that meets compliance and provides evidence for audit but creates extra work for others.
I see it time and again when quality managers get frustrated because they can’t get buy in for the system they designed as requested, and feedback from leaders that the quality system is an extra burden and provides no return on investment.
Knowing what can be delegated into existing positions and setting clear accountability can help embed a stronger quality culture rather than having a burdensome add on.
Ron Ashkenas in his article “why accountability is so muddled and how to unmuddle it” says there are three accountability traps:
- complexity of your organisation’s structure
- work processes are constantly evolving
- people work hard to avoid it
Johnathan Raymond in his article “Do you understand what accountability really means” thinks we have a deeply held association between accountability and punishment and this supports Ron Ashkenas view of why people avoid accountability to avoid punishment.
Deborah Mills Scofield in “Let’s bring back accountability” wants to create the environment where it’s easier to have it (accountability) be the norm than not. In my experience accountability provides clarity and supports people to perform well. In my discussions with leaders they tell me accountability with the right level of support gives them peace of mind that risks are managed
When you have a quality management system that is delegated appropriately, and people are accountable for their part of the system things can run smoothly and the quality role can be used more effectively as a resource to keep projects on track, ensure compliance needs are considered, develop best practice systems and internally monitor risks.