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John Perry is one of Canada’s greatest pioneers in the area of organizational excellence.
For many years he has had the reputation as Canada’s “guru on quality and healthy workplace development”. He has played a leading role in the creation of a distinctly Canadian approach to quality and healthy workplace management.
As W. Edwards Deming, his mentor, said many years ago “Hard work and best efforts will not by themselves dig us out of the pit, in fact it is only by the illumination of outside knowledge that we may observe that we are in a pit”.
Working tirelessly with many groups and organizations in all sectors of our society John has maintained a passion for improving the quality of life in Canada.
Over the past 20 years he has devoted his entire career to teaching and assisting organizations to improve what they do including quality systems, quality leadership, and the health and wellness of their staff. He is an ambassador, firmly believing that a healthy workplace is an integral part of an excellent organization. He has consistently preached that you need both quality systems and a healthy environment in order to be a great organization.
Accordingly he has created leading edge tools, such as criteria and the NQI Progressive Excellence programs, that have assisted organizations become the best they can be. Every day he continues to inspire us all to become the very best that we can be.
John Perry with W. Edwards Deming
As John will be retiring at the end of the year I thought it would be appropriate to share a brief summary of a few of the many things he has taught me about the subject of organizational excellence.
1) Don’t bite off more than you can chew.It’s easy for organizations to get excited about quality improvement and want the world to change overnight. As we live in a ‘quarterly results’ kind of world it’s not unusual for a leadership team to say: “I heard about the Principles of Excellence and I’d like to get those in place by next quarter!” Anyone who knows the subject realizes that this is a ridiculous request. Excellence is all about changing your culture and culture change is about fostering a collaborative environment that supports certain principles, practices, and values. This doesn’t happen over night. Getting results always starts with a commitment, not resources.
The key to successfully implementing excellence is doing the right things first. Look at NQI PEP® Level 1 Quality for example. There are only four Criteria. They focus on aim, customer identification, and commitment issues. That’s more than enough for an organization trying to get their feet firmly planted on the subject of excellence. If instead they looked at the Criteria for Levels 2, 3, and 4, it’s likely that the organization would be overwhelmed and quit before they started. It’s like when my daughter gets a chocolate bunny on Easter morning. If she eats the whole thing she won’t feel well. So I tell her to eat the ears first (NQI PEP® Level 1). Then the next week she can eat the head (NQI PEP® Level 2). Then the next week she can eat the body (NQI PEP® Level 3). Finally the following week she’s ready to eat the rest of the bunny.(NQI PEP® Level 4). Getting her to actually take this advice is a completely different matter.
2) Excellence is at the ‘heart’ of the matterExcellence is not about checklists. It’s not about standards. It’s not about certifications. It’s not about programs. Excellence is about a transformation of thinking. It requires collaboration and teamwork. It requires a clear understanding of the aim of the organization at all levels. Excellence is therefore about heart, relationships, and how people (customers/employees/suppliers) treat and communicate with each other.
People sometimes ask me why National Quality Institute is involved with the subject of healthy workplace. Isn’t there a National Healthy Workplace Institute to handle that stuff? The answer is simple. You can’t have a quality organization without a proper focus on the people who work there. The people are the heart of the organization and excellence is at the heart of the matter.
3) The simplest things are sometimes the most complicatedThis in itself is a simple idea. Excellence is a deceptively simple yet endlessly complicated subject. On the surface it seems like common sense. “Let’s be the best that we can be and commit to continuous improvement.” Scratch the surface though and you get to the details. Feelings are complicated, organizational culture is complicated, changing the way someone thinks is complicated, excellence is complicated. Nurturing and changing a work culture towards excellence is not something that can be taken lightly.
So what can make this less complicated? The right set of questions. A criteria or framework set out the right things to think about. Once you’re thinking about the right things the subject of excellence is manageable. Training on criteria develops a common conceptual base and drives consistency of focus. As mentioned earlier a progressive approach to implementation is also helpful to ensure that your organization is making progress. Over time this approach builds a culture for quality and a healthy workplace within the fabric of an organization.
In terms of next steps for the reader here is a three step plan for you:
1) Learn about progressive implementation.
NQI PEP® is a solid roadmap for implementation and will help you avoid biting off more than you can chew. A good first step is the NQI Framework for Excellence Course
2) Learn about how a healthy workplace fits into an overall approach to excellence.
This will help you get to the “heart” of excellence. A good first step is the NQI Quest for a Healthy Workplace® Training course
3) Explore the Canadian Framework for Excellence and the NQI PEP® Criteria to guide you through the deceptively simple yet endlessly complicated subject of excellence.
A Public Thank You to John Perry:John,
You have had an incredible influence on my career.
Your guidance and friendship have been invaluable in getting me to where I am today.
I thank you for changing the way I think about excellence. I had to stop at three concepts that you taught me for this article or else it would have been 20 pages long.
Although I will never be able to fill your shoes, I will try my best to represent Excellence in Canada the way you have for the last 25 years.
Thanks John.
Enjoy your retirement!
Adam Stoehr and John Perry at the 2009 Canada Awards for Excellence Gala.
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