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ASQ Bylaws Changes

A few days ago, ASQ asked all members to vote on proposed changes to the Bylaws. It took some digging, but I think I now understand why these changes were suggested. I have also concluded that the changes will be good for the Society and plan to vote my approval.

What is really being proposed?

While on the surface it appears to be just title changes, the underlying effect is much deeper. First, the position of President will disappear, in favor of Chair of the Board. We will select a chair-elect every year, rather than president-elect. Second, our paid executive director in Milwaukee will become the Chief Executive Officer.

So what's the big deal?

For many years now, the ASQ President and Executive Director have held sometimes conflicting and sometimes supporting positions. The President generally had one year to accomplish something significant, then step aside for the next President. The Executive Director had one year to fire up staff in Milwaukee to implement the President's initiatives. Some of these initiatives stuck and some did not.

This lack of stability was also felt on the Board of Directors. Even though the Chair was officially in charge, the President was running the show. It was (and continues to be) hard to see the bigger picture and develop long-term strategies. A few years ago, the Board even referred to these as "living strategies." Our ASQ ship can not turn on a dime. We can not even turn in a lake.

What effect will these changes have to the members and outsiders?

I see our new CEO becoming the face of our professional society. He will represent ASQ to the media and other stakeholders. Including us. I also see more stability in staff direction. I see greater accountability for results.

So what will the Board be doing?

They will be providing policy and visionary direction, as they should have been doing all along. No corporation requires operating (process) procedures to be approved by the Board. We do. No corporation requires leadership assignments to be approved by the Board. We do. My hope is that the new Executive Council of past chair, chair, chair-elect, and treasurer, will have the ability to get the rest of the Directors to look at long-range forces affecting the ASQ. Often in the background. The Board will do a better job of defining policy and direction, allowing the staff and member leaders to implement.

“I’m part of the ASQ Influential Voices program. While I receive a variety of quality resources as honorarium from ASQ in exchange for my commitment, the thoughts and opinions expressed on my blog are my own.”

Power of Pull

The Power of Pull

Hagel, Brown, Davison (2010), ISBN 978-0-465-01935-9

Authors John Hagel, John Seely Brown, and Lang Davison suggest that information now flows like water. Successful individuals, corporations, and organizations must learn how to tap into that knowledge stream. Push is dying and pull is taking its place.

Push has been our economic model for several centuries. We forecast needs. Then we design systems to get the right people and resources together to produce those needs, using carefully scripted and standardized processes. Finally, we deliver those needs to the intended users or customers. Sounds like the classic PDCA methods to me.

We see push in the ways we deliver education, the ways we make cars, the ways we worship, the ways we provide entertainment, and the ways we run nations. Push is based on finite stocks of goods and services that are often tightly controlled, through patents, market presence, and often sheer power.

The authors suggest that pull is a different approach. It uses the power of the network (in its many forms) to first access people and resources to predict needs. Then additional people and resources are attracted to contribute. Often these contributors come from all around the world and different socioeconomic classes. You often didn't even know they existed. Finally, pull will leverage the power of this coalescing group to achieve greatness. 

Access, attract, and achieve.

These four concepts (decline of push, access leading indicators, attract like-minded individuals, and achieve greatness) are defined in the first 30 pages of the book. The remaining 250 pages expand on those four topics and give examples and suggestions.

I noticed many similarities between this book and ones by Tapscott and Williams (Wikinomics) and Jarvis (What Would Google Do?).

Of course. All three are comments on our changing world.

While I am not stupid enough to believe that the Power of Pull applies everywhere, this book raised additional doubts in my mind. Are current management systems really the best for all organizations? I first noticed these doubts about twenty years ago, as I tried to understand why innovation was so hard to cultivate. I remember reading Tor Dahl's classic paper on The Unfreezing of America  and realized that there are times when PDCA is actually harmful to the life of an organization. I continue to be frustrated by the inability of leaders to tap the power of the people. President Obama's Yes We Can is a classic example of high expectations not achieved.

I wonder if quality management systems, safety management systems, environmental management systems, security management systems, and especially the certification thereof, may be causing harm to society. Are there times when we need to encourage and allow chaos to flourish?

How can we apply the Power of Pull to our own lives, our communities, and our organizations? When do we try to do so?