I have taught or facilitated hundreds of seminars and attended almost as many programs over the course of my career. As I look back on those workshops, some stand out as truly memorable and have been useful to me over the course of career. One truly unforgettable session was entitled “Expectations and Quality” and its theme is as relevant today as it was when I first attended that seminar twenty years ago.
While discussing how to achieve total quality within a company, the question of defects arose. One participant stated that at her company, their error rate had been reduced to less than two percent. The class was impressed and as I recall, she smiled with pride and joy at the adulation of her classmates. The instructor paused, looked out at us and stated, “That is a very good error rate, but let me pose a question to all of you.” He then asked, “And what do you think the dropped baby error rate is at your local hospital?” A hush went up throughout the entire classroom, no one seemed to want to speak. Our facilitator clarified his question by stating, “I mean, over the course of a year, how many babies do you think it is acceptable for each nurse to drop in order to meet her allowable error rate?” Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, a student in the back of the room meekly answered, “I guess zero dropped babies would be the preferred error rate.”
The teacher replied, “Exactly! zero dropped babies is not only the acceptable error rate, it is the required error rate.” He then asked the class, “Why do you think that almost every hospital in the United States manages to never drop a baby?” A lively discussion ensued and at the end of it, we all came to the realization that nurses never drop babies because it is extremely important to keep every baby safe and as a result, they constantly pay attention to each baby, ensuring that no child is ever in danger of falling to the floor. Careful, constant and focused attention is constantly placed on the safety of each baby, by every nurse, 100% of the time. Everything else is secondary to the health and safety of each newborn. So why is it difficult for all of us to achieve zero defects in our work?
I believe that the answer to that question lies in a combination of expectations and consequences. In most businesses, the expectation is that there will be some errors in everyone’s work. As a result, mistakes are made and even allowed, as a course of doing business. The consequences for these mistakes are usually minimal and are often easily corrected. If we suffer consequences because of our mistakes, they are usually minor, we regroup and go on with our day . No one is hurt and the mistake can almost always be repaired, refunded or redone. Imagine what the consequences would be for the nurse who drops a baby. There is no doubt that there would be severe repercussions for the offending nurse and the hospital. Nurses expect to never drop a baby, while also realizing that if they ever did, it would almost certainly be the last baby they ever dropped.
All of us can easily apply that same zero error rate to our own lives. Adopt the philosophy that you will never accept anything less than the very best in your job. Strive for perfection every day of your life and watch as your career steadily improves. Push for the best, not most of the time, but all of the time; day in and day out. And when things get tough, as they will for all of us, remember that your goal is to never, ever, drop any babies. Babies deserve that type of dedication and attention….so do you and so does your job.