day 259: Consistently The Same

My wife Patti and I sometimes choose to fly on the redeye, overnight, to the east coast. We do this when we are just going for a short time and don't want to lose a day flying, or when we are flying with Louie, our French Bulldog, so he can sleep overnight. We actually hate the redeyes because even though we save the time, the flights tend to wipe us out physically. That said, when we get on the flight we prepare ourselves to get the best short night of sleep as we can. This last flight, it was hard to get a good sleep as the airline did not have any pillows to provide their passengers. When we asked about this, they said, "we don't know what happened, no overnight flights tonight have pillows, sorry". While it didn't mean that much to the flight attendants, who were going to go through their regular routine, regardless of pillows or not, this inconsistent quality meant much to the passengers who were depending on a pillow as part of the baseline offering and foundational tool for them to gather a few hours of sleep. It would be interesting to understand where the breakdown was in their operating system that allows for them to not have pillows provided, and especially on the redeye flights. As consumers and co-workers we depend on, and expect others to deliver consistent quality and a sameness in their jobs. While the flight attendants seemed nonplussed over the fact that flight operations had not provided pillows, in reality, they had to answer that question over and over on that flight, taking away from the ambiance of service that they were prepared to deliver. And they had to answer for others less than consistent quality of work. This adds a stress to their jobs. Our co-workers and our customers want a consistency from us. They want to know what to expect and then be able to count on a consistent level of delivery and quality. They want the same out of us today as yesterday. Our ability to be consistent and work to a level of predictable quality is an example that we can attain from our Lord. God made sure, even from the beginning that He was the same, day in and day out. And even when humans make mistakes and are the inconsistent link in his quality, He recovers and reinstates His sameness. We see this in the story of the Ten Commandments. When Moses broke the first tablets, God did not start all over, He instead returned to the sameness that was Him. We read in Deuteronomy 10:2 "and I will write on the tablets the same words that were on the ones you smashed. Then place the tablets in the Ark." As humans we want and expect the sameness from each other. While we want to be different and not live and work in the same, a consistent delivery, a sameness can be exactly what others need to work well with us, continue the work started, or even to get a good night's sleep. Think today about how consistently you are delivering the "same" that others need and expect from you.

Reference: Deuteronomy 10:2 (New Living Testament)

day 250: Quality Control

Whatever business you are in, at some point there is a discussion about quality. This can be quality of the product or quality of the delivery of service. Quality is for many companies the number one priority. Ford Motor Company's advertising campaign in the late 1980's and early 1990's was built around the theme of quality with; "Quality is Job One!". We expect quality from products that we buy. We expect quality of service when we engage with a company for services rendered. When we receive quality workmanship or service we equate that to the price paid and if the quality is greater than the price then we feel like we have received a value. But when quality suffers everything suffers. That is why many a CEO and senior management team will go to any extreme to improve quality and ensure that it is one area that they can rest upon firmly. It is very interesting how the consultants who work in the quality area discuss the issue. As they dissect the problem many times what they find is that it is not a major breakdown in process, commitment, or orientation, but rather somewhere in the manufacturing process or in the service delivery standards there is a minor infraction that pollutes the entire process and renders it impossible to have perfection. Many hours and many consulting dollars are spent annually in the search for the tiniest of issues to be identified and rectified. Our lives are much the same. Especially at work. It's a small proportion of the population that have huge gaping holes in their character or their personality. But there are many, myself included, who have many small areas in our lives that need to be changed, improved, or removed in order to be the type of person we want to be. These small infractions and imperfections can be the ones that ruin the whole batch of our being. Our job, as believers, is like the quality control inspectors, to continuously be identifying areas for improvement and then change the standard operating procedures to ensure that these areas are mitigated. This is what God asks us to do in 1 Thessalonians 4:7; "God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives." God calls us to inspect for the imperfections and then do whatever we have to do to remove those impurities. Today as you think about how you work and live, are there impurities in your life that you just keep bringing to work every day? Is it a choice of language that you use at work, is it how you treat others around you, is it the feelings that you have towards others or your attitude in general that is getting in the way of your personal quality improvement? Is there one thing you could begin changing today that when you did your own quality of person assessment, you would say needs to change? Today would be the day to make that change. Like the garment tags we get with new clothing, what better piece of paper to have in our pocket today than, "This child of God was inspected and approved by the Holy Spirit" That is true quality control.

Reference: 1 Thessalonians 4:7 (New Living Testament)