Summary Report

ASQ Emerging Quality LeadersGallup Site Visit | April 2015

EMERGING

EMERGING QUALITY LEADERS GALLUP SITE VISIT SUMMARY REPORT2

OverviewASQ’s 2014-2015 Emerging Quality Leaders wrapped up their site-visit voyages of leadership discovery with sessions hosted in April by Gallup Inc. at its Washington, D.C., headquarters, capped by cohort team project presentations. The Proust quote above, referenced by Mara Hoogerhuis, Gallup learning and development advanced consultant, successfully captures and represents the site visit, year-long program, and perhaps the experience outcome—new eyes of enhanced leadership—for the inaugural cohort.

Gallup CEO PacesetterIn informal remarks combining trends, laced with insider stories and humor, Gallup CEO James Clifton led off the site visit with references to quality gurus familiar to ASQ—Deming and Juran—then posed the question: “Quality has always been about process … but who has thought about what human behavior does to process?” Behavioral influences and impact on economics, on leadership development, on employee and customer engagement, and on observing and designing customer experience were explored by the Gallup speakers on Clifton’s leadership team throughout the day. Clifton set the pace, referencing Gallup behavioral work with Wells Fargo, which helped the bank “do more with current customers … grow revenue, grow the ratio of products per account.”

Referencing recently released major Gallup research on employee engagement—or lack thereof—and business performance, Clifton reported that growth and improvement were increased through employee and bank team engagement, which in turn raised customer engagement. “Gallup found the driver was the attitude of the teams in the stores; the spirit of employee teams was the differential in customer engagement. If an employee feels he matters, that his job matters, that life matters … that raises customer engagement. Gallup parsed employees by how many are engaged, versus the actively disengaged employees,” which Clifton noted is “just another word for awful people.”

Putting lessons learned in its research to work at Gallup, Clifton said the firm emphasizes engagement, employee development using its StrengthsFinder assessments and tools, and the evolution of business culture and management. For Clifton a great culture “should be a strengths-based culture that maximizes the potential of each individual; create processes to develop strengths of individuals; team managers who optimize strengths of individual … managers with a gift to develop people.”

“The voyage of discovery lies not in finding new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”

—Marcel Proust

EMERGING QUALITY LEADERS GALLUP SITE VISIT SUMMARY REPORT 3

Science and Human NatureDelving more deeply into the definitions, data, and continuing study of behavioral economics, John Fleming, Gallup chief scientist, marketplace practice and HumanSigma® Consulting, challenged the cohort to consider the “next management discipline: In today’s hyper-competitive global and now turbulent business environment, how can companies drive higher levels of growth and profitability? Where will the next big performance gains come from?”

For Fleming, answers are found in the study of behavioral economics, specifically “applied behavioral economics: the mathematical description of the role human nature plays in just about … everything,” quoting and referencing Clifton. Fleming explained that behavioral economic “cause” data includes employee engagement, brand promise, customer engagement, strengths and fit of employees’ studies, statistics, and analysis, while an applied behavioral economic model for an organization relies on systems—“a company’s critical systems, employee engagement systems plus customer engagement systems; to arrive at financial and operational effectiveness, both must be worked on.”

In its HumanSigma work, Gallup studies and advises on the “employee-customer encounter,” which he said must be measured, managed, and optimized to achieve meaningful operational and financial improvements. HumanSigma applies a set of New Rules (see accompanying list) and mastery of a new Management Operating System based on defining and redefining excellence, developing capabilities (individuals and teams), and driving accountability.

Pump Up the StrengthsLeveraging attendees’ individual findings in a pre-session StrengthsFinder assessment through discussions and activities, Hoogerhuis led off with a challenge, and definitions of terms, followed by a formula for improvement—seemingly simple, yet ultimately complex. Based on years of Gallup data, she posited the encouraging news that people “who focus on using their strengths are three times more likely to report having an excellent quality of life … and six times more likely to be engaged in their jobs.”

Hoogerhuis contrasted talent—“the naturally recurring pattern of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied … a natural way of thinking or feeling” with strength: “the ability to consistently produce near-perfect performance in a given role.” Both are essential elements of humans, Hoogerhuis acknowledged, yet the differential is where an individual makes their investment—“time spent developing your skills and building your knowledge base.” Gallup data shows “the formula for strength: Talent × Investment = Strength.”

In working with organizations and individuals shifting to strengths-based professional-, management-, and team-based development, Hoogerhuis said companies start with the assessed strengths, building development programs and paths from that base.

“There are differences between talents, skills, and knowledge. Knowledge and skills are transferable. Talent is embedded in a person naturally,” she noted, acknowledging that knowing and growing the talents, skills, and knowledge—of individuals and of

HumanSigma® The “New Rules”1. Like critical systems, the

employee-customer encounter must be conceptualized and managed holistically.

2. The employee-customer encounter is fundamentally emotional.

3. The employee-customer encounter must be measured and managed locally.

4. The effectiveness of the employee-customer encounter can be quantified and summarized in a single performance metric—the HumanSigma metric—that is powerfully related to financial and operational performance.

5. Improvement in local HumanSigma performance requires mastery of three disciplines as part of a comprehensive Management Operating System.

EMERGING QUALITY LEADERS GALLUP SITE VISIT SUMMARY REPORT4

teams—is essential but “strengths development leads to excellence,” and is a “huge shift in mindset and culture,” again for individuals, teams, and entire global organizations.

The StrengthsFinder methods work best when given focus, “when there is a common mission, common language, high visibility to the tools at work … when the organization is intentionally investing in developing strengths,” Hoogerhuis encouraged.

Offering a set of guiding principles to the leaders to use alongside their top strength themes and leadership development, Hoogerhuis listed the items and appealed to the group to continue on the strengths journey.

All About the CustomerWrapping up the day with additional data and systematic thinking about themselves, their businesses, and their leadership futures, John Timmerman, Gallup senior strategist and past chair, ASQ, took attendees on a brief tour of brain operations in use when individuals make choices:

• System 1 operates automatically and quickly with little or no effort and no sense of voluntary control.

• System 2 allocates attention to the effortful mental activities that demand it, including complex computations.

Then he asked: “Do you prefer customers to use System 1 or System 2 in making purchase decisions?” followed by data showing that 30 percent of decisions are made rationally, a whopping 70 percent through System 1. In work at Gallup, and in Timmerman’s past executive roles in quality at Marriott International and The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, that reality is used in ethnographic customer research and increasing understanding of human and emotional factors of experience, memory, first impressions, and the like.

In using ethnography, Timmerman advised the leaders to very closely “study the customer, how memories are getting loaded, what memories are reliable … you have to pick the vital few to brand, those you can consistently control and deliver … and design the customer experience to 100 percent deliver on those few every time.”

Taking even the action of “looking through the eyes of the customer,” quality professionals and leaders can excel at the tasks of:1. Observe and document.2. Reflect for insight.3. Ideate solutions (those that customers wouldn’t think of or ask for). Then they can combine

this work in quality and data collection with innovation tools and prototyping.Timmerman called on the cohort to leverage the data and trends discussed throughout the site visit, shifting consumption patterns, and their knowledge, experience, and found strengths to:• Develop solutions that increase memory loading of the desired experience and align with

brand differentiation; and• Experiment with solutions that foster customer and employee engagement and create rapid

learning cycles.

Guiding Principles• “Differences are advantages

we need to exploit.”

• “Themes are not labels.”

• “Themes do not make people good or bad … people make themes good or bad.”

• “Lead with positive intent.”

• “People need one another.”

—Mara Hoogerhuis,

Gallup

Click here to gain access to the Four Strengths Skills worksheet from Gallup

EMERGING QUALITY LEADERS GALLUP SITE VISIT SUMMARY REPORT 5

Emerging Quality Leaders 2014-2015 Team Project

Government WasteSashi AmatyaBrent Booker Barbara KeezellKristin Myers

Quality Talent Gap Group 1:Bracy HalkerRobert HuntAshley Larracuente Doug Muegge

Quality Talent Gap Group 2:Christopher P. Coppus Randi DunnJames E. HaydukeFalgun Patel

Big Data MetricsVirginia Cleary-Ivanoff CJ GibbonsAndy MatheinRyan Wills

FDA Case for QualityJudson GuerickeHeath PauketteCisco Vicenty Allison Zolnay

ABOUT THE EMERGING QUALITY LEADERS PROGRAM (EQLP)The Emerging Quality Leaders Program is a one-year, leadership development experience for high-potential quality leaders in world-class corporations focused on establishing a culture of quality and performance excellence. The program prepares this elite group of rising professionals for impactful leadership and helps them emerge with a broader perspective on how to achieve performance excellence for their own organizations; stimulate creativity, risk taking, and innovation; and build the knowledge and capabilities necessary to lead in the 21st century.

Emerging Quality Leaders are defined as aspiring, high-potential midlevel management professionals identified by management as having the ability to advance at least two job grades at an accelerated rate; having demonstrated exemplary performance, values, and results in their current role; and being viewed as a potential successor for a senior-level management role. Emerging Quality Leaders are passionate about leadership development, change, quality, continuous improvement, learning, and welcome engaging and thought-provoking challenges.

As an Emerging Quality Leader, you’ll be part of a cohort of high-performing professionals who are making a difference in some of the world’s most innovative and successful corporations—from personal benchmark visits to Fortune 500 companies, to mentoring by inspirational quality executives, to interactions and developing relationships with your cohort members on tackling some of the most intriguing business issues. This will be a career highlight from which you will benefit, learn, and prosper for years to come.

EMERGING QUALITY LEADERS GALLUP SITE VISIT SUMMARY REPORT6

Mike Adams - President (Mike Adams and Company, LLC)

Carol Armstrong - Corporate Quality Director (Northrop Grumman)

Lloyd Barker - Corporate Quality Director (Alcoa)

Peter Chatel - Principle, The Chatel Consulting Group

John Coyle - Senior Director of Quality (Amway)

Dr. Alexander Eksir - VP, Quality (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics)

Joanna Engelke - Senior Vice President, Global Quality (Boston Scientific)

Greg Flickinger - VP, Corporate Engineering and Manufacturing (Snyder’s-Lance)

Kate Goonan - CEO (Goonan Performance Strategies, LLC)

Glen Griffiths - CQO (Bloom Energy)

Stephen Hacker - CEO and Founding Partner (Transformation Systems International, LLC)

Eric Hayler - Lean Six Sigma Director (BMW)

Eugene Jaramillo - Senior Director, Corporate Quality (Raytheon)

Cecilia Kimberlin - Founder (Kimberlin Consulting, LLC)

John Latham - Social Scientist and Organization Architect (Leadership Plus Design, Ltd.)

Jd Marhevko - VP, Quality and Lean Systems (AccuRide)

Bob Mitchell - Corporate Quality Manager (3M)

Mike Nichols - Senior Consultant (Tactegra)

Tony Roberts - Director (Trivista)

Roberto Saco - Principle, Aporia Advisors

Matt Shah - VP, Regulatory Affairs, Quality Management, Environmental Health and Safety (Siemens Healthcare)

Jill Smith - VP, Corporate Quality (Medtronic)

John Timmerman - Chief Strategist (Gallup)

Jackie Torfin - VP, Quality Management/Contract Management (Heraues Medical)

Jack West - Principle (Six Sigma Adventures)

Executive Mentors: List of Participating MentorsFeatured Speakers

Mara Hoogerhuis

Learning and Development Advanced Consultant, Gallup

John H. Fleming, Ph.D.

Chief Scientist, Marketplace Practice and HumanSigma Consulting

John C. Timmerman, Ph.D.

Senior Strategist, Gallup

* Please contact Emergingqualityleader@asq.org with any questions or concerns regarding the EQLP project.