What are quality objectives?
Business flow should never stand still. Managers realize how important it is for an organization to be continuously improving. This can ensure the competitive strength of a firm on the market and motivate employees on honing their professional skills. What do quality objectives have to do with this?
Quality objectives are quality control goals that a company sets according to ISO 9001:2015 standards. These goals have to be SMART so that the employees could have a complete understanding of how and what they should to boost their organizational efficiency. The abbreviation stands for:
Specific. The item for improvement has to be clearly defined.
Measurable. The objective must be a quantifiable plan of action.
Achievable. The objective has to be realistic.
Relevant. The goal must be related to the industry area relevant to the company.
Timely. The objective has to be done within a specific time frame.
What areas do should a business use quality objectives?
It is true that different industries use different quality objectives. Therefore, it is difficult to name the objectives that would work in every senario. However, there is one thing that all these goals have in common: they are all aimed at improving the level of customer satisfaction either directly or indirectly.
The examples of quality objectives with direct influence include:
- Delivery: Achieve X percent of deliveries in under 15 minutes by September.
- Customer service: Maintain a customer satisfaction rate of X percent in winter months.
- Returns: Reduce the number of product returns by X percent in Q4.
The indirect influence can be seen within:
- Performance: Increase product performance to X days of use.
- Efficiency: Improve operational efficiency by X percent in comparison to 2019.
- Safety: Have zero safety incidents in the workplace or no product defects.
What Should I Do if My Quality Targets Are Not Met?
Every team will occasionally fail to achieve its quality goals. No one is safe from mistakes because humans are not machines that can be programmed for a specific action. However, if you are a thorough and competent supervisor, you can minimize the number of failed goals by:
- Documenting data
It will help to identify what went wrong and make the appropriate adjustments. Documentation should be thorough, and details such as the personnel, data, figures, incidents, and other important information need to be recorded.
- Evaluate resources against the quality objective
Look through the SMART components of the goal and check how realistic they are. For example, as for the A-aspect (Achievable), it should be reviewed how feasible this goal is. Does the company have enough resources and production capacity? It’s most likely not the workers’ fault if most of them aren’t meeting their quality objectives.
- Have feedback sessions
Many managers and supervisors fail to make use of their team member’s individual talents. To change this, ask about their opinions on how motivated they feel doing certain job activities. Managers should take the time to listen to their employees and empower them to make the company better.
- Perform a causal analysis to determine the reason for the failure
Numerous internal and external factors can contribute to failure. A root cause analysis can help to identify the main cause of failure. Corrective and preventive measures can then be formulated.
- Create an A3 report to refine the approach
The A3 model is a problem-solving technique with the aim of identifying, understanding and solving problems in a business environment. It uses the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act/Adjust) methodology, which is helpful for optimization to ultimately achieve quality goals.
How can a mobile application track quality objectives?
Once the S.M.A.R.T. quality objectives have been established, it is important to ensure that they are clearly communicated to the team. Additional measures, such as internal audits, help to ensure that all steps to achieve the quality objectives are followed. From the formulation of the quality goals to their communication and implementation, everything can be implemented more easily, quickly, and efficiently with digital checklists.
- Collect data on the spot at any time with your phone or tablet via the app – online and offline.
- Use the collected data to formulate S.M.A.R.T. quality goals or to find the root cause of defects.
- Share completed quality goal templates immediately with teams and stakeholders to ensure immediate implementation and visibility.
- Customize our pre-built quality goal templates using our form builder or create your own to fit your business needs
- Assign corrective actions to team members instantly and track their completion in real-time
- Easily communicate updates and changes to quality goals through the app
- Extensive analytics help you uncover inefficient areas in your business faster to better achieve your quality goals
