Leadership a Focus at the
ASQ St. Louis
2007 Spring Quality Conference
Leadership was an important theme at the 2007 St. Louis Section ASQ Conference. On conference day, the keynote address featured leadership, followed by a full-day of Leadership Track breakout sessions. Several of the pre-conference workshops focused on aspects of leadership as well. “Leadership is an important topic for an ASQ conference,” said Steve Mundwiller of Bizmanualz, Section 1304 Conference Chair. “No matter where they fit in the organizational hierarchy, members of the quality department should help set the tone and serve as role models.”
Mr. Robert Chapman, CEO and Chairman of Barry-Wehmiller Inc., gave an impressive keynote address to kick off the conference. Mr. Chapman spoke about how his life’s experiences have led him to a philosophy of “inspirational leadership.” Here, leadership is about authentically finding common missions and common themes that every member of the organization can understand, relate to, and support. “We measure success by the way we touch the lives of people” is the guiding principle at Barry-Wehmiller, and Mr. Chapman gave several examples of how a philosophy of taking care of people leads directly to a healthy bottom line. The unprecedented growth and success of Barry-Wehmiller in the past decade shows that Mr. Chapman’s sincere interest in people is a winning approach to leadership.
Break-out sessions in the leadership track covered a broad scope of topics. Mr. Dennis Arter of Columbia Audit Resources is an author, an ASQ Fellow, and is well-known as “The Audit Guy.” Mr. Arter gave a well-received presentation titled “Quality Auditing and the Boss” that clarified the value of audits to an organization. The focus of an auditor should not be to document what is wrong with a an organizations, but to help them improve. With this approach, the bosses are more likely to, in turn, help the auditors. Mr. Arter applied this approach to all kinds of organizations from healthcare to government.
Another popular session was “Leading the Way to Performance Excellence” by Mr. Rob Herhold, president of The Institute for Strategic Management and currently a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Examiner. Mr. Herhold presented ways organizational leaders can be dynamic and agile; a must in today’s complex and fast-moving business environment. The discussion was centered on Criteria for Performance Excellence, and included topics such as organizational relationships, planning, social responsibility, and recognition.
Rounding out the leadership track were presentations by Mr. Brian Wellinghoff of Barry-Wehmiller and Mr. Mike Simms of Measure by Measure Consulting. Mr. Wellinghoff followed up the keynote address with even more clear examples of how “Inspirational Leadership” positively impacts the culture and environment of an organization. This, in turn, leads to improvements in very tangible things like safety and product quality. Mr. Simms directed his presentation to managers and supervisors from any industry or business interested in renewing their leadership fundamentals in order to sustain high levels of participation in improvement efforts. Mr. Simms has an impressive record of using innovative approaches to assist leaders in achieving organizational excellence. As a result his organizations have received the Missouri Quality Award, the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award, and the America’s Best Plants Award from Industry Week magazine.
The St. Louis Section 1304 2007 Spring Conference was a great success overall, with excellent attendance and superior presentations. The emerging theme of leadership and the success of the Leadership session track, however, were particularly rewarding. As plans move forward for the 2008 Conference a strong set of leadership track sessions will remain a priority. If your are interested in the St. Louis Section of ASQ or in the St. Louis Section ASQ Spring Conference, contact Steve Mundwiller, the 2008 Conference Chair.