The quality management movement initiated by W.E. Deming in the 1950s had at its core a focus on training as one means by which workers are empowered to be more effective and more connected with the quality of their work. But, though many of Deming’s recommendations resulted in new processes and methods that radically changed how businesses are run, training never benefited from the same level of new thinking and new approaches to operational excellence.
Indeed, it turns out that one of the most important scenes in the quality movie Deming made in the early 1950s landed on the cutting room floor: It’s the scene in which Deming says, “Doing your best is not good enough. You have to know what to do. Then do your best.” Whereupon everyone revamps their training so that methods and content align with the master’s vision.
Instead, training has moved at glacial speeds to meet Deming’s challenge, and, 60 years later, it has only fallen further behind. The result is a training gap that helps explain why good companies and good products nevertheless fail, and fail miserably, even when equipped with the latest in high-quality technology and best practices.
How bad is it? The CEO of a top software vendor once told me he sat in on his own company’s training classes to see what was amiss and ended up asleep in the back row. It’s a fitting anecdote for a problem that continues to bedevil trainers and trainees alike.