Have you seen the new milk jugs? Apparently, they will save a lot of money to transport, and so reduce costs and help save the environment. But the darned things leak and spill so easily.
Imagine if your job were to pour milk for important guests. Last year you were a star milk-pourer. Today, you are spilling and dribbling all over the place. Your customers are appalled. Your boss is shaking his head.
But who is to blame? You? Or the milk jug?
Research by social scientists says that observers are more likely to over-estimate how much you are at fault and under-estimate other factors that are out of your control. They see milk dribbling on the table next to their glass and their instinctive reaction is “you are incompetent”. In fact, saying “it’s the jug!” is likely to draw scoffing remarks: “I pay you for results, not excuses” and “the poor workman blames his tools”.
Fix the jug
W. Edwards Deming, the guru of quality-control, once said that 85% of quality defects are the results of poor systems, not poor employees. Assigning quality goals using a bad system — jamming low-quality materials into an antiquated system operated by over-worked and under-trained employees – virtually guarantees failure. Deming’s advice is to focus on improving the system, so it’s easy to produce high-quality output, rather than rewarding and punishing workers.
So, when customers complain about their experience with your company or your product, pause before you assume the customer service rep isn’t up to par, or the manufacturing team needs to get its act together. We are too quick to slap poor performance reviews on people, gossip behind their backs and generally hold them accountable for poor results. It’s human nature, but it’s incorrect.
Maybe it’s the milk jug.
Posted by brucegab 
