Fear and Quality

W Edwards Deming is called the father of the quality movement. His fourteen points set the foundation for the quality movement worldwide. Oddly, one of his points is ‘Drive out Fear’. He said that fear of speaking out or telling management about problems can lead to a drop in quality at best and injury and disaster at worst. Fear also holds people back from being and doing their best. Most people don’t speak up in public because a fear of public speaking. Giving feedback in a way that minimises the risk of pushback or learning to speak with fear is the answer. Easy to say and hard to do but a very worthwhile challenge for individuals and organisations. We have given too much power to fear. It is simply a warning not a solid barrier.