ASQ Member Michael McDermott, Seattle, Washington, works for NISH, an organization that allows him to offer his quality services to non-profit organizations to help make them profitable.

After much discussion and work, Laura, with lots of help from Paula and Kathryn, set up an initial meeting at Fort Bend's district headquarters yesterday. There were representatives from seven districts in all, from both the Houston and DFW areas. Five other districts have expressed an interest in participating, but could not attend yesterday's session.   

Our agenda was based on initial feedback from the participants on their main topics of interest: 1) mission, vision and values, 2) leadership development and 3) communication. Each participating district rep did a short, informal presentation on their approaches in these areas, facilitated by Paula, Laura and me. I had responsibility for the communication topic, and provided the attendees with some best practices that I've identified in this area.  

All the attendees thought the session was quite worthwhile and we're planning a second session in the DFW area in mid-November and more for next year. The educators also suggested several other districts whose Superintendents might be interested to attend.

Hear how ASQ member Meena Chettiar, Brooklyn Park, Minn, uses quality tools in the pharmaceutical industry to help individuals that suffer from pain.

ASQ member Georgia Johnson, Cincinnati, Ohio, says quality is the key to life when it comes to her job at PlasmaCare.

TechFest™ is a free annual event for kids and families in Dayton, Ohio, that aims to make subjects such as science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fun for students. Members of ASQ's Dayton Section, specifically George Thielen, Lyle Lockwood, and Sandy Feola, have contributed to the program by promoting quality principles at TechFest. By using their passion and skills to introduce the next generation of workers to the quality profession, these ASQ members personify Quality for Life.

For the past six years, the Affiliate Societies Council of Dayton has hosted TechFest. K-12 students can enjoy more than 70 interactive exhibits and demonstrations during the two-day event. Through TechFest, the ASQ Dayton Section has provided quality professionals with a unique opportunity to introduce children to quality tools and techniques through interactive demonstrations.

"Quality is more important than quantity for TechFest," said Lockwood. "We want to make sure that students get a genuine experience that will hopefully lead them to a career in quality."

At TechFest 2009, the ASQ Dayton Section held a demonstration that helped teach kids the value of statistics using cereal. The demo went like this: Two cups were filled with two brands of cereal that both contain marshmallows (one name brand and a generic brand). Students were asked to displace both cups onto a plate and count the marshmallows in the two cereals. The different amounts were displayed on an X/Y chart. This simple demonstration taught students the cost of quality, since they would likely purchase the cereal that had the greater content of marshmallows.

Over the past six years, TechFest has registered more than 12,684 children. While this is an impressive number, the group hopes to increase attendance, especially since there are currently 20,000 jobs in science and technology in Dayton. Techfest has also benefitted from the ASQ Community Good Works program, which has provided grants to the program for the past two years.

If you use your passion for quality at work, in your personal life, or in volunteer efforts to make a difference in people's lives, we'd like to hear from you as part of our Quality for Life initiative. Please submit stories to qualityforlife@asq.org. Also, be sure to visit our blog at http://www4.asq.org/blogs/quality-life/.

The small island of Diego Garcia, located 1,000 miles off the coast of India, has a simple mission statement: one island, one team, one mission. Milton Kowalewski--quality control manager of San Juan Construction Company and an ASQ Fellow--has taken this mission to heart by offering free training and certifications to local Philippine workers. In training these workers and making a difference in their life, Kowalewski embodies the spirit of ASQ's Quality for Life program.

Kowalewski and his manager James Andel started offering certifications to local Philippine workers in 2001 to help them advance professionally and better provide for their families. The certifications they offer are transferrable worldwide, allowing workers to pursue higher-paying positions both on and off the island. They currently provide free training, encouragement, and recognition to the following certification programs: American Concrete Institute (ACI), Field Concrete Technician, American Welding Society (AWS) Welding Inspector, and Precast Concrete Institute (PCI).

"Many workers on Diego Garcia work to support families they have not seen for many years," said Kowalewski. "We wanted to help local Philippine workers who are suffering from separation anxiety to obtain the necessary skills to be successful in their careers, and in doing so provide more for their families."

Since he began training, Kowalewski has certified more than 50 Philippine workers. Kowalewski recalls the success he had mentoring a particular student, Jaime Sadang, a local Philippine worker who has worked for 13 years on Diego Garcia. Sadang was seeking an ACI Concrete Field Testing Technician certification, and turned to Kowalewski for guidance. In October 2008, Sadang took the written and practical exams and completed his long-awaited certification. Sadang is now recognized for his civil engineering experience and competence.

"It is astounding to think that Philippine workers were able to obtain specialized training on a small 12-square-mile island in the middle of the Indian Ocean," concludes Kowalewski. "I am proud and happy to be a part of the continued success of Philippine workers on Diego Garcia."

If you use your quality expertise at work, in your personal life, or in volunteer efforts to make a difference in people's lives, we'd like to hear from you as part of our Quality for Life initiative. Please submit stories to qualityforlife@asq.org. Also, be sure to visit our blog at http://www4.asq.org/blogs/quality-life/.

http://yourbiz.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/03/11/1830497.aspx

I'd like to get your point of view.  Is there such a thing as "too much customer service?"  If you answer, "yes," please share your story and how you dealt with the situation.

I recently heard from my friend, Eric Malloy, who leads the Carey Program, which is the VA's internal Baldrige-based  program.  He has led the small program office itself to conduct a self-assessment using the Baldrige Criteria.  And did you know that the ASQ staff in Milwaukee has been applying to the Wisconsin Forward Award program since 2002?

In our zeal to help others improve, it's sometimes easy to overlook the fact that we could benefit from our own advice.  So, whether it's your department, an organization where you volunteer your time, or some other group in which you're involved, consider how you might be able to practice what you preach.

Bouwens understands the importance of the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls firsthand, since she was a member during her youth. Focusing on girls between the ages of 11 and 20, the Order uses community projects as an outlet for young women to use and develop their talents toward community works. When community service projects failed to be completed at Bouwens' local section in Vacaville, Calif., young women were not able to realize the benefits that could be gained and would choose to drop out, leading to a sharp decline in membership. Bouwens realized that something had to be done to get these service projects back on track.

"We needed to find a way to successfully prioritize and execute community projects," said Bouwens. "I thought; why not handle this like I would at work?"

Bouwens' first step was to form a small focus group of girls to brainstorm ideas about what they would like to see enacted to make community projects interesting. At the next meeting, Bouwens took all of the ideas, categorized them into a checklist, and asked the girls to prioritize them. From there, they flow-charted the steps of overseeing a project and started a binder that catalogs each project from start to finish.

The results have been impressive. In the last year, membership grew from 13 to 19 members by successfully executing community service projects on a regular basis. A few of the projects included: making lunches for a homeless shelter, writing letters to soldiers, and baking cookies for the civil servants of the community. Over the past year, the group of girls has completed more than 400 hours of community service.

"I know now that quality can play a part in everyday life," concludes Bouwens. "Quality tools helped these girls gain ideas, prioritize, document their progress, and most importantly, succeed while having fun."

If you have a story about how you used your passion for quality to make a difference in people's lives, we'd like to hear from you as part of our Quality for Life initiative. Please submit stories to qualityforlife@asq.org. Also, be sure to visit our blog at http://www4.asq.org/blogs/quality-life/.

The reason this scenario had special interest to me was not simply the result of his generosity at such a young age but the fact that he had clearly thought about the impact of his actions.  Earlier this month, the ASQ Board spent several hours in thoughtful dialogue on how we, as a Society and as individuals, could identify measures that would reflect the impact of quality on the world.  The discussions were energizing and profound and ... incomplete.  We still have this challenge before us.  After all, as quality professionals, we know that we can't really assess progress against an objective unless we can measure it!

So, if you have ideas about how to measure the impact of quality, won't you please share them with this community by posting a comment?