Quality control is important for any business. Let your standards slip and the business’s entire reputation could be on the line. Maintaining quality doesn’t require 24/7 surveillance. Most businesses can easily get on top of it by fixing up some of these simple management mistakes.
Staying with outdated technology because it’s ‘reliable’
One of the most common mistakes businesses make is hanging onto old technology because it still works just as well as it did the first day you bought it. However, whilst it may function perfectly, there may be modern machinery available that can do the job in half the time that could be speeding up your business. New technology may also be able to achieve greater precision. There are accountancy computer programmes such as https://quickbooks.intuit.com/ allowing a clearer and more accurate form of book-keeping than a spreadsheet. Meanwhile, in the manufacturing industry, laser systems as provided by the likes of www.laserlight.com/services/laser-systems-integration/ could be much quicker and more precise than saws and chisel drills. Take up these new technologies and keep up the quality of your competitors.
Slacking on training
Not training staff thoroughly will lead to more mistakes. Even if you’ve just hired someone with bounteous previous experience in your field, they should still receive some training as businesses all have their own ways of organising and doing things to meet a certain quality. Don’t just rely on eLearning tools or using staff to train other staff. Get involved yourself - even if only occasionally to ensure certain quality aspects are being met.
Holding infrequent reviews
Holding regular meetings with your staff will enable you to see where things are going well and where things may need improving. Ideally, you should be holding these on a weekly basis, as well as reviewing individual staff members on a monthly or bi-annual basis. This review is not to test your staff, but simply to understand where things may be going wrong for the company. Ask your staff to give feedback on what they think needs improving and make sure to reference hard stats such as sales figures or market analytics.
Focusing too hard on costs
If every decision is based on finding the most cost-effective measure, your company’s quality will start to suffer as a result. Sometimes you need to pay a little extra to have more success in the long run. For example, if you’re a supplier, refusing to crate over an order to a client because it’s too expensive to deliver in time could strain your relationship with that client and cause you to lose them. In doing so, you’re missing out on all their future custom.
Not outsourcing your weaknesses
Every company has weaknesses. This could be accountancy or a lack of marketing knowledge. Refusing to outsource anyone for the job and doing it yourself could lead to low quality results. Outsourcing is method used by big companies worldwide and could save you a lot of time and money.
