ASQ to quality professionals – change is hard!

The ASQ has announced​ the theme for the 2019 World Conference On Quality And Improvement: “Leading Change”.

Change has always been constant, but in today’s digital landscape the pace of change is accelerating at a faster and faster rate. Within this dynamic is the opportunity for quality professionals to lead their organizations through the changes that each is destined to go through.

The focus areas are:

• The Future of Quality
• Managing Change
• Building and Sustaining a Culture of Quality
• Quality Basics
• Advanced Content Master’s Series

For those interested, you can submit your proposal at https://asq.org/conferences/wcqi.

Looking back at the last few years:

• The 2018 theme, was the “Innovation of You,” with focus areas of​ “Building and Sustaining a Culture of Quality”, “Master’s Series”, “Quality 4.0: The Future of Quality Starts Here”, “Quality Fundamentals in the Digital Age” and “Risk and Change.”
• The 2017 theme was “Grow Your Influence: In the Profession, Through the Organization and Around the World” with focus areas of “Focus on the Customer
  Operational Excellence”, “Quality as a Competitive Advantage”, “Quality Fundamentals” and “Risk and Change.”

From this I draw the following opinion:

1. Change is perceived as hard
2. The future is murky
3. Culture of Quality is definitely something important (we might not be sure exactly what it is, but it is important!)

All of which are true. It also iterates what I fundamentally believe is a core function of quality. We drive change, we build a culture of excellence, we help navigate the future.

I enjoyed the 2018 ASQ WCQI in Seattle and will certainly plan on going whether as a speaker again or a participant. While I wish the ASQ would be the perfect organization of my dreams, I do deeply believe that an approach defined in the 2019 focus areas is one that brings a lot of value to any organization.

I have begun recommending co-workers submit this year, and I have a few ideas I am toying with myself. Proposals are due Aug. 17. I encourage you to be contemplating the best practices in your organization and be considering how you can share them with the wider quality world.