This week’s focus: I’ve been working in London this week and on Monday evening took a group to see Jose Feliciano play at the wonderful Ronnie Scott’s jazz club in Soho. Feliciano was great – his guitar playing was superb – and he sang a mixture of his own songs and covers, including his famous version of the The Doors’ Light My Fire.
During the first number in the set, however, there was intermittent feedback on the PA system. After this happened for the third time Feliciano simply shouted, “Stop! Let’s get this thing fixed – now!” He didn’t apportion blame, or have any kind of hissy fit; he was simply clear that he had certain standards for his shows and that he wouldn’t continue without the immediate and complete resolution of the problem. From that moment on, there were no further problems and everyone in the audience enjoyed the show.
Famously, Boeing had once had quality issues at its Seattle manufacturing site, which meant that many ‘fixes’ had to be made after its planes reached the end of the production line. It was only when a new manufacturing vice-president shouted “Stop!” and halted the entire production line – costing, on paper, many $ millions – that the various teams along the line took ownership for their own quality performance, and that the quality and profitability of their planes grew.
How often are you shouting “Stop!” so that your team take full ownership and address poor quality issues?
Off The Record: Light My Fire by The Doors
You know that it would be untrue
You know that I would be a liar
If I was to say to you
Girl, we couldn’t get much higher
© Stuart Cross 2015. All rights reserved.