Total quality management: making camps successful.

Total Quality Management (TQM) has been a buzzword in the business community for nearly 10 years. In the 1980s, aware that American products were losing their competitive edge, the late H. Edwards Deming turned American management thinking up-side-down. In today's fast-paced, consumer-oriented world, camps and conference/ retreat centers have every reason to follow this way of doing business.

Deming's methodology is based on 14 points, five of which are:

* creating constancy of purpose (Are your programs and practices in line with your mission?)

* ceasing dependence on inspection to achieve quality (Do you inspect or coach staff?)

* driving out fear (Do staff members come to you for guidance.?)

* instituting training on the job (Do you hold staff training throughout the season? On-going risk management sessions?)

* improving constantly (Do you listen carefully and act on criticism, or are you stuck doing things the way they've always been done?)

To stay in business, camps/centers must continually anticipate change, prepare for change, and introduce change before customers articulate they want it.

Total Quality Management is the establishment of a Central Process based on the understanding that change is the norm. For professionals, that means establishing on-going dynamic systems that continually input customers' (campers', parents' and guests') needs, market opportunities, and the capabilities of the organization; applying the good judgment of leaders (key staff members) in the organization; and outputting everything about your operation as new, creative, and exciting. Implementing these systems will make the potential power of your camp/center a reality.

Practicing Total Quality Management requires that we:

* define quality through our customers' experience

* constantly improve (receive and respond to feedback from customers).

Defining quality

We often act as if quality is defined in our by-laws, in our traditions, in American Camping Association standards, or by what our competition does. Quality is determined by the way our people experience our programs and our facilities. Our customers tell us what quality is and should be. (See Figure 1.)

[Figure 1 ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Customers' assumptions

The most basic level of quality that we must meet is what is assumed by our campers and guests. They come to us with a set of expectations (often not verbalized) about the experience, the site, and the program, and they take for granted that we will meet those expectations. If we fail at this most basic level, we will typically encounter anger, belligerence, and demands for some kind of compensation for their disappointment.

Assumed expectations are constantly rising in our campers and guests because of their experiences in the rest of the consumer culture -- for higher comfort and convenience, more sophisticated skills, and greater adventure at less risk. The fact that we feel limitations because of budget or traditions makes no difference. The campers and guests will judge the experience we provide according to their expectations.

Meeting requests

A request might come from a parent asking that a camper be allowed to bunk with a friend; it might come from a group leader requesting that meal time be adjusted; it might come from an adult participant asking for a special menu. Often these accommodations are achieved with what seems to be great effort on the part of camp/center staff. Yet the net effect on the camper or guest is only satisfaction. Perhaps they will let others know that your experience meets specifications along with similar programs and facilities. But there is still nothing special to set your program apart.

Delighting customers

Only the third level of quality really commands loyalty. It requires that we delight our customers, that we surprise them with experiences they had not imagined they needed or wanted. Delight comes from special comforts, special hospitality, special experiences, special kinds of support. I have been delighted by a desk clerk who delivered a fruit basket to a motel room upon my arrival; by a center that provided oven-fresh muffins to all guest groups at 10 a.m. every morning; by a camp counselor who demonstrated extra sensitivity to my daughter's shyness. Delighting a guest requires that the camp/center staff is attuned to needs that are not even known by the customer and is able to respond to unexpected situations.

The obvious implication for the above continuum is that what delights one time is expected the next time. Thus the need for constant improvement.

Improving constantly

We need constant feedback from every "customer" with whom we are involved:

External customers:

campers

retreat/conference groups

parents

community

Internal customers:

staff

board members

vendors

We must systematically collect perceptions, in writing and verbally, and tabulate responses so that we can compare results from one experience to the next.

More importantly, we must respond to criticism as the most important information for improvement. Whenever we negate the criticism of our campers ("What does she expect at a camp?" "Well, he just doesn't understand our philosophy.") we lose an opportunity to respond to new information. We must create evaluation systems that solicit candid feedback from our campers and guests, and we must act on those perceptions as though they are true.

Constant feedback through systems

We must set up systems that enable us to be fast paced and flexible and still build on what we learned yesterday.

A system is a series of functions that work together toward a common purpose. A system is designed to provide feedback about the particular elements and about the relationship between the elements. Examples of systems in camps and centers are registration and camper data systems; budget and use analysis systems; staff training and evaluation systems; and financial management systems.

Many of our camps/centers are lacking in quality systems for management of their work. Every operation in the 1990s needs systems (preferably computerized) that enable us to gather and sort the endless information that changes every day, that keeps us in touch with the changing needs of our customers.

Data and information gathered through management systems only tell us about yesterday; but the systems can be tools for creative thinkers to apply the information gathered toward meeting the needs of the future. The feedback, data and reports from every system must be designed so that when we ask, "so what?" we get some clues to the future that can be applied to the decisions made by an organization's leaders.

Benchmarking

A methodology that has become popular to help businesses improve constantly is called benchmarking. It is intentionally learning from the best, choosing top performers in the field, and seeking to understand how they do what they do. Benchmarking involves identifying a successful operation and contracting with their leaders to learn the reasons for their success. This should not be confused with networking in our professional associations. Too often the nature of conversations at professional meetings is to share frustrations and struggles, which helps a professional feel less alone but does not necessarily serve as a learning tool for quality.

Focusing on purpose

Purpose is established as we mix the market needs with the values and opportunities of the organization to create real products that make a difference to the people who participate. Whenever we define our existence by tradition, by mandate, by support of a parent entity, or by the need to make money, we are in great jeopardy. We must exist to make a difference, to make an impact, to add something to the experiences of life. This is the basis for every quality organization, whether for profit or not-for-profit.

Articulating a purpose is not a theoretical process. It takes shape after:

* A thorough analysis of customer needs (internal and external)

* A complete review of the market beyond our customers and the trends around us.

* An assessment of who we are -- our beliefs, our passions, our resources, our skills, our creative ideas

With these understandings and perceptions as real information, leaders and managers within the organization can articulate a purpose that is concrete enough to truly establish a vision to guide the camp/ center. They can then act on the vision, and send feedback from the initial action through the system again. When the inputs change, the outputs change, and the leaders are likely to change the way they articulate their vision for a new future.

Initiating improvements

In successful organizations, feedback and statistics, perceptions of new trends and issues are blended with the purpose and values so that leaders and managers create new responses for the future. Persons responsible for the organization must exhibit two critical kinds of behavior: leadership to continually imagine new possibilities for the organization; and management to link the new actions to the present systems and assure stability in the midst of change. With these two perspectives in balance, organization leaders experiment, act, and try new ideas on a scale that will be safe whether the effort succeeds or fails. The key is to act quickly and to always be creating tomorrow's opportunities, so that when the customer says, "I wish someone would. . ." the organization is already prepared to respond.

Total Quality Management is a dynamic set of systems that provides a model for uninterrupted growth. It provides for the greatest efficiency because all data-positive and negative-provides a basis for evaluation and for projecting new plans both short and long term. TQM is connected to the past yet never trapped by it. It calls for discretionary decision-making at all levels, and empowers every person in the organization to enter into the process of constant improvement. Total Quality Management can assure the successful impact of camps and conference/retreat centers in the 21st century.

References

Glick, James. (1988.) Chaos: making a new science. New York: Penguin Group Publications.

Peters, Tom. (1992.) liberation Management. New York: Fawcett Columbine.

Port, Otis & Smith, Geoffrey. (1992, November 30.) Beg, Borrow -- and Benchmark. Business Week, 74-75.

After 15 years as a camp/center professional, Kathleen Trotter formed her own consulting and development company, KALEIDOSCOPE, Inc. The purpose of the firm, and her commitment as a camp/center leader, is to provide professional assistance in all areas of planning so camps, conference/retreat centers, and outdoor education centers can successfully impact the world.