I
grew up in a very rural part of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania
Department of Agriculture reports that over 1000 farms currently operate
there utilizing half of the county’s 355,000 total acres. 70% of the
land that is not farmed is covered with trees. In my day, we had no
malls, no traffic lights, and no parking meters. In fact, we had no
indoor plumbing at my house until I was 7 years old. Every student in
our elementary school was required to take the hunter safety course and
it wasn’t until we reached high school when we learned about a
newfangled machine people were calling a “computer.” It may have been
the 20th century everywhere else, but in Perry County USA, we
were still getting use to the idea of milk coming from anywhere other
than directly from a cow.
Job opportunities for teenagers were few
and far between. If you were not a farmer it was a good bet you would
eventually end up working for one. When I was 15 I went to work for a
pig farmer during the summer of 1982. On my first day of work, the
farmer left me alone for the day with a broom and a shovel. He asked me
to clean and organize his barn. When he got back, he paid me the highest
compliment an employee can receive. He said, “Wow! I don’t even
recognize the place. You cleaned my barn like it really mattered; like
it was your barn and not mine.”
I
am not sure exactly where and how I picked up my strong work ethic. It
may have been from watching my father or it may have been because of
where I grew up. Thomas Edison once said, “Cultivators of the earth are
the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most
independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and
wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bands.” Perhaps
the vocation of farming isn’t just about growing crops, it’s about
building character. Somewhere between 5 am and 5 pm, for 5 days a week
one summer, I learned the value of a job well done.
As a director,
I have seen varying degrees of work quality in the employees who have
served under me. I currently have an incredible team who care very much
about the work they do. In fact, I have never worked for or with better
people than I do now.
I have been thinking lately about who these people are and why quality matters so much to them.
First,
each employee came to work here with an already proven track record of
capability and excellence. The employees in my department have over 225
years of combined print and mail work experience. There is very little
we do not know about what we do.
Second, our employees not only
know what they are doing, they also know why they are doing it. Our team
clearly understands the mission and vision of our employer. Each team
member can connect what they are doing back to the broader work of the
College.
Third,
our department has clearly defined expectations as to what the word
“quality” actually means. We have a quality statement and we strive for
100% on-time, 100% correct, and 100% customer satisfaction. We have also
implemented a performance evaluation system where the difference
between exceptional quality and adequate quality is plainly spelled out
for each and every job duty. Each employee understands the level of
performance at which our department will flourish and the level of
performance at which our department will flounder. We set high
expectations upon ourselves and we strive to be extraordinary.
Fourth,
we do all we can to let our clients know that quality is important to
us. The opinion of our clients gives essence to our definition of
quality. As such, we continuously ask for feedback. And, when we ask, we
do so in a manner that is specific and can be measured. When feedback
is provided numerically, we can begin to understand what 100% customer
satisfaction looks like and how far we have to go to get there.
Finally,
we never accept work as completed if we deem the work to be
unacceptable. There have been times when a completed job could probably
be delivered and invoiced but we see something that is not quite right.
It could be a typographical error that the client missed in proofing or
an uneven fold or even a stray ink mark. Fiscal responsibility would
dictate that we should let the job go and see if it passes. We could
even make an excuse such as, “It is probably going to get marked up when
it goes through the mail anyway.” However, our employees know that the
issue of quality trumps the issue of saving money. When we make
decisions like this, it emphasizes for our team just how important
quality is to our department.
When I think back to that summer of
hard work on a farm in the country, there is one phrase I hear in my
head that the old farmer I worked for repeated over and over. As he
showed me how to do things, he would often say, “Remember Dwayne, anyone
can farm, but not everyone is a farmer.” I think he was telling me that
farming was not just about watching him and repeating what he was
doing. It was about discipline and a commitment to purpose. I think the
same can be said for being a quality printer. If we are expecting
results, we need to approach the task of building a culture of quality
with confidence and determination. Confidence comes from experience.
Determination comes from Perry County.