Use PDSA Cycle To Manage Your Career

Be ready when manufacturing plants move to lower cost locations

by Jerry Brong

San Francisco, we have a problem.

Products from San Francisco based Levi Strauss & Co. have long been American symbols of quality. But on April 8, the company announced the Valencia Street plant in its home city would close, along with three plants in Texas and one each in Blue Ridge, GA, and Powell, TN.

"There is no question we must move away from plants owned and operated in the United States to remain competitive in our industry," CEO Philip Marineau explained in a company press release.¹ This report confirms that as the economy seems to rebound, there is still a need to pay extra attention to career challenges.

If you work for Levi Strauss & Co., its actions may eliminate your job, or you may decide to leave the company. Either way, change will happen. But the company will still be in business. Ensuring business results by providing quality products, effective customer support and continuous improvement will still be a company priority.

Managing a crisis

Career management includes getting the right job, keeping that job and, on occasion, managing a career crisis. If you are a quality specialist at one of the Levi Strauss plants that are being closed, you may have a career crisis already. To be ready if it happens to you, use the PDSA (plan-do-study-act) cycle.

Start with your Plan. Building strong career opportunities requires planning, and planning requires environmental surveys. Management by fact is essential. Know where you are and what is happening around you, and then predict alternative futures. Look at your past, know why you had successes, learn from your failures and draw on memories about previous ways you created opportunities.

Career change, even unplanned and forced change, can deliver opportunity. Change doesn't only happen in tough times but is frequently chosen. If positive advance planning, as opposed to crisis management, has been part of your previous career processes, you may have options to consider. If you find yourself doing crisis management without a plan, it is likely your options will be limited.

In the PDSA cycle, planning provides a hypothesis to be tested by Doing. In career management, doing confirms a job or career action as acceptable. As the career plan is mentally implemented, the results are evaluated, measured and studied.

In doing career control, you may need to decide if you want a high salary from a stressful job in an urban center requiring a 60-minute freeway commute or 60% less salary in a fun and less stressful job with a 15-minute commute. The fun job may provide a flexible work schedule. You need to take all these things into account and make choices based on facts.

In the Study phase, you confirm whether you are now in the right job. Your career is ready for you to control if the environment has been examined, options considered and plans made.

The study phase is a particularly important aspect of career management. Look at yourself and your life-style, consider career impact on you and your loved ones, and consider what else is important beyond your job. Remember--fact based decision making is important.

Taking Action based on facts from career study is a difficult PDSA step. That is because taking action produces risks. A new job, employer or career can lead to significant lifestyle or personal changes. That's why you need to use plans, know your options and evaluate potential results before making career decisions.

Do you have a problem? Well, it depends. If you are a quality specialist working in San Francisco, you work in an environment particularly rich in opportunities. If you're at one of the other Strauss locations, your options may seem more limited. But most environments are actually opportunity rich for quality specialists.

Quality field is changing

The quality field is changing, and careers are changing. The science of quality is becoming more sophisticated, new quality processes are being used and different results are expected. Where do these changes leave you?

With a career plan in hand, skill using the PDSA cycle and recognition that improvement means change, you are ready for managing transitions in your career. Know where you are, recognize where you have been and have a plan for alternative futures.

REFERENCE

1. Press release from Levi Strauss & Co. as posted on www.levistrauss.com/news/pressreleases.asp?c=1&area=United+States.  

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GERALD BRONG is education chair of the ASQ Seattle Section. He has a doctorate in education from Washington State University, with specialization in applied educational technology, and is a former private pilot. Brong is now self-employed as a teacher, speaker and curriculum developer. He recently developed a course Defining, Planning & Delivering Quality, and he offers the Learning Centered Schools--Breakthroughs to Confirmed Excellence workshop.

Go to ASQ's Career Forum at www.asqnet.org  to discuss career challenges with your colleagues.

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