As Quality Manager, I take effort in inculcating the importance of objective setting in our office activities. It seems however that I have not fully internalized this practice.
When we planned our trip to Manila, I knew what we set out to do. I had my own objectives. Unfortunately, I did not ask the other members of the team what their objectives were. Yesterday's trip made me realize my mistake. Eyn was not happy with our frequent excursions which had us leaving the condo around lunchtime and arriving home near midnight. I explained that we were in Manila and we were supposed to go to places and buy things that are not available in Iloilo. He commented that it was not what he had in mind when he set out for the trip. His objective was to have his fill of playing in Alex' computers. To placate him, I bargained that we will go home early so that he can do what he wanted to do. But to my surprise, he replied that there is no need for me to do so since doing such may adversely affect the fulfillment of the others' objectives. His pronouncement made me cringe inside. I realized that while I'd been espousing team efforts and process improvements in the office, I conveniently made a demarcation line between the office and our house. And it should not have been so. Eyn was not very happy because he made plans which were not fleshed out. I felt bad because I realized that I was not able to consider his plans and include it in the overall picture. PDCA is not something that can be relegated to the workplace. It is a practice that must be made part of our everyday lives.
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