Topic: Dailies

Do It Correctly

(Complinace)

by

Leo Crocker Rogers

It used to be run of the mill.

Par for the course.

Expected.

When someone completed a task, they checked to make sure it was accomplished correctly.

It was said, "If it is worth doing, it is worth doing correctly."

Why?

Well, a job improperly done, is a job sure to fail.

It may even jeopardize lives.

A job poorly done is like pulling the pin on a hand grenade and strapping it to the job, to have it explode later.

Intentionally or unintentionally, a job poorly done costs.

It costs more than doing it correctly in the first place.

Doing a job poorly hides and delays the true cost – the grenade goes off on someone else’s watch.

Poor workmanship is a "Fire and forget." attitude.

If the job is not present when failure occurs, who cares?

The opposite to "Fire and forget." is "Compliance". Compliance is conforming to expectation.

If I give the Red Cross $815.00 with the proviso that it be used for Katrina victims, and the Red Cross accepts my donation, I expect a Katrina victim to benefit. But that is so far from the truth that anyone who believes it, is going to be sadly disappointed.

Compliance is waning.

Charitable institutions make promises they cannot keep. Why? Because the safe-guards to assure their promises are not enforced. No compliance.

Is non-compliance really a plague to society? It is. It is often latent. In the case of the Phoenix based Baptist Foundation, the pin was pulled on the grenade years in advance. Those contributing after the pin was pulled and even those before were simply on the clock until the fraud was discovered and hundreds of innocent people were financial charred.

The Therac 25 was a medical procedure touted to save lives. Just like those trusting the Charitable Baptist Foundation, people trusted the Therac 25. It was designed to use blasts of radiation to destroy tumors in a person’s body.

Let me interrupt for a moment. Likely, most ventures be they philanthropic, scientific, business, volunteer, or religious start out to bless mankind. They have a noble mission. Enron. The U.S. Congress. Merk. Nuclear Energy programs. Word Com. Tyco. The Baptist Foundation.

But without "Compliance", the milk is spilled.

The Therac 25 was a good idea. But its use killed three patients before the system was found to be faulty. Massive overdoes of radiation were focused on the patient’s body and killed them. Several others were injured. It was a radiation weapon. How did this happen? No compliance.

No compliance? What does that mean? In this case, the software programmer of the lethal system made errors in his work and because no one checked his work, the system killed. Software glitches happen again and again, even to Microsoft. Why? Not enough compliance – being sure what was programmed is what is happening.

What is needed? Integrity in the form of compliance.

Many people can collect money for a charity. But can a charity do what it says – give money to those in need?

Many people can program a computer. But can they do it without code errors, back doors that allow computer thieves to break in and steal?

Compliance may well become the "Go to." Words in more and more company annual reports. The dialog will be two sided. On one side it will say, "We do not ship grenades with pins pulled." On the other side it will say and mean, "Our customer service individuals, are trained and qualified employees that you can contact when needed."

The fire and forget mentality of shipping pin-pulled grenades is lethal, be the endeavors philanthropy, science, business, volunteer, or religious.

What used to be, still can be: "Do it correctly, or don’t do it."

Compliance starts at home.