Deming Strategies for Sustainable Success: Innovate, Streamline, Lead
A learning event for everyone who wants to build a thriving and innovative organizational culture.
Harness the power of Deming’s principles to continually improve and achieve excellence in your business or organization! This two-day seminar is for executives, entrepreneurs, managers, and teams. You will learn how to increase employee retention, streamline operations, boost efficiency, and ignite innovation. For first-time and returning attendees, this seminar provides essential insights and tools for effective leadership and management.
Why Attend?
- Immersive Experience: Fun, interactive activities, small group discussions, and practical work sessions guided by Deming mentors.
- Expert Guidance: Learn from experienced leaders and Deming experts. Get personalized feedback and actionable strategies to use immediately.
- Networking Opportunities: Connect with industry professionals, share experiences, and build relationships to support your continued growth.
- Practical Application: Engage in real-world scenarios and problem-solving that make it easy for you to put Deming’s principles to work immediately – and see results.
- Guest Speakers: Insights from leaders who have applied Deming’s principles. Ask them anything!
What You’ll Learn
- Organizational Systems: Silos cause friction. Instead, focus on how to boost quality and productivity while reducing costs.
- Understanding Variation: Make better decisions by learning the simple ways Deming wants you to look at data. Learn what to do and how to act effectively when problems come up.
- Challenge Your Assumptions: If you aren’t getting enough of what you want, you may have fallen into the Assumption Trap. Break free. You’ll learn powerful tools for better communication, to lead change, and to improve performance.
- Psychology of Management: Interactions and fear define culture. Learn why traditional “carrot-and-stick” limit interactions and drive in fear. Learn what to do instead.
Participant Testimonials
“The seminar is going to change the way we work for the better.”
“I was impressed by the breadth of industries and businesses represented. Seeing how Deming’s principles apply universally was enlightening.”
“I’ve attended many seminars, always wary of the ‘BS’ factor. I was blown away by how genuine the crew was in wanting to help businesses.”
Event Details
Date/Time: October 16 and 17, 2024, from 8am to 4:30pm each day
Registration Fees: $1,800 per person / $1,600 per person for groups of 3 or more
Special rates for nonprofits and educators. Limited scholarships available. Please contact us for details.
Start your journey toward more effective leadership and management. Click here to reserve your spot!
Facilitators
Kelly Allan is the senior associate of Kelly Allan Associates, Ltd. In 1999, when Peter R. Scholtes (The Team Handbook and The Leader’s Handbook) retired, he recruited Kelly to continue his seminars and consulting practice. More recently, Kelly wrote a new chapter for the 3rd Edition of Dr. Deming’s seminal book, The New Economics. The chapter explains the relevance of Deming’s leadership method, includes case studies, and offers guidance on how to “do Deming.”
In 2004, Kelly was one of 12 people selected by The Deming Institute to design and deliver a 2.5-day seminar to capture the essence of Dr. Deming’s famous Four-Day Seminars. Kelly’s published work has appeared in a variety of journals, including Business First, Fast Company, Personnel Journal, Marketing News, Inc. Magazine, Business Marketing Association News, Harvard Business Review, and The Wall Street Journal. He has been featured in Fast Company, Quality Progress, The Masterful Coaching Field Book, The Knowing-Doing Gap, and Abolishing Performance Appraisals.
Kat comes to The Deming Institute with 20 years of experience in the non-profit sector. Her love for program development, staff engagement, organizational change and designing effective infrastructures for organizations naturally led her to engage with The Institute. Kat attended a number of Deming Institute seminars and was instrumental in bringing Deming learning opportunities to her local community.
In 2018, Kat opened KVH Strategies, a facilitation company that helps groups think better together. Prior to starting her own business, she was Executive Director of the Sawtooth Botanical Garden in Sun Valley, Idaho. She has also worked with other non-profits around the country such as YMCA of the Rockies, YMCA of Greater Charlotte, The Hunger Coalition, and Wild Gift. Kat’s natural love for working with people and helping create positive change is evident in her energetic approach to everything she does, wherever she goes.
While originally from Wisconsin (oh-yah, a Packer fan), she now lives in Idaho with her husband, Dan, and children, Tripp and Seneca. Kat takes full advantage of the beautiful outdoor surroundings while hiking, whitewater rafting, camping, and skiing.
Bill is the principal of Corporate Advantage Network, LLC. He utilizes Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge along with the technical quality tools to assist organizations in their journey of continual improvement. He has coached and improved many types and sizes of organizations over several decades.
Bill has been a principal process engineer for weather satellites (ITT Aerospace with NASA), missile guidance systems (Hughes Aircraft for the Army), high-end computer servers design and manufacturing (Tech Data), food manufacturing (Kroger), heavy truck manufacturing (Core Molding) and for a variety of other industries and for companies – including Small to Medium Enterprises.
He has extensive Lean Six Sigma, Quality Management Systems (ISO 9001, IATF 16949, ISO 14001, ISO 13485, AS9100), Process Engineering, and Supply Chain Management experience. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics Engineering from the DeVry Institute of Technology in Columbus, Ohio. He is a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and a Senior Member/Chair for the Columbus, Ohio Section of the American Society for Quality (ASQ). Bill also holds certifications from ASQ as a Certified Quality Engineer, Certified Quality Auditor, and Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence.
Over the years, Bill has been involved in his children’s sports as a coach or club president and enjoys volunteering at local charities. His passion is mentoring and coaching the employees of organizations and helping them improve their professional development.
Christine Costantini began her Deming journey more than ten years ago. Over the years, she attended multiple seminars and worked as a client with Kelly Allan. As a Deming practitioner, Christine regularly uses Deming principles and strategies to improve the organizations in which she works. Christine currently works for BAE Systems in the field of Operations Program Management. Her background is in quality, process improvement, and finance. She has an MBA in Business and a Six Sigma Black Belt.
John A. Dues serves as the Chief Learning Officer and Interim Chief Operating Officer at United Schools Network. He is an accomplished systems leader and improvement science scholar-practitioner. He recently published his first book entitled Win-Win: W. Edwards Deming, the System of Profound Knowledge, and the Science of Improving Schools. Throughout his career, he has served on the founding teams of seven school and nonprofit organizations. John has a BA from Miami University, an M.Ed. from the University of Cincinnati, and recently completed the Improvement Advisor program through the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
Dennis Sergent is President and Principal Consultant with the Sergent Results Group (SRG). In this role, he integrates the efforts of a team of contractors to a common aim: serving customers and clients with quality consulting, learning, and coaching.
Dennis has over 20 years of knowledge with experience in delivering operations leadership, consulting, and learning programs in manufacturing, service, education, non-profit, and governmental economic sectors. He has considerable knowledge and expertise from his work with companies and organizations like Accu-Tool, America By Rail, Ameritraining, AT&T, Chemical Bank, Cisco Systems, Dayton Defense, Michigan Department of Health & Human Services, Michigan Good Government, Southwest Bell Corporation, Speedway, and numerous others.
He’s published several research papers, has delivered hundreds of keynotes, and learning workshops, and his “The Science of Improvement – A Guide to Continual Quality Improvement (CQI)” is in its 7th edition. He teaches the 12-week curriculum from it 2-3 times a year.
Dennis has also volunteered at the Northern Illinois Food Bank, the Midland Lions Club, and has served on the boards of Dayton Defense, was chair of the Capital Quality Initiative, and chair of the Michigan Lean Consortium, where he remains as a Board Advisor.
Dennis joined The Deming Institute Advisory Council in 2023.
Sponsorship Opportunities
We do not offer sponsorship opportunities for this event. If you are interested in sponsoring a future event, please contact us.
Scholarships
We don’t want cost to be a barrier to participation. A limited number of scholarships are available for the seminar. Some scholarships include a travel allowance, others cover only the registration fee. Partial scholarships are also available. Priority will be given to nonprofits, educators, government agencies and small businesses.
If you are interested in a scholarship for the seminar, please contact us using this link for more information.
Registration Details
“I especially liked the hands-on activities, table discussions, and rotating speaker format. All of the speakers were so engaging and kind.” – Seminar Attendee
Click here to register!
$1,800 per person
$1,600 per person for groups of 3 or more
$1,300 per person for educators
$1,300 per person for nonprofits
Cancellation Policy
We require 10 business days’ notice to cancel and receive a full refund. If the cancellation occurs within 10 business days of the event date and time, the registration fee will not be refunded, with the exception of unexpected restrictions due to COVID-19.
Curriculum Overview
Why Deming?
Guided by Dr. Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge and the 14 Points for Management, the Deming Philosophy reveals hidden barriers to collaboration, resulting in improved organizational performance and employee motivation. In parallel, the Deming Philosophy provides better insight into what is going on in the organization, thereby revealing the organization’s real capabilities – and constraints. Leaders’ attention can then focus on innovation, planning, and competitiveness. You may already know about Deming Quality – now take the opportunity to learn and apply Deming-based teamwork and leadership.
“Customers want it better, cheaper, faster – and without the Deming philosophy we’d be lost.”
– Steven Haedrich, CEO, New York Label and Box Works
What will you learn?
You will learn the quick and easy things leaders can do – and stop doing – to increase productivity, plus the long-term thinking that will help you grow a sustainable organization for the future. Dr. Deming’s comprehensive and internally consistent methods are practical and immediately implementable. Knowing “what to do” is not enough. Learning the “how to do” makes the difference.
You will learn to apply the 4 key elements of Deming-based Management:
- Understanding how to lead an organization as a SYSTEM, resulting in greater effectiveness and efficiency.
- Understanding VARIATION helps you to analyze which outcomes and behaviors are caused by the system in which people work – and which are not. This concept is a game-changer for profitability.
- Understanding how to use PSYCHOLOGY to bring out the intrinsic motivation of your employees rather than trying to manipulate them with incentives and rewards (and punishments).
- Theory of KNOWLEDGE means a) learning to use a simple technique to improve how people learn, and b) knowing that experience alone not only lacks meaning and usefulness, but it also causes dangerous inconsistencies, erodes purpose, and puts organizations at risk. No other management method includes this essential improvement component, yet it is easy to learn and apply.
Our Method
Dr. Deming strongly believed in asking good questions that start people thinking differently and seeking new knowledge. Dr. Deming’s innovative questions (and answers) led to a revolution in how organizations operate. The results are improved effectiveness (doing the right things right) AND efficiency (doing them faster, better, and cheaper). Provocative and practical questions lead to more robust discussions and answers – and to stronger, more prosperous organizations in which owners, leaders, workers, suppliers, customers, and communities benefit.
Questions about quality and productivity:
- What could we do to improve quality and productivity as we drive down costs? Why wouldn’t we want to do that in sensible ways?
- Why do leaders think they can improve quality and productivity through quotas, targets and standards? Is it so difficult to see that such things merely create conflicting objectives, cause cheating, and erode trust? Looking at a little data shows they do not improve quality nor reduce costs in sustainable ways.
- Don’t we have to get better? Why wouldn’t we want our suppliers to help us with that? Shouldn’t we treat them as partners – and vice versa? What is wrong with win/win?
- With a focus on near-term results, is the future part of our system? What business are we in, today? What business will we be in 5 years from now, 10 years from now, etc.?
Questions about leadership and management:
- What happens if workers within an organization cooperate with one another rather than competing for internal resources? Wouldn’t the organization be more successful?
- Is there evidence that cobbling together so-called “management best practices” assures organizational success and longevity?
- Do leaders need to add complexity to their already complex jobs? Wouldn’t simplicity better help them achieve their aim?
- Why are leaders taught to spend so much time on “the numbers” and control when we know spreadsheet data alone will mislead and obscure? What if leaders viewed the data on spreadsheets through a lens of insight with consistent, reliable, repeatable ways to assess the data?
Seminar Outcomes
At the end of the seminar, participants will begin applying key aspects of the Deming Management Method in their organizations, including:
- Recognizing how to break down barriers between departments and people to gain the benefits of cooperation, understanding, and clarity.
- Knowing what goes into guiding employee behaviors, decisions, and creativity.
- Understanding the basic small-scale design of PDSA improvement projects focused on customer satisfaction, quality, and efficiency.
- Why replacing accepted, but harmful, management practices that manipulate and disrespect employees will increase productivity.
- Beginning to create responsibility and joy in work so products and services can be delivered effectively, efficiently, and profitably.
- New ideas on applying The Deming Management Method to Sales and Marketing.
- Fresh ways to view and interpret spreadsheets and other data more effectively and in less time.
- Understanding the harmful impact of a “results only” focus by management and how to improve an organization’s ability to get better and better results.
- Revealing ways to get better ROI on capital, make good decisions related to cash flow, and work their business plan more effectively.
- Gaining insight into what data and measures are important to track and study vs. the data and measures that merely add to the complexity, create bureaucracy and overhead, waste time and money, and take leaders’ eyes off the priorities. Experience creating low-cost, rapid return experiments (PDSAs).
In addition, participants will:
- Have had hands-on learning experiences, which demonstrate (and make memorable) the main points of the Deming Management Method and its competitive advantages.
- Recognize the significant opportunities to reduce costs, and increase productivity, growth, and innovation in their own organizations.
- Establish the next steps needed to get started on increasing productivity, growth, and innovation in their organizations.
- Understand proven leadership practices that lead to greater productivity and competitiveness.
- Know new, useful questions to ask of themselves and others.
- Know how to remove the 5 Deadly Diseases that cripple and kill organizations –and how to guard against them.
- Know how to put the entire organization to work on making progress.
- Know how to nourish and unleash the energy and talents of people who want to be peak performers.
Location and Travel Information
Location: Hilton Columbus Downtown
402 North High Street, Columbus, OH
Parking: $20/day (Parking validation will be available)
Nearest airport: John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH)
Nearby hotels:
If you’re familiar with the Deming 2.5-day seminar, now with DemingNEXT online guided learning in the weeks before the seminar, we can cover the same material and activities in 2 days. DemingNEXT also gives us, for the first time, a way to help participants continue to learn and implement the concepts from the seminar online through follow-up guided learning paths.
- Organization leaders at every level
- Entrepreneurs
- Managers
- Teams
We encourage you to bring colleagues or entire teams – learning together is the best way to get the most out of the seminar!
- Two full days of instruction and activities with Deming experts
- The New Economics, Third Edition by Dr. W. Edwards Deming
- Course handouts and worksheets
- Breakfast, lunch, and beverages
- 3 months of free access to DemingNEXT online learning program with more than 250 courses designed by Deming and adult learning experts
- Blended learning with online pre- and post-seminar learning pathways