I was looking at some information recently related to companies and organizations’ commitment to quality. It made me think about what Oregon Trail Council’s commitment to quality should look like.
So, I started researching more companies and organizations’ quality commitment statements to see what all was included in quality commitment statements. They seemed to be fairly similar to each other and had things in there that I thought made a lot of sense for our council.
All of the statements contained some main items that included:
Customer needs: The end goal is to meet the needs of potential, current and future customers. A quality policy statement should be focused on customer needs and draw attention to the fact that the company/organization is laser focused on delivering exactly what the customer wants. I hope that as a council we do that. If that is not happening, I want to be contacted and find out how we can better help our units and volunteers.
Customer preference: Flexibility and customization have become more desirable to customers who seek products which align exactly with their personal preferences and desires. In Scouting, a Chartering Organization has the flexibility to run the Scout program, but as it best works for their organization.
Service and experience: For most service-based organizations, the most important quality aspect is that the service and experience meet expectations. The level of service and the quality expected obviously depends on the price of the service amongst other things, but the minimum level of quality for most customers is that they are listened to and treated respectfully in a clean environment. We try to have active committees at every level that help determine our direction and help ensure that families experiences meet expectations.
Compliance: In Scouting, this means following the guidelines of Scouting in whatever we do.
Health and safety: Health and safety matters in all industries, but some companies operate in industries where a significant part of their operational focus in terms of ‘quality’ is around health and safety and delivering a safe product. – Youth Protection! Guide to Safe Scouting! Ensuring our youth can Scout in a safe environment.
Accuracy: One of the most important parts of ‘quality’ for any company is that people and companies buying the product need to be able to trust its quality. Many companies include partial statements about product and service accuracy so that people ‘know’ they can trust what is being said. This, to me, is something that we can still improve upon. If it is on the calendar, it is set in stone. If we have a training scheduled, we have it. If one person gets trained, that is one more than we had previously.
Improvement: Many products and services aren’t perfect, but a commitment to continuous improvement is always a welcome addition to any quality policy statement. Although I believe that Scouting is the best youth development program out there, we always have room for improvement. Look at one of our most recent changes to our program and the impact that it has had on young women in our communities.
People: All business involve a number of direct and indirect stakeholders. A commitment to thinking about and considering other people and communities often goes a long way. This to me talks about the Scouting community. Our Scouts and Scouters are our stakeholders. We need to continue to reach out to and consider other people in our communities that are not currently involved.
Quality is often defined as the standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind, so keeping this in mind I compare Scouting in Oregon Trail Council to other youth programs. I think we do a good job. I want us to do a great job.
I believe the only way we can do a great job, is if every one of our units makes a commitment to offer a safe, quality Scouting experience for all of our youth. However, that commitment needs to include families that aren’t yet involved.
Help us make Scouting the greatest youth program in the country!!
As always, you all have my appreciation for what you do in Scouting! Thank you for taking the time to read this article! And, again, thank you so much for your time, energy, and dedication to Scouting!
