Sometimes we just don’t have enough people.

Our teams are literally ‘lean’ in the sense that there’s nothing to spare.

Maybe a pure Quality role at your company doesn’t even exist. This is not unusual. It’s also not a reason to abandon the idea of having a good quality management system.

𝗦𝗼 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆-𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁?

👉 Multi-skill your people: Cross-train your team so that everyone can wear multiple hats with confidence.

👉 Use Technology: Automate things and free up time to focus on strategic, value-adding activities. Invest in what you need to relieve the pressure, but don’t go nuts. Figure out what you need and make sure you invest in something that fits your company, budget, and needs.

👉 Prioritize: Focus on the most impactful tasks first. Use the 80/20 rule: 80% of your output often comes from 20% of your effort. Be proactive about things on the Quality front so that time is not wasted fighting avoidable fires. Be wise.

👉 Outsource Strategically: Recognize when you need external help and outsource so you can stay focused on what you do best. But make sure you’re not wooed into a service you don’t need just because everyone else is doing it or using it.

👉 Build a Quality Culture: Cultivate an environment where Quality is everyone’s responsibility. This improves efficiency, morale, and productivity, and reduces costs.

👉 Encourage Innovation: Encourage everyone to explore new methods, tools, and techniques. Tiny improvements can lead to big efficiencies over time. Get creative. And make sure you’ve built the kind of environment where people feel comfortable sharing their ideas.

👉 Create Clear Processes: Good processes captured in clear, well-written documents help small teams deliver consistently. They also make onboarding new team members smoother.

👉 Invest in Team Building: Strong teams work more effectively. Spend time building relationships and trust within your team. The payoff in productivity and morale will be worth it.

👉 Embrace Flexibility: Encourage a culture of agility, where change is seen as a path to improvement, not a disruption.

👉 Acknowledge Effort: In a small team, everyone’s contribution matters. People contribute more and have a greater sense of ownership and empowerment when their efforts are acknowledged.

Running a lean team doesn’t mean compromising on quality.

Don’t think for a second that a small, well-structured team can’t outperform a big one. Size doesn’t dictate success.