"It takes an entire quality system to make a true difference" - Interview with Debra Shultz Robinson

FPL Group, with annual revenues of nearly $16 billion, is known as a high quality, efficient and customer-driven organization focused on energy-related products and services. With a growing presence in the US, it is widely recognized as one of the country's premier power companies. Its principal subsidiary, Florida Power & Light Company, serves 4.5 million customer accounts in Florida. FPL Energy, LLC, an FPL Group competitive energy subsidiary, is a leader in producing electricity from clean and renewable fuels.

In this Q&A session, Florida Power & Light’s Debra Shultz Robinson, Manager of Corporate Quality Programs and Development, reveals how FPL's Hoshin Planning strategy drives meaningful process and performance improvement at all levels.

Your organization has a long history with quality improvement,dating back to the early 1980s.

Quality is part of our DNA. In 1989, FPL was the first company outside of Japan to win the prestigious Deming Award for quality.

And how long has the organization been using a Hoshin approach to strategic planning?

In the early 1980s we adopted our strategic planning methodology from the Japanese. It’s very similar to Hoshin Planning, but we were doing it before the terminology became vogue. We call it “Priority Deployment.”

PDCA – Plan, Do, Check, Act – is practically one of our mottos and has been since the 1980s.

What does the Priority Deployment process entail?

As always, we start with Customer Needs and Expectations. We do this through a variety of ways – external research and surveys, interviews, focus groups, phone surveys, etc. We do this internally as well. Our planning group does an environmental, financial, industry and world economic scan. We are very data driven. We have many indicators and customer data that we bring together to determine the direction we need to go in for the following year. And we perform periodic SWOT analyses.

This information is gathered at a corporate level, and then passed to each of our Business Units (such as Power Generation, Power Systems, Customer Service, Human Resources, Finance, Supply Chain and so on). Each Business Unit has their own strategic planning session that involves deploying indicators and targets, following the catchball process, establishing goals and prioritizing projects.

The resulting projects are deployed through various means with task teams (using Six Sigma, or our “Quality Story” approach with six sigma tools). Black Belts lead projects at the Corporate and higher level business unit level; Green Belts and other quality practitioners lead projects at the department level.

Hoshin Planning allows us to remain consistent, organized and data-driven. It’s not a stagnant process but a living one.

How do all the business units stay in sync with each other?

All levels of management are involved in strategy sessions at all levels and with each of our companies. We also have an award winning communications department. They do a tremendous job putting out a monthly news communiqué that updates the employees on all things important to the company and the employees. In addition, each business unit also communicates the corporate and individual business unit goals, typically through business unit and department meetings (“all hands on deck” meetings) where we discuss progress, indicators, the current situation and future plans.

What are some of the advantages of approaching strategic planning
this way?

It allows us to remain consistent, organized and data-driven. It’s not a stagnant process but a living one. Business plans aren't stuck in drawers, they are used to guide work. PDCA – Plan, Do, Check, Act – is practically one of our mottos and has been since the 1980s. From strategic level projects, to daily activities, plan what you're going to do, do it, check what you did and act accordingly.

It takes an entire quality system to make a true difference.

So after determining your strategic objectives, how do you ensure they
are met?

Through the use of indicators, goal and target setting, and consistent project and management reviews until the goals are met. It all comes down to PDCA. If things aren’t going right, you adjust your process or plan accordingly. All goals and targets are tied to our annual performance measures (KRAs - Key Responsibility Areas), which are monitored and reviewed at least twice a year. Of course, we also have dedicated, hard-working employees that don't settle for anything less than meeting the objective.

How does FPL's approach to strategic planning dovetail with the company's Six Sigma and quality programs?

Our quality system is a triangle. At the top is Priority Deployment (strategic planning). Along the two sides are Process Management and Analytical Problem Solving. In the center of our triangle it states "People Driving Results." The base of the triangle is Learning & Development. As we’ve learned over the years, it takes an entire quality system to make a true difference.

Debra Shultz Robinson joined FPL in 1987, in the thick of their Deming journey. Since then, she has been involved with the company’s quality initiative in one form or another.