TELUS Mobility:
A Case Study in Business Excellence

On 19 October 1998, the National Quality Institute presented TELUS Mobility with a Canada Awards for Excellence trophy. This award is the highest recognition in Canada for business excellence. Like its U.S. cousin, the Baldrige Award, it is presented only to organizations that have implemented a comprehensive customer-focused management system – and have demonstrated the effectiveness of this system by achieving outstanding business results.

Very few organizations achieve the levels of performance required to receive such awards, and any organization striving to improve can learn from TELUS Mobility's experience. The following is a brief outline of this company's story, as seen by an outsider.

Beginnings

In 1991 Harry Truderung was appointed as the new President of TM, with the mandate of refocusing the business from traditional radio services to exploit the emerging cellular market.

Harry's views on how to accomplish this were strongly influenced by some previous experiences. He had taken part in study tours to Japan to visit leading companies practicing what they call Total Quality Control (TQC), and been impressed by what he saw. He had also participated in a failed quality improvement initiative with a previous company.

This debacle had not detracted from his belief in the approach, but had given him insight into some possible failure modes. He was attracted to the idea of assessments using criteria such as Baldrige because he viewed these as industry-standard yardsticks for Total Quality. From the very first assessment in 1992, Harry was committed to using this process in the long term to help drive TM's improvement efforts.

The First Assessment

During the 1992 assessment, the main strength that we discovered was a strong focus on customers – TM had already developed a fairly effective system of customer and market listening. We were also impressed by the strong senior management commitment to a quality-based approach, and by the fact that they had started down this path at such an early stage in the company’s development – the company had only existed since October 1990 and the new management team had just recently been appointed.

However, the assessment also revealed significant shortcomings. The management style was perceived to be 'top down', with little opportunity for employees to provide input or feedback. The company lacked effective methods for managing business processes, and so was managed almost exclusively in departmental or functional 'silos'. There were many gaps in the information system, and the information that existed was not aggregated or analyzed sufficiently to support fact-based decision-making. In the area of business results, the information available mostly pointed towards industry-average performance.

In summary, TM looked very much like thousands of other respectable but strictly average companies – capable of meeting industry norms but definitely not capable of exceptional performance.

The Journey

Between 1992 and 1998 TM re-examined and overhauled almost every aspect of its management system. The leadership team's management style, their approach to communication, and their methods of monitoring progress, were all targets for change and improvement. The methods of listening to customers and understanding market needs were refined and expanded. The information and measurements used to monitor the business were altered to provide a more complete and balanced view. A 'Key Business Driver' model was developed – a kind of cause-and-effect diagram – in order to better understand what internal factors have the most impact on business results. The methods of analysis were changed to provide better support for planning and decision-making. The planning process was revamped to achieve a more integrated business plan, and to allow more rapid response to external changes. A structure and methodology for process management was introduced, and applied to both operational and support processes. And much better ways were found to develop people and to get them involved in improving the business.

Some of these changes were simple and procedural, while others required significant changes to technology, computer systems and software. Many depended upon the involvement and cooperation of suppliers and dealers. Some changes required education to improve people's skills and knowledge, and some – most challenging of all – required changes in attitudes and behaviour.

Today

TM today is strikingly different from six years ago. To anyone who works within the company or has dealings with the it, TM looks and feels like a very different organization. The company's own metrics tell part of the story:

employee morale is excellent: according to the annual survey conducted across all TELUS companies, 83% of TM employees feel that TM is a great place to work
customer satisfaction is high, stable and markedly better than the competition: in 1997, over 92% of established customers gave TM a rating of 7 or higher on a 10-point scale, 44% give a rating of 9 or 10, and more than 90% indicated that they would repurchase from TM
customer loyalty is high for this industry: during 1997, fewer than 1.3% of customers left TM each month (voluntarily or involuntarily)
market share is high: TM currently has about 65% of the Cellular market in Alberta, and this has been achieved, not by 'buying' market share at low margins, but by providing superior service
financial results are excellent: positive EVA has trebled in the period 1995 – 1997, and cash flow margin leads the industry.

Clearly TM's improvement strategy has paid off handsomely.

TM's Assessment Process

Taken together, the changes that TM implemented represent a huge amount of work Most of these changes could not be tackled in isolation – careful planning and coordination was required. And all of this had to be done with limited resources, while at the same time managing the day-to-day running of a fast-growing business.

The primary tool that TM has used to set priorities and to plan these improvements is an annual assessment cycle. Every year since 1992 TM has conducted a comprehensive assessment of their management system, and used the findings to develop a focused plan for improvement.

In other words, TM has implemented a closed-loop annual improvement cycle that embraces the complete management system. Lori Topp, TM's Quality Director for several years describes this process as a "key enabler" for their improvement efforts. Here is how it works.

The main steps in TM's assessment cycle are as follows:

Planning. The assessment is planned, and refinements suggested the previous year are factored in. A schedule is established and the TM employees who will play an active role (e.g. in writing the report or supporting the external evaluation) are identified.
Education. A two-day workshop is offered once or twice each year covering the criteria and the assessment process. Rather than training only the people who are directly involved in the assessment, TM makes this workshop available to everyone – including suppliers – as a grounding in quality management principles and TM's approach to managing the business.
Descriptive Report. Senior management creates a report describing how they run the business – i.e. how the TM management system operates. This report follows the structure of the criteria, and each senior manager takes responsibility for certain portions of the report, supported by a few employees who have been trained in the Baldrige criteria.
External Evaluation. The external consultants review the descriptive report, identify the issues that they want to investigate during their on-site work, and develop a game plan for their visit. When they arrive, they launch straight into an intensive interview process. The interviews touch a sample of people at all levels, in all of the major functions and locations. This widespread involvement gives people at all levels a voice in the process, so that no important issue is overlooked.
During this phase of the assessment, a few internal assessors are partnered with the external consultants, thus providing a valuable development opportunity for up-and-coming individuals. This intensive experience is prized: a typical comment is "I learned more this week than I usually learn all year".
Feedback. The external consultants orally present their report to the entire management team in an interactive session. When the discussion is complete, the participants are asked to reflect on the findings, to form their own views about the priorities for action – and to bring these views to the planning session a few days later.
Planning for Improvement. Planning is done in a workshop setting and involves the entire management cadre in a process of identifying the "vital few" priorities for improvement. Once the assessment findings have been shared and understood it is usually easy for the participants to agree on the issues to focus on during the next year or so. A simple Affinity Diagram exercise will usually identify five to seven top priorities, and these can be further prioritized (or sequenced) to sharpen the focus even more.
For each of the vital few chosen an executive owner is assigned, and the participants work in small groups to develop initial implementation plans. The workshop ensures a shared understanding of the key goals, how they will be accomplished and who will be involved.
Communication, Implementation and Monitoring. The groundwork has now been laid, and it is time to share the plans with everyone, to allow people to work out the details, and to get into action. The improvement plans are also integrated into the business plan and into people's action plans. Implementation of the plans will continue during the following 12 months, or until each action plan is complete.

This cycle is then repeated the following year, in order to verify progress, understand what worked and what did not, and to set new priorities. There is no 'one best way' to conduct an assessment, but TM's process is comprehensive and probing – and this depth is necessary to evaluate a high-performing company.

Why Has TM Been Successful

Most companies consider that they are constantly working to improve, yet many don't seem to make much progress.

They often look, feel and perform much the same as before, even after sweeping changes in staffing and structure, and years of management initiatives that were supposed to cause improvement. The names and the faces change, but the game is played in the same way.

What is it that has enabled the TM to achieve such strides?

There have been many contributing factors, but some of the most important have been:

the unwavering commitment of TM's senior management to a philosophy of management – based on quality principles – and their persistence and energy in pursuing this ideal
the development of a rational, structured management system – with a balanced set of performance measurements, careful analysis to determine what activities and processes drive performance, and the alignment of everyone's efforts to achieve shared goals
the use of a guiding mechanism – the assessment process – for focusing the improvement efforts, in order to achieve the greatest impact with scarce resources.

The Author's Perspective

I have had the privilege of working with TELUS Mobility since 1992. My role, along with a few of my consulting colleagues, has been to guide and assist in the annual self assessment process that TM uses to plan for improvement. This work has provided a unique opportunity for us to contribute to management's thinking and plans, and to observe the company's progress.

Although we meet the TM management team rather infrequently – mainly during the annual assessment – over the years they've come to treat us almost as 'family'. And in return we've come to take almost a parental pride in their successes. We fully understand that these achievements are theirs, not ours – but we're proud to have helped.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the following people for their contributions to this case study.

TELUS Mobility:

Harry Truderung, President
Lori Topp, Vice President of Customer Retention
(former Quality Director)
Wray Steedsman, Quality Director

Associates:

Robert McGrath of Quality Quest, Pittsburg.
Bob is a Baldrige examiner and assessment specialist who has taken part with me in most of TM's annual assessments.

Obtain other articles by David Hutton at www.dhutton.com

TELUS Mobility: A Case Study in Business Excellence