We all have likes and dislikes. When I was young, I liked to wear sneakers and play; what kid didn’t? Sunday mornings were the worst; not only did attending church cut into playtime but I had to dress up and wear shoes. School wasn’t any better; my mom made me wear nice clothes and shoes every day, except gym days. Thank goodness for Mr. Rothbart’s gym class because I got to wear sneakers on those days. From first grade through high school, gym class was my favorite while writing reports was my number-one dislike.

I was great at gym and fairly good at math, but writing was always a struggle. When I was young, I remember wanting to be a police officer, but that career option ended when I was informed that they had to write police reports. I ended up going to college to be an engineer and today “I are an engineer” (you can still see that writing is a second language for me; LOL).

When I entered the work world, I was naïve because I thought I was finally free of having to write reports. Reality struck during my second month on the job when I had to write a trip report. What followed was a career writing all sorts of things: trip reports, audit reports, corrective action reports, specifications, technical manuals, training manuals, purchase justifications, etc. Plus, when I started my career in the mid-1980s, I had to wear a shirt, tie and shoes to work every day. The dislikes just piled up!

I persevered. While I still don’t consider myself to be an accomplished writer, I have improved greatly since my childhood. How? Practice. This was a time before LLMs (large language models); writing is a skill set that can only be enhanced through “doing.” Where was I given the opportunity to write? Through my employment and with ASQ. As a new ASQ member leader (aka volunteer), I was asked to provide short newsletter notices and blurbs. These expanded into newsletter articles and then into feature articles for magazines. Eventually I was invited to write a recurring column and before I knew it, I had over 60 published articles to my credit.

As a quality professional, continuous improvement is a constant mindset. My efforts are not solely focused on work activities; continuous improvement applies to all facets of my life including self-improvement. And these personal improvements were not limited to just writing. I leveraged the opportunities that ASQ provided and worked on enhancing numerous skillsets. I am not an accountant but serving as the treasurer for my local ASQ Section provided the opportunity to improve financial related skills such as investments, budgeting and correlating expenses to various accounts. Plus, the end of year financial audit not only required me to be organized but to have a full understanding of the various income streams and expense accounts.

Much of my skill development was a result of the volunteer opportunities. Serving as the Chair of the ASQ Inspection Division provided the opportunity to strengthen my leadership skills. I also developed and enhanced a variety of skills while serving as a secretary, conference chair, marketing committee chair, newsletter editor, regional councilor, and many other leadership positions. ASQ provided an environment to develop skills in a “safe environment”; the consequences if I made a mistake (making mistakes is something I dislike but evidently am good at) were minimal. None of my self-improvements were orchestrated or intentional, they just came to be. While gym class is no longer an option, I can attest that writing has shifted from a dislike to a like.

The opportunities to hone one’s skills are open to all ASQ members, so if you desire to enhance your writing, lead a team, develop skills related to sales and marketing, or simply count pennies, reach out to your local ASQ Section (all ASQ members are assigned to a geographic Section), contact an ASQ Division (Division membership is free), or email me (jspichiger@memberleader.asq.org) to get involved and accelerate your personal continuous improvement. Also, I will be attending ASQ’s World Conference on Quality and Improvement in Orlando from May 17 to 20th so if you happen to be there, seek me out and introduce yourself; I will be easy to find because I will be the guy without a tie and wearing sneakers!