As a business consultant with a focus on helping companies achieve operational excellence, I often try to solve why companies are not consistently achieving quality and safety results.  The answer reveals the same problem many companies face in today’s more complex corporate world: Standards.  In many cases I hear leaders talk about problems with inconsistent quality and when I ask to see their “management systems” I find they have very few if any written plans, processes, procedures, or standards. This is not just a small company thing. I have observed this in very large organizations.