How Reckitt is Building a Transformative Quality Culture and its Strategic Impact

On 13th May 2021 Breda Quinn, Global Transformation Quality Director at Reckitt joined Ed Van Siclen, Vice President, Strategy & Business Development at Veeva to discuss ways of building a strong and sustainable Culture of Quality within an organisation.  

It is no secret that Reckitt Benckiser has been on a transformative journey, you only have to look at the significant changes that have been made to the companies branding. Now being known solely by ‘Reckitt’ their stunning visuals are bright, bold and showcase a fearless approach in their pursuit to protect, heal and nurture our modern world. As Ed and Breda sat down to discuss this transformative journey, it made sense to start right there, at the face of the company. 

“I love the energy that it brings, I love the new symbol which signifies our unity, strength and collectivity as an organisation and that energy we bring to our products.” Breda replied when asked about the rebrand. 

When a company rebrands and decides to embark on any transformative journey, they need to start by looking at their mission, their vision and their values. Taking a holistic approach that isn’t just about a new logo, but how the look and feel of a brand is reflected to the world. And the same approach applies to any shift in quality culture. 

Embarking on a quality culture transformation 

Breda told us that at the very start of their journey, they had to carefully assess their policies and procedures and ask themselves are they still needed? Are they even meaningful? From here they identified the need to move from a reactive culture to a predictive one, one that was more analytical and data-driven. Of course, any organisation wanting to do this must have the technology in place to do so, but now that they have the capabilities, Reckitt can appreciate the full value of their data. 

The ability to access this data in real-time, pulling predictive insights to make impactful business decisions can empower both employees, and business leaders to feel confident in their day to day work. 

Data aside, Ed and Breda delved deeper into how technology could make an impact, for example automating mundane, repetitive tasks. 

“It’s not about removing the human that does the activity, but about making the human experience better,” Breda told us. 

The future of work in quality management

“I read an article recently that said we're going to have new science, new technology and new management techniques that are going to transform how we work from a quality perspective and I got a lot of inspiration from that. We have to invest here and we have to upscale and we have to bring in the capabilities and build the capabilities within, to be able to interpret the data to use these new technologies. The new employees of the future? They want this and they’re going to expect this.” Said Breda. 

When we think about the future of work and the future of quality, we have to imagine what the world is going to look like for our children and grandchildren entering the workplace. What their expectations will be. Ed described the next generations to follow as digital natives and as having a knack of slicing through immense amounts of data all at the same time, whilst not getting bogged down with the information coming at them.  

“I see it as my legacy, I see it as my responsibility, and as a current leader, to make sure that the workplace of the future, for future quality and manufacturing professionals is equipped with all of this” replied Breda.

Advice for quality management professionals 

Quality professionals that are fortunate enough to have an inspirational and driven leader such as Breda are the lucky ones. They can flourish in their work and both the organisation, its products and its consumers are all the better for it. But this is not the culture in every company. We asked Breda what her advice would be in these types of scenarios, she told us: 

"My advice there when I'm thinking about this is don't give up, my second is to continue to educate yourself and how you sell that idea. If it doesn't succeed, you know, the first time self-reflect look at how you've done it and maybe you haven't landed it in the correct way. Then I would build small advocacy, I look to have more small advocates and build momentum like that, it will take time."

”But I would never give up on this, because having a strong culture, for me, is a differentiator.”

We were delighted to have the opportunity to sit down with Breda, we have covered a short summary here but if you’re in the world of quality and interested in company culture and how you can make a real impact from within your organisation, watch the full webinar here.

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About Veeva

Founded in 2007, Veeva NYSE (VEEV), is a global provider of industry-specific cloud software solutions that address the unique operating challenges and regulatory requirements of the consumer products and chemical industries. Our solutions help R&D, quality, regulatory and commercial teams eliminate inefficiencies and bring high-quality, safe, sustainable products to market without compromising compliance. Veeva is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, with offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America