October 23rd, 2025

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In our last, blog we introduced the Quality Leadership Journey. If you missed this or need a refresher you can read it here.

If you don’t know where you are in your leadership journey, it’s easy to get stuck. You might find yourself overthinking, second-guessing and missing the chance to lead. 

But when you do know? You unlock clarity, confidence and momentum. And the power to shift from doing quality… to leading it.

And this is where the Quality Leadership Model comes in. This is our leadership ‘gym’ – the plan that will build our leadership muscles so that we can move up the stages from being an explorer to a leader with a true legacy. 

This is a clear roadmap that shows you exactly what you need to do to build the muscles you need to move up the stages of leadership growth.  

The model highlights the three core elements that contribute to the growth of quality leadership – and the nine supporting essentials. 

1. Knowledge

Remember, knowledge is your foundation. So, even though we’re moving from technician to leader, you still must understand the standards inside out. And it’s once you really understand the standards that you will really be able to lead with conviction. 

Within the element of Knowledge are three supporting essentials: 

1. Principles – Just like you can’t jump into trigonometry without learning to add and subtract, you can’t lead quality without understanding its core principles. When teams understand their objectives and the rationale behind their actions, the entire system aligns cohesively, driving purposeful progress.
2. Quality standards – One of the biggest mistakes quality professionals make is treating the standard like a rulebook – black and white and fixed, with no room to move. But interpreting quality requirements well is what separates box-tickers from leaders.
3. Systems – When you only look at quality process by process, it can feel like it’s just a bunch of checklists. But great quality leaders don’t see isolated tasks. They see how everything connects and understand that’s where real influence begins.

2. Application

This is where you take your knowledge and learn how to apply it in your organisation. This involves building simple and robust systems that solve problems and drive improvement for your organisation in the real world. Standards aren’t just for conformance – they’re for improvement. That’s why the application step is such an important part of quality leadership.  

Within application there are also three supporting essentials: 

1. Implementation – Implementing quality doesn’t mean drowning in documents or building a Frankenstein system no one understands. It comes down to these three simple elements that create the structure to make quality work for you—not the other way around.
2. Execution – Too often, great ideas are captured in a spreadsheet, popped into a register, or raised in a meeting… and then nothing happens. Quality leaders understand that it’s not just about identifying improvements – it’s about implementing them.
3. Problem-solving – Quality leaders know that quality isn’t the end goal. It’s the framework. And that framework can be used to tackle the things that keep you up at night – things like inefficiencies, unhappy customers, rework, breakdowns and more.

3. Soft Skills

Again, this is the magic, the aha moment, the real growth space. And that’s because the soft skills are so often forgotten when it comes to leadership. But leadership is a people game. Communication, empathy and emotional intelligence are the tools that turn quality managers into quality leaders. Because people follow people they trust. 

And you guessed it, within soft skills there are also three supporting essentials: 

1. Communication – You can know everything there is to know about quality, but if you can’t communicate it in a way that people understand, relate to and act on – it’s game over. Great quality leaders understand that communication isn’t about what you say – it’s about how you say it.
2. Awareness – As a quality leader awareness is the soft skill that really drives your ability to make good decisions. When you are aware you communicate more effectively and you can get ahead of resistance before it shows up.
3. Collaboration – Real quality success happens when it becomes a shared effort – when teams contribute, own the process and see quality as something they’re part of, not something that’s being done to them.

At the intersections

At the intersections of each of these three core areas of leadership some incredible leadership things arise. Between Knowledge and Application we get competence. At the intersection of Application and Soft Skills we get influence and at the intersection of Soft Skills and Knowledge, we get vision. And at the centre of our model we find our way to leading the standard. 

• Competence – Competence in quality Leadership is where knowledge and application collide. It’s about taking what you know and using it, with confidence, with clarity, and with influence. This is how you shift from “doing quality” to actually leading the standard.
• Influence – If you’re a quality professional, the chances are you need to lead without formal authority. But real influence doesn’t come from a title. It comes from trust, credibility and action – it comes from influence. And this is what you get from applying the Quality Leadership Model.
• Vision – When you have a clear vision for improvement, quality stops being about keeping up, and it starts being about moving forward – intentionally, strategically, and with purpose.

Competence, influence and vision are the keys to helping you become the leader who is ready to lead the standard. When you build competence, you no longer second guess yourself. When you grow influence, others don’t second guess you. And when you lead with vision, you help everyone move forward for real, lasting progress. 

Next Steps to Embrace Your Leadership Journey

1. Take the Lead the Standard Quiz
Discover where you currently sit on the Quality Leadership Journey and what to focus on next. 

2. Identify Your Essentials
Reflect on the three areas—Knowledge, Application, and Soft Skills—and write down one strength and one gap in each.

3. Choose One Intersection to Strengthen
Decide whether you need to build competence, influence, or vision right now, and outline a practical action you can take this month.

4. Engage Your Team
Share one insight from this model with your colleagues and invite their perspective. Leadership grows faster when it’s shared.

5. Commit to Your Growth
Set a short-term goal that moves you one step closer to leading the standard, whether that’s improving communication, refining a system, or seeking mentorship.