I have been to China regularly over the last 10 years. Every visit always does not cease to amaze me. From a backward country 25 years ago, it has managed to become a roaring powerhouse. Visit their top 20 cities, and you can almost get a feeling that it looks as slick as any top Asian city. Moreover, every few months, you practically see the skyline changed.

One of the persistent things that they definitely need to improve are the toilets. A friend commented that over ten years ago, you don’t need directions to go to a toilet. You only need your nose to smell your way to it. Surely, it has improved. One of the ways, as is done in a country who espoused processes on everything is to ‘grade’ the toilet, and hold it up to the grade standard.

Here we see that there are toilets that are graded 4 star ( internally I am sure that there are standards then that the people maintaining it will have to follow), and here are toilets that are graded 3 star. Maybe the best way to improve is to make the grade visible and make the people responsible hold it to that standard. Is that how we improve also all areas of our operations, including HR?