A cardinal principle of Total Quality escapes too many managers: you cannot continuously improve interdependent systems and processes until you progressively perfect interdependent, interpersonal relationships.

Covey links the logic of Total Quality/continuous improvement (often associated with Deming-style systems thinking) to the “human system” inside organizations. The quote argues that process redesign and cross-functional optimization depend on trust, communication, and mutual accountability among the people who must coordinate the work. Where relationships are adversarial or siloed, interdependent processes cannot be steadily improved because feedback is distorted, cooperation is withheld, and local optimization replaces shared aims. In effect, Covey reframes quality as a social achievement as much as a technical one: sustainable improvement requires progressively strengthening the interpersonal relationships that make interdependence workable.