Lean Six Sigma: Ready, Fire, Aim
At the weekly staff meeting the boss makes an announcement
that a trainer will be in next week and you will begin LEAN Six Sigma green belt
training. BTW, the training will be 2
weeks long. What’s a six sigma? And how
am I going to meet my deadlines? Er… what's a green belt?!
That “buy-in” scenario occurs all too often and while the
answers to what a Six Sigma Green Belt is and is not are pretty quickly
answered, but the aspect of who is going to cover for the trainee when they are
out of production invariably leaves the line supervisor scratching their heads.
Clearly the target that the boss intended to hit, has turned into a miss.
What’s Wrong?
As with any new program buy-in by all levels of the company
is essential for success. For LEAN Six
Sigma (LSS), the impetus for bringing it in the house may have been one of the
following:
·
Too many errors
·
Perceived (by someone) or evident bloated
internal processes
·
Low profitability
·
Competitive advantage (or equivalence)
·
Client expectation
Is every effected stakeholder aware of the situation? If the effected individuals can recognize the need for improvement, then there is greater opportunity for buy-in. Perhaps the problem exists in an external- to-the-company situation e.g., competitive advantage. This needs to be explained in understandable terms. Example: Client A awarded the contract to Vendor B because they had a LSS program and thus had the potential for fewer errors and cost overruns.
Who’s Driving?
Who is leading the charge to make LEAN Six Sigma a resident
program?
·
Executive Management
·
Middle Management
·
Quality Assurance/Quality Control (there is a
difference)
·
CFO
Often the leaders who have been faced
with “issues” are the first to grab on to a LSS program. Executive management sees what the market is
doing, how the customers are viewing the company product/service output, and
where the company is ranked amongst the competitors by the clients. Middle management often sees first hand where
the issues are, although unable to “get a handle” on how to address them. The Quality Assurance unit had been losing
confidence with level of compliance coming out of the laboratory as too many
errors need correcting. Quality Control
has observed an increase in the number of faults/errors and re-do’s are now being
considered as part of the regular schedule.
The CFO perceives/theorizes wasted money in time and materials. All of these observations come from different
vantage points and each needs to be incorporated into the roll out program.
Who’s on Board?
Who is on board with bringing this potentially onerous program in-house to disrupt everyone’s routine? Those words
are fairly negative but if the program is rolled out in a half-hearted way that
is exactly what it will LSS become. Buy-in by ALL leaders is required otherwise
it could be a painful experience.
·
Upper Management
·
Middle Management
·
Everyone Else (unified vision)
·
No one!?
If the top of the organization is driving LSS and the front
line staff are committed to it, but the middle management is not supportive,
then the program will not succeed. Further, if the leadership is dragging (or
nagging) the staff into participation then the six sigma program is going to be
an uphill battle.
Ready, Aim, THEN Fire.
Before launching into LSS all stakeholders need to understand what the
drivers are, what is at risk if remediation (of the issue) does not occur, what
the realistic time commitments are required, and how business timelines are
going to be maintained.
At the heart of LSS is change and change is not something that comes easily
to organizations that do not recognize that there are issues. While it has nothing to do with LSS, the
movie Kinky Boots (PG-13) could well be shown to organizations that need to
change but are reluctant to do so.
