Six Sigma Leadership Modes

If you have ever participated in a Six Sigma program implementation you would know that leadership plays a very critical role. There is indeed a big difference between a quick Kaizen or 5S event that is applied to a specific area of the organization and an enterprise, company-wide approach to changing the culture and mentality of employees towards continuous improvement. Leaders have been and will always be an incredible source of motivation, commitment, accountability, and sponsorship in any process excellence initiative. This post is a brief review of a section of the book "The Six Sigma Black Belt Handbook " (reference below). The authors emphasize the four main modes  that leadership goes through in a six sigma management system, as follows:

The Align Mode

As the heading above implies, the align mode aims at an alignment between continuous improvement initiatives and the organization's strategic mandate. More often than not, departments and employees themselves tend to focus on "solving their own problems" rather than looking at the improvement opportunity as a systemic approach. On one hand, leadership in this mode is responsible for refreshing the organization's mission, vision, and values - as well as the main strategic objectives that drive the company towards excellency. On the other hand, operational and enabling functions focus on the Voice of the Customer (VOC) as a way of making the link between what has to be done at the operational / front end processes and the organization's strategies. Lastly, there are two vital points to be considered in this mode: the balance of strategic objectives (such as explored through the BSC - Balanced Scorecard methodology) and the link of strategic metrics to personal individual plans - ensuring that employees of all levels are truly committed to continuous improvement initiatives that drive strategic objectives.

The Mobilize Mode

Change management is a huge part of implementing process excellence in any organizational setting. This mode is about empowering, helping, coaching, and mentoring champions, green belts, and black belts in the work that they do. These individuals are agents of change and as such, they must receive the rightful support they need to accomplish the great task of changing the organizational environment to a continuous improvement mindset. The most known leader, who truly engaged himself into developing other leaders in this field is Jack Welch, former CEO of GE. Through his own personal development and involvement, he not only empowered but also inspired nearly everyone in the organization to always work towards process excellence.

The Accelerate Mode

In a PDCA (plan, do, check, act) context, this mode is about getting the work done. Leadership focuses on actions that will deliver the expected results. Keep in mind that training and support (once again) may be needed on a ongoing basis. Recognition of results is just as important, normally done through the publication of results to the entire organization (e-mail campaigns, bulletin boards, and visual management).

The Govern Mode

Similar to the Align Mode discussed above, leadership ensures that there is a link between strategy and process excellence efforts, and in doing so, governs the entire initiative by a) communicating the impact of the efforts on the organization as a whole, b) regularly leading progress meetings while at the same time providing teams with support and necessary tools, c) monitoring operations through dashboards, and d) publicizing the campaign's efforts and results.

The importance of committed leaders to Six Sigma and smaller-size process improvement initiatives cannot be overstated. At eZsigma Group, we always work closely with organization's leaders to make the entire process a smooth one. Contact us if you'd like to discuss your company's needs for leadership training as we have specific programs tailored to leaders and champions.

Reference: The Six Sigma Black Belt Handbook. (2005, McCarty et al.). McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.

9 Steps to Effectively Creating Project Charters

A project charter is a document that describes, authorizes, and defines any given process improvement initiative. It is widely used within the project management community as well as within the quality management field, often for Six Sigma implementation programs. Project charters can be of great value when someone needs information about the project, at review meetings, and to formally address changes needed to the scope and/or objectives of the project - needless to say, a great and necessary tool for quality practitioners seeking documentation and formalization of the project's detailed information. But how do we go about creating a project charter that is rich in information and easy to be used throughout the duration of the initiative? In this post, we offer 9 steps to creating an effective project charter. These steps should cover the basics of any process improvement initiative, however the list below is not by any means all inclusive. The quality professional will certainly need other pertinent information depending on specific requirements such as legislation, market conditions, sine qua non conditions within a contract and so on.

1. Sponsor/champion: who is sponsoring this project? Will he/she be available for conflict resolution and to act as the spokesperson at the leadership level? The sponsor should be involved from the very beginning, i.e. the sponsor should help the team to write the project charter.

2. Project title: what will the team call this project and will it be easily thought of as the initiative it truly represents?   

3. Business case: questions related to this field should sound like: "why are we doing this?", "how does this project relate to our organization's strategy?", and "what is the impact on our various stakeholders once this initiative has been successfully completed?". In a world where ROI (Return On Investment) is used as justification for basically everything, it is vital that your project charter is crystal clear about the business case it supports.

4. Scope: what are the boundaries of the business opportunity? What are the team's responsibilities and liabilities? What is not within the defined scope? Which parts of the process are included and which ones are not? Where does the process start and end? Having a clear scope description helps the team and the organization to avoid frustration on non-expected outcomes.

5. Goals: the old SMART way of setting your goals is still valid. SMART goals will provide the team with specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely metrics. Ideally, these metrics would be mathematically linked to the organization's strategic objectives (check our post on KPIs deployment - September, 2013: 

Ten Steps to the Proper Set Up of KPIs

6. Problem statement: the problem statement might not be the most accurate one at first, but that's OK. It is only after some data collection and validation that the project team will surely address the issue at its root level, based on facts and data. However, organizations often have known problems that need to be addressed through improvement initiatives. One way or the other, a clearly defined problem statement will help the team to focus on the task at hand.

7. Start/end dates and milestones: when does the project start and when does it end? And when should we expect to achieve the expected milestones? Here we emphasize the importance of celebrating these milestones' achievements - this will energize the team and the organization to move forward.

8. People involved: a solid improvement process project should have, at a minimum, a project sponsor, a project manager/leader, a scribe, facilitators, and team members. More sophisticated projects may also have a formal steering committee and the involvement of external stakeholders such as the community or a local legislator.

9. Signature and dates to help with formalization and accountability.

eZsigma's professionals constantly use project charters for the planning and deployment of improvement process initiatives. We are Canada's leading firm in the consulting, training, and certification of Lean and Six Sigma. Contact us to discuss your organization's needs.

Force Field Analysis in 3 Steps

Making a decision about a major undertaking such as the implementation of a Six Sigma program is not an insignificant task. As we all know, the on-boarding of a process excellence initiative may affect the lives of many employees not to mention the possible change in various processes within the organization. The Force Field Analysis was developed in the 40's by Kurt Lewin (a social psychologist). It is a practical and useful tool that you can use to help your organization in the decision-making process of any major change brought by new initiatives. This simple and yet powerful quality tool can provide the practitioner with a visual assessment of the forces that are against or in favour of the initiative being implemented. It also gives the quality professional a pictorial representation of the factors that need to be minimized (restraining forces) and the ones that can be used as leverage (driving forces).

How to Build a Force Field Analysis Diagram in 3 Steps

Step 1. Start by stating in the middle of a flip chart or a sheet of paper what it is that the organization (or department) is about to embark on. This can be a simple Kaizen rapid improvement event or a year-long Lean Six Sigma on-boarding program.

Step 2. On the left side of the central statement, list all factors that may contribute to roadblocks, issues, or even failure in the initiative. The Force Field Analysis diagram should be built through a brainstorming session which it means that, all ideas and insights are welcomed at this point. For a Six Sigma implementation approach, restraining forces could be employees' resistance, cost of remodeling a new process, and lack of inside expertise to name a few.

Step 3. On the right side of the central topic being studied, list all factors that may contribute to the success of the initiative. These include, but are not limited, to savings in time and cost, higher customer retention rate, improved product quality, fewer recall events, and industry recognition in process excellence. As in item 2 above, all ideas related to the success of the central initiative are welcomed at this point.

Some authors suggest the inclusion of a weighing system applied to these forces. For example, are there restraining forces that affect the program being implemented more than others? A simple scale from 1 to 5 (weak to strong) can be used. Once the diagram has been completed, the organization should start working on the minimization (or elimination) of the various restraining forces and on the strengthening of the driving forces. The Force Field Analysis will ultimately provide the user with even a decision on whether or not to go ahead with the program/change/initiative. On one hand, you may find that there are just too many restraining forces to tackle. On the other hand, you may find that the program being considered can be implemented with a great deal of driving forces that will make the entire process a lot easier than expected. One way or the other, the tool can be used to help you in making a better decision.

eZsigma Group is Canada's leader in process excellence. Through the deployment of Lean, Six Sigma, and Strategic Management consulting and education, we have helped hundreds of businesses to improve their processes and be a better organization. Contact us should you have any questions on how we can help your organization to be a better one.  

Alumni Interview on Six Sigma

In this post, we would like to feature an interview with one of our prestigious alumni on the value of Lean Six Sigma. As a community of quality improvement practitioners, we all know how much Lean and Six Sigma can change an organization's approach to process improvement. Nevertheless, the best testimonials come from those who are in the front line leadership of such initiatives. We pride ourselves in delivering quality content to our students and it is our pleasure to share with our community of learners what one of our own has to say. Darryl Tooley is a PMP and Certified APM Senior Consultant in the field of Performance Optimization. He works for the Health Integration Network in Belleville, ON. Hear what Darryl has to say.

What program did you complete?

Both Lean Green Belt and Lean Black Belt

How have you been able to apply the tools and skills on the job?

My role within healthcare focuses on performance optimization, which has benefited greatly from Lean training.  By looking at things through the Lean lens I am better able to identify waste, quality issues, and processes that need an overhaul.  In healthcare it was often a case of if it isn’t broke it doesn’t require change; however as the economic environment has changed a greater focus has been placed on ensuring care is provided in the most economical way possible.  Using lean tools, I am able to lead health service providers through robust reviews of their existing processes with the goal of reducing waste and more efficiently utilizing limited resources.

Have you seen tangible cost saving results from LSS projects?

Through both internal and external projects I have seen tangible cost savings through more efficient utilization of resources, in one case reducing a 3-week process to 1 week with a corresponding reduction in staff time and effort.

How has this designation impacted your career?

It has provided a level of respect and comfort with others when I am leading performance optimization and quality improvement initiatives that I am very skilled and knowledgeable in the ability to lead them through a process to identify waste.  Personally it has added a number of additional skills to my repertoire and increased my ability to take on more complicated projects.

How would you recommend presenting a case for implementing LSS?

In many businesses, including healthcare, the bottom line is often the only thing that matters.  Through Lean a lot of savings are not “money in the hand” type savings, instead savings are seen through more efficient use of scarce resources and reduction in wasted effort.  If someone were to put together a case for LSS training it would be best to focus on quality and waste as many don’t realize how costly waste and low quality can be because they don’t see the direct link on their budget statements.

We would like to thank Darryl for his time and his commitment to continuous improvement. If you are an eZSigma alumni and would like to be featured in our blog, please contact Elizabeth Stuart at lstuart@ezsigmagroup.com. We would love to hear from you!

Lean, Six Sigma and Sustainable Technologies

Once upon a time, there was a manager who needed to hone his skills on teamwork. Back then, the only option he had was to sign up for classes in which the student and the professor interacted face-to-face in a rather lecturer-listener setting. Through the evolution of the internet, and most importantly e-learning, nowadays students and practitioners have many options to choose from when it comes to self development. There are courses, certificate programs, masters and even doctoral degrees being delivered fully or partly online. The internet has undoubtedly changed the way we learn. But not only has the internet changed the way we learn, it has also changed the way we access and use information on a daily basis. Think about booking a trip, shopping for a new car, getting tickets for a concert, and even conversing with a loved one on the other side of the planet. As well, technology has changed the way we work. It has changed the way we control processes, the way we deliver services, and the way we communicate with each other.

Now that we have touched on how technology has changed the world, let's address what we know best: process improvement methodologies and techniques. As Lean and Six Sigma practitioners, we are very aware of how we need to approach customers to deliver the best in process improvement. But what about the sustainability of such programs? As we all have seen, many initiatives fail to stay if champions are not present to keep them going - which is indeed a major factor. But what about the technology behind these initiatives? Can software solutions contribute to the continuance of Lean and Six Sigma programs? Can they at least help somehow? Or is it just about the organization's culture? Have you experienced issues with Lean and Six Sigma implementation due to the lack of a tool or solution that could help the organization with the program's longevity?

This post is a bit different from the ones posted before. We would like to provoke the reader with this question: as we move towards a quasi-completely technology-driven business environment, can improvement process programs and methodologies such as Lean and Six Sigma be sustainable in the long run without the adoption of some sort of technology suite that will ensure that such programs stay, and are not considered the flavour of the month? Please vote on our first poll on the top right hand side of this blog and let us know what you think. And please feel free to comment on this post if you feel like it - we'd love to hear from you.

Welcome !

It is our pleasure to announce the creation of our first blog on strategic management, continuous and process improvement, Lean, Six Sigma, and much more. Our objective here is to educate, provoke critical thinking, and consult with our current customers, prospect clients and associates on best practices for the continuous effort in helping companies to perform better, in all aspects. Counting on a cast of experienced consultants and business practitioners, eZSigma's blog will offer to its audience practical tips on the various approaches and methods we live by, and teach to others. We would like to encourage yourself as well as your employees, associates and friends, to participate in the forum for the betterment of our organizations and personal professional journey. So please spread the word, let it be known that eZSigma's blog has arrived and it is bringing some valuable information to the world of great management.