Described is a Lean Six Sigma leadership case study from a deployment at TD Bank .
Lean Six Sigma Leadership: TD Bank Case Study
TD Bank Group Master Black Belt & Lean Six Sigma Program Lead, Alex Garcia-Cornu and I were listed in the recent PEX conference program to give a joint presentation at the Orlando event. The presentation was more about what Alex’s organization has accomplished and their approach; hence, Alex did most of the talking.
Alex works in the Service Quality of TD Bank and reports to Leslie Behnke, who gave a keynote at the same conference. Alex in the ?Developing Successful Lean Six Sigma Leaders: Why technical knowledge is not the sole answer?? presentation first noted how TD Bank is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and is the sixth largest bank in North America by branches. TD has more than 22 million customers worldwide.
TD Bank’s Business
Alex then described TD Bank’s four key businesses:
- Canadian Personal and Commercial Banking
- Wealth & Insurance
- U.S. Personal and Commercial Banking
- Wholesale Banking
Next it was noted how TD Canada Trust was named:
- Number one in Customer Satisfaction 8 years in a row by J.D. Power and Associates
- Number one Best Canadian Brand 2012 by Interbrand
It was stated also how there are more than 85,000 employees at TD Bank and it was named one of Canada’s “Top 100 Employers” in 2014 by MediaCorp.
TD Bank Service Quality
Alex then described the function where he works, Service Quality. This function is a shared service team of process improvement professionals. The role of Service quality is to deploy Lean Six Sigma process improvement culture and expertise across TD Bank by:
- Identifying, prioritizing and executing on Lean Six Sigma continuous improvement plans and projects.
- Deploying customized TD Bank Lean Six Sigma training, certification and mentorship programs.
- Creating a broad-based continuous improvement end-to-end mind set across the business.
In his presentation, Alex made the point that historically, Lean Six Sigma programs have relied heavily on technical skills. He stated that we can teach our Lean Six Sigma Experts math and statistics, but is that enough for them to succeed in the business arena?
It was then stated how soft skills are needed for everyday life. Soft skills are how they have to do with how people relate to each other. Unlike hard skills, these attributes are typically hard to observe, quantify and measure.
A typical day in the life of a TD Lean Six Sigma Process Expert in their Lean Six Sigma Program was described as:
- Design new process: Launching a new product/service
- Re-engineer processes: Adjust to meet governance and regulatory requirements or add new features.
- Move processes: Site consolidation.
- Define processes: Defining end-to-end process performance and standards.
- Lean processes: Eliminating waste and inefficiencies.
TD Service Quality Lean Six Sigma Program
It was then stated how Service Quality Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification and Black Belt certification roadmaps are not solely focused on technical skills dimension. The Service Quality TD Bank Lean Six Sigma Program Black Belt and Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification program includes other pillars such as change leadership skills and the evolution of Lean Six Sigma skills.
The Lean Six Sigma Program is to have technical competency provided by TD Bank Service Quality Group. The goal is to be above the industry technical competencies for transactional Lean Six Sigma Green Belts, Black Belts, and Master Black Belts.
Development of Soft Skills
It was stated that the Service Quality of TD Bank was to develop core soft skills in their people to enable a constant evolution of their business processes through continuous improvement—Leadership, Advocacy, Influence, Communication, Business acumen, Strategic alignment focus, Financial benefits focus, customer focus, project management, etc. These attributes are to be an integral part of their Lean Six Sigma Program.
Soft skill competencies that were to be developed in individuals over the first year, as part of their Lean Six Sigma Program, were:
- Facilitation
- Thought leadership
- Financial benefits
- Impact and influence
- Emotional intelligence
- Executive communication
Beyond Initial Lean Six Sigma Training
Besides training, as part of their Lean Six Sigma Program, Service Quality at TD Bank has established the following strategies with the purpose of better supporting the development and success of their practitioners:
- Bi-weekly lunch and learns
- Professional development days
- Bi-weekly formal one-on-one mentoring
- Service Quality Lean Six Sigma best practices forum
- Report out mentoring
- Master black belt advisory board
- Green Belt/Black Belt study sessions
- Calibration of new hires
The above was described by Alex in his presentation as what TD Bank Service Quality is doing in their Lean Six Sigma program to identify, attract, develop and certify a pool of highly qualified process experts delivering compelling value to the bank.
Contact Us to set up a time to discuss with Forrest Breyfogle how your organization might gain much from an Integrated Enterprise Excellence (IEE) Business Process Management System implementation of Lean Six Sigma.