Described are items that should be considered when re introducing Lean Six Sigma methodology (LSS methodology) into an organization; however what is described would also apply to the initial adoption of LSS practices into a company that has existing Black Belt-trained employees that could be involved in the LSS deployment.
Re Introducing Lean Six Sigma Methodology Into A Business: Lessons Learned
When an organization restarts or re-introduces a LSS program, there are a few concerns that do not appear in a new deployment. A few are company specific, but the first is also a general issue.
1. All the Black Belts (BB) and Green Belts (GB) that are trained must have a common message from the company resources. Their course materials, reference books, company mentors, and support personnel must provide common advice. There are many different LSS training programs out there. If an unsure student gets one piece of advice in class and then an employee gives them different or even conflicting advice, the student will struggle.
I have learned that there are many ways to run a project and be successful. Every LSS course teaches one path through the project, which is different from other LSS training programs. Most trained BBs know only one method that they were successful in using. If the trained BB provides help to another belt in training from a different course, there are routine problems. Now, well-trained MBBs are more able to provide guidance that matches the student’s training because they have generally experienced many different types of projects and have realized the need to keep it simple on a student’s first project.
To avoid this type of problem in the deployments led by Smarter Solutions, we provide a quick training class for all the certified belts that will be supporting the deployment so they may understand what is being taught. They are provided the same reference books as the students along with a copy of our improvement project roadmap. This “Update” class is well liked because many trained and certified belts have not kept current on their skills and these people use the class to get re-familiarized with the DMAIC toolset.
Smarter Solutions also provides a week long course that we call the “Graduate Course.” This course is intended for certified BBs that have lost their full DMAIC knowledge for any number of reasons, but they want to upgrade their knowledge and skills. These folks do not want to become Master Black Belts, just better BBs.
Now back to the re-introduction topic.
2. Before re-introducing the LSS topics, an analysis should be performed to understand why the prior effort was not sustainable. The issues found in the prior deployment should be addressed before LSS is brought back.
For some companies it is a lack of top-level support that led to the failure. If so, the company would need a better introduction and training for the leadership or the same result will occur.
For some companies the failures derive from picking the wrong people to train. A good deployment selects good people to be BBs. You want to find people that have leadership skills and a drive to succeed. Passive employees will struggle to be successful. One of my early mentors told me, “Do not pick the employees that are available, because there is a reason that they are available.” His point is that if they are not engaged in the business there is a reason, and it will probably be the reason that they will not be a successful belt.
3. One reason, which is more subtle, is when a program struggles due to the choices of improvement projects. It may seem to be counter-intuitive, but asking the leadership for project ideas will result in a long list of poor projects. The leadership will provide ideas for things that may avoid the real chronic issues for many reasons. A common reason to avoid the key issues is that leadership does not want the real issues brought out publicly due to the shame that might result. At my last employer, the VPs would not openly discuss a business problem until they had a fix being implemented so that they would not look stupid.
A good project needs to be derived from the organizational or enterprise view of the business, not from a single manager’s view. Smarter Solutions provides much guidance in its course references about this subject. Every project should provide enterprise benefits. This avoids the project that improves one department by shifting work to other areas, ending up with a decrease in efficiency and a net loss in business success.
Think about all of these issues if you are re-introducing Lean Six Sigma to your organization. As you may know, Smarter Solutions is equipped with the experience as well as the staff to help with such implementations when outside help is needed.
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 Lean Six Sigma 2.0 implementation.