When you help your neighbour to paint his fence, is he doing you the favour? NO
When you lend your friend 50 dollars, is he doing youthe favour? NO
When you help a colleague fix his process, is he doing youthe favour? NO
Make sure your colleagues understand this. If they think they are doing you a favour, you’re starting off on the wrong foot straight away.
OK, I know we get paid to do this, but I don’t know about you, but I can work with numerous departments on numerous ‘problems’. That’s one of the good things about being a Black Belt.
A new colleague spoke to me the other day saying “if you really want, I have a problem in my department that you can fix”.
This attitude is wrong. It might not be his fault. The last Black Belt probably went round with his begging bowl asking “please let me help you, ohhhh please….”
How do we change this attitude?
1. Get a good project pipeline flowing.
The more projects you have, the easier it is to ditch the project team with the wrong attitude. Sounds harsh, but a team with poor motivation is slowing you down, wasting your time and wasting the company money. A BB with a large pipeline, I argue, transmits an air of confidence. The BB has the attitude; I’m here to help if you want my help.
2. ‘Create a Burning Platform’ Kotter J ‘Leading Change’
Make sure you communicate the problem statement especially in terms of cash to the right people. People will soon shift once they know (or more importantly the bosses know) the gravity of the situation.
3. Create short term goals / milestones and 4. Communicate your success.
Keep your Six Sigma projects short and sweet. Projects that drag on for six months need to be carved up into key milestones to keep motivation at a maximum
5. Celebrate Success;
with plenty of beer, champagne, donuts or whatever your Six Sigma team deem to be a celebration. Remember, celebration is subjective to the individual.
I would be very interested in how you have established a culture of ‘pull’ (colleagues at work coming to you for help) in your Six Sigma deployment.
