Tag: Management

In my previous two posts, I talked about the fugue and the symphony as metaphors for Six Sigma deployment. A fugue is a musical form in which a single theme is repeated or imitated successively by different instruments until eventually the entire orchestra is involved. This strategy isn’t a bad one for Six Sigma deployment, […]

In my last blog entry, I wrote about the fugue as a model for deployment. A fugue is a musical form in which one or two themes are repeated or imitated by successively entering voices, until eventually the entire orchestra is playing the same tune. I suggested that this might not be a bad way […]

Nayism 35: Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble, Send me a Black Belt on the Double. I have a problem and he needs to fix it! At first, this statement may not sound like a “nayism” but beware. Something is brewing in this organization and it is definitely trouble. Why? Here’s what I say . . . […]

Gauging organizational maturity is one of the most critical tasks undertaken prior to the implementation of Lean / Six Sigma. Not only is it important relative to determining where to start, it’s also an indicator of how much of a cultural shift will be required to make sure the methodology sticks. The U.S. military seems […]

My organization is embarking on a new frontier: teaching our own version of DMAIC to new Green Belts and Black Belts. For our first three waves, we used the material provided by our consultant.Now we’re ready (we think) to customize it with our own organization’s goals and culture. The original training focused on the DMAIC […]

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”.

I attended the IQPC Lean Six Sigma West Summit in Las Vegas from September 27-29, along with fellow blogger Michael Marx and the rest of the CTQ Media team. On Wednesday I gave a presentation entitled “From Good to Great Six Sigma: 5 Imperatives for Making the Leap.” Many delegates who attended the presentation asked for […]

Nayism 32: We’ve learned the tools, trained folks and made good progress with our projects but somehow Six Sigma hasn’t become the “way we work.” Exactly when, if ever, will the cultural transformation thing happen? Sounds like this organization is having a tough time changing old habits. Much like the latest weight loss fad, short-term […]

As our organization implements lean, we are running into fears that our employeeswon’t be as productive after a lean project. There’s a theory that we’ll be “paying people to wait around” for patients / customers to show up. I’m pretty fascinated by this fear, since lean concepts of value are supposed to be be employed […]

A Black Belt friend of mine was telling me about deployment in his company. I listened to his problems patiently and then said to him, “It looks like you have employed a ‘bunch’ of Black Belts who are brilliant at the statistics, but when it comes to facilitating a project team, who might for example […]

In my opinion, one of the key questions to answer when planning a deployment is whether the Black Belt role should be full-time. While this sounds like a reasonable question to some, many experienced Six Sigma folks find it strange to even ask, because in the majority of programs the Black Belt role is automatically […]

Can you help the unwilling? My co-worker and I are completely paralyzed by a group of staff members in an implementation that refuse to adopt the principles of Lean because it takes away the “joy” of working and the group cohesion. According to them, now that Lean has been implemented, they don’t have time to […]

Whatever the organization’s maturity level (go see “week of a black belt part 4-5-6-7”), any improvement initiative needs top management engagement and commitment. Usually, there is enough management attention at the beginning. The CEO or Executive team has announced the initiative and walks the talk for a while. However, there are so many 1000 things […]

For a year now I have been running a Six Sigma Deployment on a Rail Project in Rugby (UK). My two main problems as deployment manager are; 1. Implementation of actions 2. Proving the projected cash savings. Both problems are as you can imagine at the back end of the DMAIC process. I also run […]

  I’ve been in the healthcare field all of my professional life. Whether this is your situation, or you have joined us lately, perhaps you’ve noticed the same thing I have. We all know what to do to make things better in our hospitals and facilities. It’s true… just ask anyone. Solve ER overcrowding? Reduce […]

How manyhealthcare Black Belts thinkthe biggest Six Sigma challenge is notproject management, or coaching your team, butteaching your Project Sponsor/ Executive Sponsor / Process OwneraboutSix Sigma? This is something I’ve encountered in early Six Sigma Project Waves. The scenario I’m thinking about is the one whereyou’re meeting with leadership about your project.In public meetings, they’ve […]

Our company has put a recent focus on ‘away days’ for its senior teams. You know the sort of thing. The whole team ups and goes off into the wilds with threats of being left in the middle of nowhere with a tin of soup, a pencil and an elastic band. Living in Scotland we […]

Before beginning any implementation of Lean Six Sigma in health care, it is important to get support and buy-in from management. Health care is a very conservative industry filled with professionals that maintain a traditional school of thought. Even though the health care industry has grown accustomed to change, the uneasiness of implementing a process […]

Since my staff in my department is entirely composed of students I have many advantages and disadvantages when creating teams and working on projects.The advantages of a student staff include the high turnover rates and those who see their time with us as just another job to kill time and get a paycheck. Some of […]

After spinning our wheels for the last two months, myself and the other two Continuous Improvement Specialists went out to lunch with the Plant Manager and the Engineering Director, both of whom are very experienced in manufacturing management, and both very well versed in lean manufacturing and continuous improvement methods. What they told us really […]

Benchmarking results consistently identify examples of Six Sigma success. Even so, getting “naysayers” on board is a continuous challenge. What do you tell them? Nayism 22: In lieu of an enterprise-wide Six Sigma deployment, let’s start with a couple of departments and see how it works. On the surface, this may seem like a reasonable […]

Six Sigma started in our department slowly.There were many factors that played into this, but mostly staffing issues: 1. I only have a staff of student employees (from 8-16 per year).2. This staff is in a constant state of change.3. Students come with various skills, many with no math or business or technical background.4. Knowledge […]

Benchmarking results consistently identify examples of Six Sigma success. Even so, getting “naysayers” on board is a continuous challenge. What do you tell them? Nayism 20: Why are black belts getting monetary rewards? The rest of us are working just as hard. Why should they be treated “special?” The topic of monetary incentives and rewards […]

It’s that time of the year again. The time of year when we all do a reality check on the job market — or more specifically — on the salaries ofSix Sigma Black Belts, Master Black Belts, Champions and Deployment Leaders. With now being the time of year when yearly bonus checks are being distributed […]