One fatal flaw guaranteed to cause your Lean Six Sigma Programme to FAIL

Greed ! (Otherwise known as unrealistic expectations).

It is necessary to identify specific objectives in order to attain the vision that has been set for the company and that the vision itself is realistic and the timescales attached to this. I have seen this with at least two of my clients, whereby they are completely bought into the whole Lean Six Sigma philosophy, apart from one part – the part that says they absolutely MUST take the people with them. (This of course is the part that takes the time, as we must get these people through their own individual change curves at a pace that isn’t too uncomfortable for them).

A key objective can be defined as a manageable portion of the overall company vision.  For example, an objective may be to increase productivity by 10% by the end of the year, which is quite realistic (as long as this isn’t set in November !).

It is vital that each objective is realistic to ensure a sustainable Lean Six Sigma transformation (if the objective isn’t realistic, you’ve lost the people on day 1).  A company cannot expect the change agents to run multiple projects with multiple trainees simultaneously in order to grow the organisational knowledge in the shortest time.  The expectation cannot be satisfied because the change agents have only gained a reasonable understanding of the approach while developing the pilot area.  Overburden on the change agents can result in projects failing to meet their specified objectives.  The failed initiatives can then permeate a general attitude from company employees:  “Lean Six Sigma –we tried that and it didn’t work!”

The organisation must recognise that it is investing for the long term when pursuing these objectives.  Persevering with a structured and well-planned approach in satisfying the objectives can reap huge business benefits.  But beware, most organisations that embark on Lean Six Sigma transformation are greedy for results, which ultimately will result in failure.  The greediness comes from an organisation’s belief that it can become a Lean Six Sigma exemplar to a higher degree, faster and with less resource than anyone else.  There are no short cuts to the Lean Six Sigma transformation.  World class Lean Six Sigma organisations have taken many years to establish their position today.  It takes time to catch up – so, please be patient.

The following analogy shows the importance of patience and developing a proper infrastructure to support the change.  Two gardeners each plant a seed in some fertile soil. After six months, each seed has sprouted above the ground to a length of only four inches.  One of the gardeners is concerned because the plant is not growing fast enough, so he removes the sprout along with its root and plants a new seed.  The other gardener is more patient and understands that the sprout is still developing its foundations and has great potential, even though the growth hasn’t been that great. Another six months passes and the patient gardener now has a plant that sprouted to a height of two feet!  This flower was able to grow so rapidly because it was nurtured early on and allowed to develop at its own pace.  One the other hand, the new seed for the impatient gardener has only grown four inches again.




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Building the foundation for a successful Lean Six Sigma Implementation

A few months ago, a client asked me when they could start putting in place Lean Six Sigma in their organisation following the completion of a ‘Diagnostic’ activity.

I told the Head of this organisation that they weren’t ready for Lean Six Sigma and his jaw almost hit

the floor! I qualified my point by asking him some very basic questions, things like; How many do you need to complete today? How many people will you need to complete today’s requirement? How big is your performance spread? What does a good day look like? Along with a few more simple but essential questions that you would expect any good Operations person to have a good handle on.

He couldn’t answer a single question and quickly understood what I was getting at. We needed to get the foundations in place FIRST, before we could begin a typical LSS intervention. We needed to get his operation ‘In Control’, so that he could at least answer some of the questions asked of him. The phase I was moving him into was the ‘Stability’ phase, which would then give us a stable platform from which to build.

The primary purpose of the ‘Stability’ phase is to lay a solid foundation for the organisation. At the conclusion of this phase you should have a certainty that the ship has been steadied, fire fighting is a thing of the past and ‘Forward’ is the only way to go.

Depending upon the outcome of the Diagnostic Phase some actions may be required immediately to prevent disaster. This is where the Stability phase and the Strategy phase often overlap.

There is no Right or Wrong order to carry out the following actions, it will be solely dependent on what you uncover in the Diagnostic Phase.

For example, if a major cause of your companies problems was down to poor deliveries due to lack of visibility of shop floor productivity levels, meaning you never know when your product is coming off the line. You immediately put in place measures or KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) to address this and give you that visibility.

This can be done very quickly while other things are being worked on – Put your customer protection in place IMMEDIATELY, this will give you some time to work on the long term countermeasure.

Implement Standardised Operating Procedures

“Without Standardisation there can be no improvement” (Taichi Ohno). Implement Standard work in the operation and ensure adherence to this relentlessly. Once this is in place and adhered to, if an error occurs there can be only one of two possibilities; either the process wasn’t followed, or the process is wrong. It really is that simple (Taking breakdowns and catastrophic failures out of the equation).

Institutionalise daily comms/operations meetings to convey to all staff that what they do is important and to allow them to understand what is required, by when and to what standard.

Getting these seemingly simple things in place and rigidly adhered to will give you benefits beyond your imagination, as well as starting to create the culture which will then pave the way for future changes and improvements to be implemented much more smoothly.

There is one caveat: Involve the people every step of the way. If the people are involved and on board everything else is easy!



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I have also recently launched a new range of Lean Six Sigma on-line training courses which you can read about here, http://www.beyondlean6sigma.com/

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3 Essentials ingredients for any change project…..

I met an old client of mine last week and they asked “Why can’t we just get going and make the changes we've identified?”

My reply was a measured one, as this was a client who asked all of his staff to just do things NOW, without questioning the logic. This was knee jerk management at its worst. The changes they’d dentified didn't address the root cause of the problems they were having. Indeed, the problems they were having hadn't even been fully defined yet and there was certainly no data to back anything up, just gut feel. As I've talked about in previous mails, the Define stage is absolutely critical in setting up your improvement project for success.

We've already looked at the problem definition element previously. Three other key elements of the Define stage, which are critical are to ensuring the success of a project are:

The Goal Element

Defining what you’re looking to achieve
1, Make your Goal for your project SMART!

• Specific 
• Measurable 
• Agreed 
• Realistic
• Timed

Recognise, as with the description of the problem, things may change as data clarifies the picture.. Where Are We Going - How Will We Know When We Get There?

2, Ensure you answer fully, all of these Key questions:

• What’s the purpose of this project? 
• What prompted it? 
• Why is it important to work on this now? 
• How much improvement are we looking to make and by when? 
• Who needs to be involved? 
• How will customers be affected? 
• How will we know if things improve? 
• What data or information is needed? 
• What’s the broad plan

3, As with any journey, if you don’t know exactly where you’re going, how can you ever expect to get there? Define clearly what you want the outcome to be of your project. Even with the most state of the art Sat Nav, if you had no destination set, you’d never arrive!

DEFINE the problem before starting your improvement journey

I recently came across a client who had been on an improvement journey for a while with some degree of success but with the potential to really make some monumental strides forward. When we discussed the journey so far, one thing became really obvious and I thought it was worth sharing.

You see, this company had set out to ‘make improvements’ to the way they operated, which sounds like a noble aspiration and one that most businesses should indeed be embracing. The problem was, they had never fully defined the problem they were trying to solve.  Now you may think that this isn’t such a great issue but imagine if you went to the doctor and told him you didn’t feel well and that was all you told him.  How long do you think it would take him to diagnose you correctly? He would end up guessing as to the solution to fix your ailments, without knowing  EXACTLY what part of you wasn’t right and the background to this.

It’s exactly the same for improvement initiatives. Define precisely what problem you are trying to solve. It’s like a journey;

Beginning the journey... Define the problem

What is this problem costing us? Are we likely to lose business as a result? Look at all the potential problems and classify or rank in terms of financial impact (increased costs, revenue lost or at risk etc.) Recast this, referencing stakeholders’ requirements - for example, cost reduction, improved customer satisfaction, and market share implications.

Looking at the Problem Statement

• If you’re tackling a problem, what’s wrong? 
• What’s not meeting our customer’s requirements?
• When and where does the problem occur?
• How big is it?
• What’s the impact on the business?

Without the data we need, the issue statement and the description of what’s wrong may be our best guess perception.

Some Questions to Consider About Your Problem Description;

• Is it based on fact or gut feel?
• Does it already suggest the root cause?
• Can the team collect data to verify it?
• Is the description too narrow or too vague?
• Is the solution already implied?
• Would your customers be pleased you’re planning to work on this?

In Summary, the better we can define the problem, the faster we can identify a root cause, which in turn will allow us to generate a solution.

Next time, we’ll look at the flip side of this, the goal statement. Another essential element of the Define stage.

If you enjoy reading my blogs, please take a look at my many other on-line resources,

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I have also recently launched a new range of Lean Six Sigma on-line training courses which you can read about here, http://www.beyondlean6sigma.com/


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don't be fooled by what people say...

Effectively managing stakeholders is one of the most skilled and difficult parts of any improvement project and this subject is absolutely massive and only covered in our Master Black Belt Course however, I think it is so important, I decided to pull out some of the key aspects, hints and tips that I think you can put to use straight away.  Almost always, the degree that you master this skill is the defining factor in whether any project is a success or a failure and here is the first useful thing to watch out for in your stakeholders – the different behavioural modes:

There are two types of Behavioural Mode:

• Default – This is the one you may have to look hard to see.  The Default Mode contains all deep seated beliefs and prejudices, goals and drivers of the person and basic intentions, be they good or bad.  The way to assess and spot the Default Behavioural Mode, or DBM of a person is not by listening to what they say but by analysis of how they say it and the behaviour that they exhibit. Once you know what you’re looking for, you will be able to spot a person’s DBM, which is the key to knowing exactly how to deal with them 

• Assumed – This is the mode that the person wants you to believe is their ‘Default’ mode and quite often hides the intentions, beliefs and goals that they don’t want you to see.  The old saying “Take people as you find them”, isn’t always the best to follow.  Of course, some people are completely open and only ever display their default mode but you need to be able to know the difference.  The Assumed Behavioural Mode, or ABM tends to be used by people adjusting to their ‘audience’ or prior to trust being firmly established.  (This is the one shown to you by ‘Two faced’ people prior to stabbing you in the back!) 

Always remember, the eyes ARE the window to the soul.

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A little knowledge is dangerous

Patience is very important when developing a proper infrastructure to support the change.

Consider this, two gardeners each plant a seed in some fertile soil. After six months, each seed has sprouted above the ground to a length of only four inches.

One of the gardeners is concerned because the plant is not growing fast enough, so he removes the sprout along with its root and plants a new seed. The other gardener is more patient and understands that the sprout is still developing its foundations and has great potential, even though the growth hasn't been that great.

Another six months passes and the patient gardener now has a plant that sprouted to a height of two feet! This flower was able to grow so rapidly because it was nurtured early on and allowed to develop at its own pace.

On the other hand, the new seed for the impatient gardener has only grown four inches again.

Get the foundation in place first and your Lean Six Sigma efforts will soar!

Take what you find useful, discard what you don't.

It amazes me how many companies go about their Lean Six Sigma journey, many with good intentions and many more who have sent their employees on courses, who come back with their shiny new Lean Sigma toolbox and go about implementing kanban systems for the stationery that no one uses and value stream mapping a large unwieldy process that no one cares about anyway. Then they wonder why it didn't work.

You can give a ferret a toolbox but that doesn't make it a mechanic! A little knowledge IS dangerous.

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I have also recently launched a new range of Lean Six Sigma on-line training courses which you can read about here, http://www.beyondlean6sigma.com/

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Get the foundation in place first

A while ago a client of asked how I was so successful at implementing change in organisations where other consultants had failed so many times. I told him the answer was simple, I’m not a consultant, I’m a coach and there is a world of difference in this small point. Consultants are interested in getting their deliverables and benefits realised, whereas I’m interested in the client getting the results that they want and it is from this perspective that everything should be approached. But there is a basic formula that needs to be followed in line with the DMAIC or PDCA process, which if neglected, will inevitably lead to failure to a greater or lesser degree.

Here it is; get your foundations in place FIRST. Get good management practices embedded. Implement standardised processes and ensure adherence to them. Manage your performance and get your quality nailed down. Hold daily production meetings in every team and tell your people exactly what is expected of them (they will really appreciate it).

In short, stabilise your operation. Get really, really good at the basics of operations management.

Then and only then start thinking about improvement using whichever methodology best fits you particular business. The good news is, during the stabilisation phase, if you've done it well, you'll realise around 20% productivity and quality uplift straight away, just from standardisation.

Get the foundation in place first and your Lean Six Sigma efforts will soar!



If you enjoy reading my blogs, please take a look at my many other on-line resources,
Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/leansixsigmacert
Follow me on twitter, https://twitter.com/DrLeanSigma
I have also recently launched a new range of Lean Six Sigma on-line training courses which you can read about here, http://www.beyondlean6sigma.com/



#leansixsigma, #beyondlean, #leansixsigmacertification, #leansixsigmatraining