The Politically Incorrect Definition of Change Management

Posted on12. Jul, 2010 by Monique.

Change management is defined on Wikipedia as:

Change management is a structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state. In project management, change management refers to a project management process where changes to a project are formally introduced and approved.

While that is a fairly accurate statement, you should be aware of the underlying behaviors that result from making a change and how that directly impacts your role as the change agent.

My Politically Incorrect Definition of Change Management

Change Management – The process of communicating that the norms are no longer acceptable or profitable and the comfortable clique must be broken up.  It involves the use of tools to identify who’s on board with making the change and who’s not.  These methods will help you identify how to make changes less painful for those people who are like Linus from the Peanuts and still want to hang on to their security blanket of the “status quo”.

My definition may not be listed in any bestseller on Amazon.com, but it addresses issues that are key drivers in the change process.  Often times changes are made to realize a cost savings.   The current process has become too expensive, too complex, or simply takes more time than the customer is willing to wait.  The reasons for change usually fall into those three categories.  However, the reasons people are resistant to change are more complex and predictably irrational.

As the change agent, you have to develop an understanding of the psychology of change.  It’s relatively easy to make a change on the CNC program for a turret press, if you have the technical knowledge.   Trying to get another human being to change their behavior or develop an openness to change is by far more difficult.

It is possible to be a very technically competent, but lack the skills to motivate people to change.  That’s why I don’t completely agree with the Wikipedia definition.  There is some emotion involved in change management, so let’s take the next few posts in this series on change management to talk about how to beef up our EQ or emotional intelligence.

Welcome back to Lean Six Sigma Source! Thanks for your continued support.

Continue Reading

Are You a Professional Nag?

Posted on05. Jul, 2010 by Monique.

The event is over. 

You have tons of papers from your gigantic post it notepad of the things to do.

Some of them you can easily do yourself, but other items you need other people to do.  How do you feel?

Knowing that you will need to request the assistance of others can be a challenge in itself.  Initially, I found myself with a number of reminders on my Outlook calendar to remind other people to do stuff for me.  That was when I realized that I had become a Professional Nag.  I even had systems set up for nagging.  Recurring appointments, strategically placed memos, and a running laundry list of things to nag about in the morning meeting.

Sustainability is one of the most difficult of the Five S’s - I must admit.  Because the fact of the matter is that defects don’t ever completely die.  They just lay dormant until the moment when old habits creep in or gaps form in training new people to follow the new process.  So you must remain vigilant in observing processes to ensure they are supporting the vision of the change initiatives.

So how can you AVOID being a Professional Nag?

1. Be more sensitive to others schedule

You may not realize this, but the person you are nagging may not see your task as being that important.  I mean that relatively speaking.  If their boss has been breathing down their neck about the new product launch, whatever you asked for is going to take a backseat.  It’s best to get some information on upcoming projects, prior to the event because you may need to reschedule if this task is critical to successful implementation.

2.  Confirm Instructions

You will be surprised that the item you are asking about does not get done because of a lack of instructions.  Don’t ever assume that the person knows exactly what you need or even has all the resources available to get it done.  Tactfully ask if further assistance is needed.

3.  Take the Dr. Phil Stance

Sometimes the language we use in your messages (especially email) can be offensive to others or not convey your intended tone.  You may be using the get this done or else tone, which isn’t very motivating at home or at work.  So try a different angle.  Meet with the person face-to-face to just try to find out what’s going on in their life and world.  Maybe there is something you can do for them to release some pressure off of them.  That will be a segueway to ask for them to complete your task.  It’s like professional bartering.  We all have different strengths and weaknesses.  Make them an offer to help and they will be grateful.

I hope you can grasp that the bottomline is to simply be more human.  We all have our own circumstances and limitations we are dealing with.  Once you are aware of which direction the river is flowing, you can swim with the current rather than against it.

Monique

Continue Reading

How To Use SigmaXL for Design of Experiments (DoE) [VIDEO]

Posted on16. Mar, 2010 by Monique.

Design of Experiments (DoE) – SigmaXL Demo

this video tutorial will show you how to use the statistical software package, SigmaXL, to design a 3-factor experiment for a catapult competition.  You may recall this exercise that is commonly used as a learning project in statistical quality control courses.  Our goal is to identify the process drivers that significantly impact the process output.  The Pareto charts generate will indicate the most significant factors and rank in order from most to least significant.  We want to find the best settings for our catapult that will consistently launch a ball a distance of 100 inches.  Watch VIDEO to see demonstration. . .

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

Continue Reading

Thanks SigmaXL and Other News

Posted on10. Mar, 2010 by Monique.

Continue Reading

Are Your Technical Service Goals in Sync?

Posted on24. Aug, 2009 by Monique.

Are you accomplishing your goals for your team?  Have you designed an organizational structure with unnecessary competition and red tape?  If you feel like your wheels are spinning fast, but you are still moving in slow motion then take time to consider what you can do to breakthrough and encourage technical service excellence.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Audio Transcript

Continue Reading

Made To Order Products Deliver Made To Order Stories [VIDEO]

Posted on08. Jul, 2009 by Monique.

When evaluating your current enterprise strategies, do you consider your custom product more of a hassle than a goldmine? Are you have trouble going from maybe on time to just in time? Stay the course and consider the inherent value that your made to order products deliver to your customers?

In the midst of economic opportunities, it is important to take time a formulate a game plan on how to do more with less. Now, more than ever consumers are becoming increasingly more narcissistic and want their buying experience to revolve around them. The truth is that businesses would do well to differentiate themselves from the competition by catering to this need. People want to feel like what they are buying is of high quality, affordable, and that no one else on the block or the planet for that matter, has on like it. From Courture gowns, to platinum-colored M&Ms that read, “My Life Would Suck Without Lean“, consumers are obsessed and in fact expect to have a wide variety of choices that exude their style and sense of individuality.

How Can Businesses Keep Fresh?

The first thing you can do is evaluate virtual touch points on your website. Customers are not just searching for jewelry, but rather custom jewelry.  Does your website reflect the fact that you offer custom jewelry?  If not, it’s time for a makeover.  The checkout process is also a point to review.  Does your customer get a range of options to customize their purchase?

Make Components Interchangeable

Often what can hold you back from smoothing out your lead time for made to order product is the design of the actual components.  Take time to zero in on how each part fits together.  Do you have universal connections, such as common hole sizes and drill patterns?  Standardizing can reduce the need to have a large number of unique components and simplify training for assembly.  Interchangability is key to keeping up with demand and designing for Six Sigma quality.

Deliver an Experience that Sells Itself

Once you overcome the technically challenges, it is important to understand the value that you are delivering to your customer.  Marketing your made to order products will be easier than ever.  A happy customer will be busting at the seems to tell someone else about their experience.  A story you won’t have to spend a dime to tell because the consumer will tell it for you.  In a flat world that is becoming more comfortable with free social media tools - everyone has a voice and can connect with friends, family, and business associates in an instant.  What would you want your customers to say about you? 

“I just bought this boring shoe that everyone else has.”

“I just made my own shoe with my own name on it and NO ONE else has one like it!”

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

Continue Reading

Travel Light? Enter to Win Apple Macbook Air!

Posted on27. Jun, 2009 by Monique.

Breaking News!  John Traveler of EightHourJourney.com wants you to travel light.  He’s giving away an Apple Macbook Air! 

Don’t miss out on your opportunity to win this ultra-light, super-sleek Apple laptop.  I’m entered to win. . .Are you entered?

Well, you have no time to waste - Contest ends June 30th, 2009 at Midnight EST

Winner will be announced July 6th, 2009

For more information on the Go Mobile Contest – Visit www.eighthourjourney.com

Continue Reading

Why Your Business Needs a Continuous Improvement Blog

Posted on11. Jun, 2009 by Monique.

Sharing online can be the source of tremendous rewards for many businesses and organizations.  A blog is an excellent way to connect with people outside your facility, location, department, or division.  Whether you decide to share via the internet or intranet, there is no better way to chisel away the walls of communication.

Here are four reasons why you should start a continuous improvement blog.

1. Connect with Multiple Locations: In order to avoid feelings of isolation, you can have a common platform to share successes, stumbling blocks, best practices, or benchmarks.  Within a large organization it may be easy to become disconnected from locations in different times zones.  Your company blog can be a medium for collaboration as well as a tool to help reduce variation in standard operating procedures. 
2. Develop Unity in the Organization:  As Forrest Breyfogle III teaches at Smarter Solutions, there should be two levels of planning within the organization – Enterprise planning and Project Planning.  Enterprise planning is the 10,000 foot view of the organization or the high level processes.  The project level is more of the functional, daily operations planning.  Whatever you are working on the project level should be directly tied to key enterprise level strategic goals and objectives.  The enterprise level metrics should be the same for the project level.  Everyone should be focused on the same goals.  Communicating on your blog would be an easy way for satellite locations to get direct feedback from corporate to confirm that you are indeed working on the right things, at the right time, and avoid project duplications.  Employees can stay up to date by subscribing to company RSS feeds via email.
3. Upload Training Materials:  With business process improvement projects you will map out new standards of work or establish new procedures for a particular function of the organization.  When you present project updates or tollgates, you will be responsible for releasing the details of the changes implemented.  Keep stakeholders and process owners in the loop of new expectations by posting the new standard work on the blog.  Get instant feedback to ensure the message was understood and clearly communicated.  Videos are also a great way to format training and accommodate multiple learning styles.  This training will also archive your steps toward meeting strategic goals and objectives.
4. Shareholder Value:  Publicly traded organizations can benefit from blogs by keeping shareholders up to date on improvements and having a medium to evaluate their return on investment.  You will always have to submit SEC filings, but what a better way to add value to the relationship than by providing a multimedia portal for two-way, transparent communication.

WordPress.org  is an excellent place to start to get your own continuous improvement blog started today!

I would love to hear your feedback on this post – Does Your Organization Currently Use a Blog?

Continue Reading

FMEA: How To Perform a Failure Mode and Effects Analysis Tutorial

Posted on04. Jun, 2009 by Monique.

FMEA

stands for Failure Mode and Effects Analysis. This DMAIC tool is used to evaluate risk in a process. FMEA will help to improve the quality and safety of work tasks. Using this SigmaXL template will allow you to document a baseline for improvement and provide compelling data to confirm a need for changes to the current process. Detection level is critical to quantify the cost of poor quality. You would never want to pass on a defect to a customer or create an environment that puts employees at a risk of injury. FMEA encourages a proactive approach when used to assess risk in newly designed products or processes. This tutorial demonstrates how to use SigmaXL software to record before and after risk levels. View video for more information on this technique.

Used in DMAIC Phase(s). . . .

• Analyze
• Improve
• Control

To learn more about Six Sigma certification or to view a course demo, visit the Six Sigma Training page.

Continue Reading

The Misuse & Abuse of the Term – Efficient

Posted on27. May, 2009 by Monique.

If you are following me on Twitter, you might remember that Monday I sent out a series of tweets expressing why I feel the term “efficient” is often misused and abused in regard to business process performance.

This morning the most recent entry in my Lean Six Sigma news feed was the following Spokesman Review story:

City adds job to promote efficiency

Six Sigma overseer will cost $120,000

Staff writer, Jonathan Brunt, goes on to state

“As city leaders craft plans to lay off dozens of employees to meet an expected shortfall in next year’s budget, they decided Tuesday to create a new high-paying job responsible for overseeing ideas to save money.

The Spokane City Council approved the position – at a cost of about $120,000 a year in pay and benefits – that will promote government efficiency based on Lean Six Sigma, a business-efficiency program popularized by General Electric and other companies. “

My concern is that he describes Lean Six Sigma as a “business-efficiency program.”

What’s wrong with that description?

Lean Six Sigma is a systematic approach to identify, measure and reduce (if possible, eliminate) variation or waste in a process.  The business system should operate to produce profit.  If you are spending more than you are making you won’t have a business.   After the non-value added activities are elimated or reduced the Lean methodology gives you the tools to then focus on adding value to process.  Unfortunately some companies fail to understand this and bail before they get to this pivotal point.  What people fail to realize that there is usually so much waste in the process that you forget to go back and add value later.  This fallicy has led to layoffs being touted as Lean initiatives, which is far removed from the truth.  I think Ron von Stekelenborg said it best this morning on Twitter.

@leanstekel Cost-cutting is like cutting into fat as well as muscles; lean only removes fat 

I do find it refreshing that the Council voted 6-0 in favor of hiring a business process improvement manager.

How is the term “efficient” misused?

I think the term efficient is abused or misused when individuals neglect to quantify and define quality metrics.  Unfortunately, some use the term and never qualify with relevance or a description.  To give you an example you might think of a process such as an online checkout transaction. 

The organization might have reviewed the process and determined that the current process frustrates an overwhelming majority of clients, citing too many clicks are required to complete transaction.  The critical to quality metric should be defined as the number of page clicks required to complete checkout.  So, if you improve the process such that it now requires one click checkout rather than six clicks.  Then yes, that is a more efficient approach and a value to the customer.  It’s relative to the process and can be expressed as a number.

Another example that comes to mind is that say a mobile phone manufacturer wants to reduce the complexity of assembly by reducing the number of unique components for a design.  So instead of having one unique part for every digit and character on a phone, you may decide to develop on complete keypad.  If you previously had 18 unique keys and the keypad drops you down to one unique component, then you reduced the number of unique components by 17. 

So, again I would not describe this effort as just efficient.  I have defined the metrics that are critical to quality and express the improvement in terms of the metric not blanket, vague statements like, “It’s more efficient”.  Without a number, I’m not going to take your word for it that it’s more efficient.

Although, Brunt may have butchered the true meaning of what is Lean Six Sigma, he did a much better job of later citing in example of an efficiency improvement in the following statement,

“Danek said Six Sigma has already made the city more efficient, leading the city to streamline its approval process for contracts that don’t require City Council support from an average of 29 days to 10 days.”

During your next meeting or discussion, don’t let colleagues get away with labeling something as efficient without evidence.  What is the ocular proof or is it just smoke and mirrors jargon?

I want to hear what you think.  Leave a comment below.  Do you think the term “efficient” is often misused and abused?

Continue Reading

How to Use Twitter for Developing Valuable Business Relationships

Posted on25. May, 2009 by Monique.

Are struggling to figure out how Twitter fits into your business model?  Have you read or heard that twittering is good for your business, but you are frustrated because you are not getting the results you want?

Well, if you have had this experience I would invite you to reflect back on the reason why you joined Twitter. 

Why Use Twitter for Business?

Twitter is a means to communicate with other people in an abbreviated format.  You can share your current activities, thoughts, and experiences.  As a business strategy, it’s also a medium to connect with individuals who may be interested in your products, services, or profession.  That seems like a good concept, but in the excitement of emerging into the Twittersphere, signing up and getting settled in; it’s easy to get distracted.  You may have decided to setup some Twitter automation services to automatically follow or unfollow.  But, if your focus is adding value to your business this may be a high price for convenience.

What is the Value of a Follow?

If you decided to automatically follow you may be losing sight of the intangible value of a follow.  I made the same mistake on my personal Twitter account and had to do the following assessment to re-calibrate my strategy.

My Twue Life Story – The Short Version

I started twittering two weeks ago with two separate accounts one personal account and one account for my blog Lean Six Sigma Source.  As soon as I joined, I began following my favorite bloggers, authors, etc.  Then later setup autofollow on personal account, but disabled autofollow in blog account.  Well, my follower count blew up on my personal account.  People were coming from everywhere following me.  I thought it was cool. Until I realized, that I lacked interaction with the people I started autofollowing.  I saw fewer tweets from the people I was really interested in.  I began to feel lost in a twitterstream and frustrated until. . .

I read the most recent post from Yaro Starak titled, “You Are As Good As the People Around You.”  The two of the key takeaway points were. . . 

1.  Become a leader in your industry by being better, more prolific, and more helpful than everyone else in your industry (this will take time).

2.  Find people who are equally motivated, talented, and committed as you – your current online peers – and form relationships with them now.

Then, it hit me that I was doing this all wrong.  I realized how could I be a leader if I’m following everyone and their mother?  Or if I want to connect with others I view as valuable, how can I see what they are saying if I have a lot of noise or waste in the process.  I had to figure out how to reduce the noise to let the value re-surface and focus vital few.  As a result, I dropped from following 640 to following 19 twitters. 

Here’s what I did and what you can do to come back into the light, build valuable connections, and look forward to tweeting with purpose.

Five Step Value Added Action Plan

1. Disable Autofollow

2. Assess Which Followers Have Interacted You via Direct Message or @Reply

3. If Still No Interaction With That Segment In Your Following Group – Determine If You Believe The Connection Is Still Valuable

If connection Is Still Valuable – Keep Following

4. Move Valuable Twitters You Are Following into VIP list via Hummingbird

5. Unfollow Everyone Else That’s Not VIP

The Result – I saw the sunlight.  The clouds parted and the sun came out. Without all the noise I could actually see and hear what all my valuable following group members or VIPs were saying. Which was something I couldn’t do as of this morning.  This is my strategy now and as Joel Comm states in his bestselling book, Twitter Power: How To Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time - ”There are no rules.”  So you have to find what works for you and implement your own action plan based on your business goals and objectives.  Align your strategy with those points in mind. 

Remember, you have to interact to build relationships or prove you are worthy of following.  Lead my making valuable contributions and make genuine efforts to help others in the process.

Take time to ask yourself – What do you value most?

Tell me by commenting to this post – How Has Twitter Helped Your Business?

Continue Reading

RUN CHART: What is a Run Chart?

Posted on17. May, 2009 by Monique.

A Run Chart

is a time-ordered series data plot used to observe the performance of a process. Run charts are often shown on daily visual management boards to track key performance indicators. Recording daily trends can help identify abnormalities or variations in your process. You will want to record data in a run chart prior to establishing control limits in later phases of DMAIC project cycle. This tutorial demonstrates how to use SigmaXL software to test for randomness in a data set. View video for more information on this technique.

Used in DMAIC Phase(s). . . .

• Measure
• Analyze

To learn more about Six Sigma certification or to view a course demo, visit the Six Sigma Training page.

Continue Reading

Are You Sick of Chronic Complainers?

Posted on04. May, 2009 by Monique.

As a change agent, we lead groups of cross functional teams from all levels of the organization.  Soft skills training is invaluable to effective leadership. This training will enable you to direct the change adoption process.  For every change there is usually some form of resistance.  CAVE dweller will seem to be lurking in the shadows ready to pounce.  The term CAVE dweller was coined in the 1990 publication, “IS LATEST CRITICISM WORTHWHILE TALK OR JUST WORTHLESS?”  by Bo Poertner.  CAVE is an acronym for Citizens Against Virtually Everything.  In my career, I have been opposed by persons that could be considered CAVE dwellers.  I found myself ill-prepared on how to respond early on.  It wasn’t until I had some mangagement training that enhanced ability to react appropriately. 

Change Agent Soft Skills Training Tip

In every Lean Six Sigma project you are challenged to maintain forward momentum and when you get feedback like, “This is not going to work!”  Don’t let this stop you in your tracks.  It is important for you to acknowledge the complaint and turn the complaint into a constructive opportunity for the person to contribute. 

I love the way Tim Ferriss defines complaining: “describing an event or person negatively without indicating next steps to fix the problem.”

Encourage the complainer to offer a solution to the problem.  This takes you out of the equation and focuses the attention on the problem.  The beauty of this method is that you will gain buy-in if the team agrees this is a good idea.  You don’t have to have all the good ideas –  this is a team effort.  When the objector sees that the team values the suggestion they will scream from the mountain tops that this was their idea.  Congratulations, you just earned an evangelist.  So if anyone else not on the team opposes they will back you up.

Not All Complaints are Bad

The worst thing you can do is silence a complaint.  Remember, customer complaints are the catalysts of continuous improvement.  Here are a couple of examples:

“I had to call Tech Support multiple times before my issue was resolved.”

Dish Network won the J.D. Power Award by addressing this complaint with One Call Resolution Training Success

“I hate waiting behind a person with a cart-full of items, when I only need to buy this one tube of toothpaste.”

Hence, the development of Express & Self Checkout Lines

Complaints do happen, but transform complaints into an exchange of solutions to problems, rather than a counterproductive rant.  How long do you think you can go without complaining?  24 Hours? 5 Days? 

How about 3 weeks!  In the book, A Complaint Free World: How to Stop Complaining and Start Enjoying the Life You Always Wanted, you can take the challenge to Stop Complaining dead in its tracks.

Continue Reading

FISHBONE DIAGRAM: How To Construct A Fishbone Diagram

Posted on15. Apr, 2009 by Monique.

A Fishbone Diagram

or cause and effect diagram is a tool used during brainstorming sessions of Lean Six Sigma projects. This tool will help you drill down to root causes of defects and identify possible failure modes. You will use this graphical tool in conjunction with the Five Whys method of questioning. This tutorial demonstrates how to use SigmaXL software to present your findings during future tollgate presentations. View video for more information on this technique.

Used in DMAIC Phase(s). . . .

• Analyze
• Improve

To learn more about Six Sigma certification or to view a course demo, visit the Six Sigma Training page.

Continue Reading

Are We Speaking the Same Language?

Posted on10. Apr, 2009 by Monique.

The biggest issue that causes a stir in the lean six sigma world is CULTURE. How to develop the culture and manage the change to new lean initiatives. Sustaining improvements and avoiding the flavor of the month syndrome has been the topic of books, seminars, and forum discussions around the world. As Lean Six Sigma practitioners, you may sometimes feel like you are all alone in the forest of CAVE dwellers. You make every effort to fight the waves in uncharted waters of innovation, only to feel that you just got sucked into the Bermuda Triangle. Well, I’m here to tell you it’s all very possible to navigate back to land, but you have to change your prospective on the situation.

I believe that most of the hindrances are the source of miscommunication. The message somehow gets lost in translation. Often times the receiver or your audience can be looking at the same sign, but are not fluent in the language you are speaking. Let’s say that you did not know Spanish, what does this sign mean to you?

Well, you may look at the color scheme and know that what the sign is some important warning. One may recall that yellow is often associated with a yield sign and make some connection, but not truly understand the meaning of the text.  How would you respond?  Would you ignore the sign and proceed as usual? 

Now, let’s say for instance the sign was posted in a language you understand and have familiarity.  How does your response change?  Is this a message that you should ignore now?

As you can see your response changes because you have a clear understanding of the message.  This is a powerful lesson for change agents.  At times when  you may face opposition, it is important to understand that not everyone in your audience speaks your language.  Lean Six Sigma methodology has a lot of buzz words, lingo, Japanese terms, and statistical references.  It is our responsibility to be ambassadors of the Lean Six Sigma community.  We must make every effort to ensure that the language of Lean Six Sigma is commonplace and take care to explain the importance of the transition and the need for support from all levels.  If you can clearly communicate how the use of these tools will help your audience, to keep from falling on the wet floor, then they will thank you for taking the time to translate the message.

Continue Reading

TAKT TIME: How To Calculate Takt Time

Posted on03. Apr, 2009 by Monique.

Takt Time

is the maximum allowable cycle time required to meet customer demands.  This is a video that defines takt time and gives an example of how to calculate takt time.  Takt time is important to the development and evaluation of standard work.  For example, if your takt time is 5 minutes, the cycle time for each operator in your must be below 5 minutes to meet customer demand. 

In my other tutorials I show how you can use SigmaXL to perform your analysis.  Since SigmaXL was included with my Black Belt certification tuition, I want to show you that you can use the Lean Takt Time calculator to perform this calculation.  The calculator allows you to quickly compare your takt time to your cycle times listed in your standard work.  As you can see, takt time is used to evaluate your standard work and recognize opportunities for improvement or modification.

Used in DMAIC Phase. . . .

• Improve

To learn more about Six Sigma certification or to view a course demo, visit the Six Sigma Training page.

Continue Reading

3 Ways to Start Your Next Kaizen Event

Posted on25. Feb, 2009 by Monique.

• Kaizen Events

• can be a source of apprehension for many team members and team leaders. It’s at the beginning of the event when you want to set the tone that the team wants. . .”To Boldly Go, Where No Man has Gone Before.”

What you may find is that some of your team members may

• Lack boldness
• Are only present because their boss told them they have to be there
• Think: “This won’t work, so why bother”

Now, that you already know this you can keep your eyes open to the body language and realize there are ways to overcome these feelings.

Take a moment and just clasp your hands and fingers together like in the picture. Now, try to lace your fingers again with the opposite index finger on top. Feels weird, huh? Well, think of your team members experiencing that same level of discomfort or uneasiness on Day One. Here are three sure-fire ways to accelerate your team to the norming phase and feel a part of the continuous improvement effort.

1. “I add value to this organization or team by the following. . .”

In your lean training you will explain to the team the difference between value-added and non-value added activities. Everyone wants to feel valued in their role in the organization. Encourage your team to discuss why they are needed on the team this week. This is the opportunity for each team member to communicate to the entire team their knowledge, skills, and abilities. By asking your team to do this, you are saying to the team that EVERYONE has something to contribute.

You may have team members who have experience from previous jobs they can offer, in-depth knowledge of how to operate or maintenance a machine, direct contact with a particular product vendor, even have been a consumer of the product or service your company offers. All that background your team has to offer is invaluable to the success of your event. Sharing that information on the front-end makes everyone’s contribution to the team effort unique.

2. “I am willing to step into someone else’s shoes this week because. . .”

This statement encourages the team to express empathy for persons in other different roles. Sometimes you cannot truly understand the need for the improvement if you have not been exposed to the job task or process. Therefore a willingness to look at the issue from another persons prospective is critical to developing creative, comprehensive solutions. This event is also the time for each team member to ‘become an apprentice’ of the process. The team will work together to construct the ‘As-Is’ process map and learn operational and functional relationships. The process owners must be willing to exchange hats to understand how the process impacts someone else. Make sure you focus on the process, not the person.

3. “I am willing to be a change agent this week because. . .”

Change is hard for everyone. On your kaizen events, you will have to facilitate the breaking of old habits. You are in essence re-wiring the brain to do something new. This statement challenges each individual to visualize the change and become owners of the change. Some members may express that current process causes them stress, reduces their productivity, or simply costs too much money to continue this way. Remember, that ‘kai’ means change and ‘zen’ means good or for the better. The team was put together to make a change for the better.

I know some of these statements sound like you’re trying to have Dr. Phil moment, but actually you want to get started on the right track. Turn the attention on the process and the negative impact a ‘do nothing’ option would have. The goal here is get your team engaged and feel valued. Try it out, you may be pleasantly surprised by the results!

Resource: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/business/04unbox.html?_r=2#

Continue Reading

Six Sigma Black Belt & Son at Work

Posted on25. Feb, 2009 by Monique.

How NOT to explain what you do at work. . .  FUNNY!

Continue Reading

Reduce Cycle Time in Your Process Map with Concurrent Activites

Posted on07. Jan, 2009 by Monique.

Yesterday, I was traveling on the highway, listening to my favorite CD when I made an observation.  I took note of the tractor trailers on the road and noticed the majority had tractors with single trailers.  Interestingly, the UPS and FedEx tractors had double trailers.  I thought to myself, “Why are UPS and FedEx using double trailers?” 

I had to put on my Lean Six Sigma goggles and observe that this was a deliberate business strategy.  I thought about a single large trailer sitting at the  dock with one crew of people to load items.  Imagine how much time that would take.  Now, picture the scenario where you have two crews on two separate dock doors loading the smaller trailers.  If loading a trailer is my process, I have tapped into the opportunity to reduce my overall cycle time by implementing concurrent process steps.  Concurrent engineering or process mapping is not a new concept to Lean Six Sigma practitioners, but I think it is often overlooked.  When reviewing the As-Is process map, it’s natural and expected to immediately focus on the non-value added steps, such as delays and loop backs.  Cutting non-value added steps will ultimately reduce your cycle time, but it is also important to take advantage of opportunities to turn sequential steps, into simultaneous process steps. 

The pit crew model is often implemented for setup reduction projects in manufacturing facilities and operating rooms.  This team divides the work and helps prepare the tools, die, equipment, or surgical instruments for the next job, while the current job is in process.  The pit crew is a wonderful application of implementing a process with concurrent activities to overlap setup and processing time.   Cut your cycle time by multi-tasking.

Continue Reading

How to do Multiple Regression Analysis with SigmaXL

Posted on05. Jan, 2009 by Monique.

 Learn how to perform Multiple Regression analysis with SigmaXL. 

Why perform a Multiple Regression Analysis?

Y = f (x₁, x₂, x₃, . . .x_n)

To detemine which input or process variables (Xs) affect your output (Y).  Multiple regression helps find the source of  most of your variation in the process.  If you know the primary sources of variation you can reduce or eliminate the variation.  The demo below shows that Responsiveness to Calls and Ease of Communication account for 90% of the variation.  This tells you that your improvement efforts should center around these factors to have the greatest impact on Overall Satisfaction.

Used in DMAIC Phase(s). . . .

• Analyze

Type of Measure

• Input
• Process
• Output

Type of Data

• Continuous

To learn more about Six Sigma certification or to view a course demo, visit the Six Sigma Training page.

Continue Reading