How to deploy Lean Six Sigma in your organization

A question I was recently asked was on how to deploy Lean Six Sigma in a business.

The question goes:

Hi, I want to ask how you developed lean six sigma to your companies. We’re looking at how we’ll do this by first conducting orientations, then an executive coaching of what lean six sigma is, and as well having our managers get certified with green belt. I want to ask if having a project management plan and filling in PMP templates are necessary. Likewise, what were the activities that you did to buy the org’s buy in, what were your pains on implementing six sigma, and any pointers and tips you may share. Thanks!

One challenge we’re facing is how to identify projects “worthy” of the DMAIC approach since everything seems to be in the green light. Considering the product offered, we may only be able to apply LSS in our support services. These all boils down to our greatest risk, which is low buy in gr the org.

This is actually a common problem faced by many employees, especially in corporate environments.

The typical scenario is where you have people in lower to middle management who appreciate the Lean Six Sigma methodology, but don’t have the buy-in of the senior leadership team. Typical organizational bureaucracy.

In my experience having worked with various types of businesses specific to the servicing industry, I can talk about some of the challenges I have encountered in deploying continuous process improvement as a whole, inclusive of Lean Six Sigma.

See the full video here:

Or continue with the transcription below.

In the past, I’ve experienced organization leaders being completely resistant to change. Like when you start talking about project benefits that include freed-up capacity and FTEs, these leaders get back to me and say stuff like:

“No, we’re here trying to grow the business, and you’re here talking about elimination, streamlining, automation, saving on FTEs. That’s not what we want.”

Especially here in the Philippines where I’m currently based, cost of labor isn’t that high, that’s actually one of the biggest reasons why western countries outsource jobs here. All these leaders I was speaking with, at that time, were after growth.

So what’s the best way to deploy Continuous Process Improvement, including Lean Six Sigma, in an organization?

Based on my experience, the best way to do this is to follow DFSS, short for Design For Six Sigma, which follows the DMADV methodology:

• Define
• Measure
• Analyze
• Design
• Verify

The first 3 are similar with the DMAIC methodology, but in the last 2, instead of having an Improve and Control phase, which are primarily meant for improving an existing process, you have Design and Verify, which in this particular scenario, you can use to deploy a new process into an existing business.

The reason why I would opt for the DMADV methodology is because in the first 3 phases – Define, Measure, and Analyze, you should be able to figure out the maturity level of the organization to assess what sort of continuous process improvement tools and methodologies are applicable.

As the saying goes, if you start fixing every problem with a hammer, you would end up treating everything as if it were a nail.

Similarly, you shouldn’t force-fit Lean Six Sigma into an organization if it doesn’t need it.

For example, one business where I’ve helped deploy continuous process improvement to only needed Just Do It initiatives as well as Lean, but not Six Sigma. But at the same time they needed Technology interventions, so Agile had to be deployed as well.

In another business, they did need to deploy Lean Six Sigma since the maturity of the organization in terms of process improvement was high, and people were already able to achieve the targets, but lacked consistency. So reducing variation through Six Sigma became key to success.

Once you determine what is needed, in terms of deployment of continuous improvement as a whole, there are several key elements that you should consider to help make the deployment a success. In order of priority, these would be to:

Find business champions

You need top-down support to make this successful.

Usually senior leadership would support initiatives that align to the business objectives. So usually if you can show benefits in terms of revenue or cost, and other additional benefits such as customer, financial, regulatory impact, etc., you would be able to get their buy-in.

For those who are after growth, position the benefits in such a way that it would support that goal, such as through improving the learning curve of new hires, capacity optimization, shift optimization, etc.

The other challenge would be how to get through middle-level managers who have no appreciation for continuous process improvement. Typically these people have stereotyped Lean Six Sigma practicioners as “terminators” of jobs.

It would be good to capture their CTQ or Critical To Quality, and help create initiatives around that.

For example, one manager I got to speak with, after getting a push from upper management for her to come up with process improvement initiatives within her space, said to me: “Fine, but I’m not really looking forward to reducing my team size.”

Working with her, we were able to get her into a position where she was able to ask for additional work outside of her team’s current scope, which essentially allowed her to grow her team size, as the work that came in outweighed the freed-up capacity that we were able to realize.

This also allowed her team to be upskilled to the new tasks, which eventually led to a monetary increase in salary for her existing team members.

Create a culture around continuous process improvement

This is the part where you should involve grassroots employees.

Usually you’ll encounter a lot of hesitation at this level. People are concerned about their job security.

Bear in mind, people adopt what they helped build. So if the employees feel they have a hand at how the business will be improved with their help, they will support it more.

It would be best to have problem and idea generation platforms where they can submit pain areas as well as ideas to improve their respective processes.

They are the experts as they are the ones who are doing the actual work. So these initiatives are usually low hanging fruits that don’t require much root cause analysis. Typically these are already your Just Do It initiatives.

They will also become your evangelists if they have been recognized for their efforts. Their colleagues usually would want to be recognized too.

This will also open people’s minds to selflessness. Like how they can help make things easier for their customers, and make it easy for employees to deliver that. It would give them a profound sense of fulfillment to be able to help customers better as well as the overall well-being of the business, and be recognized for their efforts.

Available capacity to work on initiatives

You will not be able to work on any projects at all if the organization does not have the capacity to do so in the first place.

You would need available time of leaders, subject matter experts, and project team members to be able to make process improvements happen. If everyone is always all hands on deck, up to their necks with work, you might want to address your staffing problems as your first order of priority.

Moreover, implementing projects would usually require pilot groups to be available to test potential solutions prior to mass implementation. This means the remaining staff outside of the pilot should still be able to deliver, business as usual, without any delays.

Conclusion

In summary, based on my experience, the best way to deploy continuous process improvement, including Lean Six Sigma, into a business organization would be to utilize Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) that follows the DMADV methodology – Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, and Verify, in order for you to find out what sort of process improvement tools and frameworks will be applicable.

Do not force-fit a tool or methodology if the business does not require it.

Second, there are 3 key elements that help ensure the deployment will be successful:

1. Find business champions
2. Create a culture around continuous process improvement
3. Ensure there is available capacity to actually work on initiatives

Lastly, as you do the deployment, it would indeed help if you utilize a project management template or a work plan for you to establish your milestones, who is responsible for what e.g. conducting trainings and road shows, etc.

Hope this helps!

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