How to Deploy Lean Six Sigma to ensure success

Our experience working with companies all over the world on developing and deploying Lean Six Sigma programs would suggest that the following steps need to be completed to ensure success.  The steps don’t have to occur in this exact order or in series but would need to be completed ultimately.  Different businesses have approached this in differing ways however those who have been successful have done the following.

Step 1 – Establish a sense of urgency
It is essential that any organisation understands why it must change.  It is also essential that as you will be asking everyone in the organisation to change and do things differently that you can and have communicated that need for change to the whole organisation.  A top team who can communicate clearly the need for change and the sense of urgency that is required has a greater chance of success.  People don’t generally enjoy change so when asked to do so they must understand why and the potential impact of not changing.  They must see what is in it for them no matter what level of the organisation. 

Many organisations assume that everyone knows why they must change and what is important as they have told people to communicate this downwards the reality is normally some what different.  It is therefore essential that the message is communicated. 

Step 2 – Top management develop a vision and strategy for the improvement program

Any organisation requires a vision for what the business will look, feel and act like in a number of year’s time and how they will achieve these goals.  Any continuous improvement program if it is to be successful should provide the mechanism to obtain the goals set by the vision of the organisation.  First however the whole management team should agree with what they would like the organisation to be.  For example do they want an organisation where all personnel actively participate in developing the company, suggesting and implementing ideas, working with empowerment to improve the business, enjoy working for the company which is seen as best in class.  If so then this would require in most organisations a complete change in culture, development of management methods, changes to measures and processes and procedures as well as attitudes.  This is not an easy journey with out the complete buy in of all the top management. 

Organisations which have been successful in implementing this kind of vision have one thing in common a driving force from the very top and unquestioned buy in from other top management.  Those that have tried and failed, you can normally point to a lack of buy in from the top as the principle reason for failure and they then move onto the next fad. 

Step 3 – Communicate the vision and program to the organisation starting with middle management

Middle management has the ability to kill any program or initiative in any business.  They are the ones who have to make things work, motivate staff and monitor success.  As a result lots of initiatives fail due to the lack of acceptance of middle management.  When we have investigated the reasons for middle management reluctance we discovered that the reasons included

• Fear of the unknown
• Fear of others knowing more than they do
• Fear of being discovered- that they have been performing poorly or that they are not as good as they should be
• Fear of lack of power
• Already over worked
• Their measures were not in alignment with the new requirements
• They love and have been rewarded for fire fighting.  They are now expected to change their style and methods of management and might not like it
• There is a need to depend on others

As a result it is important to communicate clearly and obtain feedback from this group of managers.  To ensure the success of this communication this needs to be planned and honed to an effective communication including working out answers to questions you know you will be asked. 

Once the middle managers have been consulted normally there will be some changes to the program as middle managers will highlight many areas which have not been though of prior to this communication.  The program should now be communicated to the whole company this need to be thought through effectively.
Step 4 – Provide champion training to middle management and other key personnel

Middle managers and other key personnel will become either site champions or function champions or area champions.  This champion role is vital as they should provide motivation and support when projects hit obstacles.  They should be the people asking for projects to be completed and then driving through gate reviews to make the projects a success.  As a result this group of people need to be trained as continuous improvement champions.  This required them to understand your continuous improvement processes and procedures, as well as how to run gate reviews and monitor success.  It also means that they must have a working knowledge of the key tools and techniques so that they can challenge the Lean Six Sigma people running the projects.  This will keep them on track and motivated. 

This part of the deployment is often either missed out or badly done as managers say they are to busy to attend the training.  The result is that gate reviews are not completed, projects slip and projects are not successful.  Attendance at a champion training day should be vital for all managers.  Following champion training, managers should also have access to expert resource who can either coach or train managers in how to be an effective champion.

Step 5 – Set up the program infrastructure and train pioneering improvement personnel

The structure of any continuous improvement program especially for a company which has more than one site is vital to ensure focus, generate enthusiasm and energy.  A typical structure is shown below.

There needs to be a top team which steers the program in an ideal world this should be the top team itself with one of their members acting as the champion of the program.  You then need to set up some kind of infrastructure to make the whole thing work.  For a company with multi sites this ideally sits in the centre.  The role of this group would be to run and monitor the program and all projects associated with it.  In the early days this is essential to show the success.  If you can get the finance community to sign off benefits even better.  The central group would also act as experts proving training, coaching and consultancy to sites or functions requiring assistance.   

Each site champion would run a gate review of projects to ensure they are on course and are still focused and on time.  This would have been covered in the champion training.

Each site or function then requires a Black Belt to be aligned with the most senior person on the site or in the function.  They would act as the Lean Six Sigma representative for that manager on site.  This provides the influence and power that is required when these kind of programs first start.  The Black Belt would then go through training in Lean, Six Sigma and consultancy type people skills to ensure that as the pioneers of the program they have the ability to make it a success.  The centre or an external Master Black Belt would also provide coaching support for the Black Belt.  Black Belts are typically full time and run a number of large projects for their site or function. 

Each area would also require a number of Green Belts.  They are people who would spend up to 30% of their time running and implementing projects.  They would be given 5 days training as well as coaching from either the on site Black Belt or the external Master Black Belts.  They would run the projects which would provide smaller improvements.   

Ultimately you would want all employees to go through a 1 day awareness training on your Lean Six Sigma program – what is it, why are we doing it and what are you expected to do.  It would also cover some of the simple tools and techniques so that when they are asked to get involved that they can hit the ground running. 

Step 6 – Run projects to show quick win successes and communicate company wide

Nothing breads success like success.  As such it is a good idea to ensure that the first few projects completed are challenging but also you can guarantee success.   Selection of the project and the people who should be involved in the projects is vital.   Picking things that are too easy or only use the good people will open the program up to comments such as anybody could have done that.  Also picking projects which are so big that it would take an army of experts years to complete means that results are slow and politics may result in failure.  Also including key influencers from a site in the project team is also a great idea as it enables them to be changed so that they become ambassadors for the program. 

Once you have run a few successful projects in this way you can then move on to bigger more difficult topics.  You can also start to communicate and show the success stories.

Step 7 – Roll out improvement methods and monitor results
The program then becomes an on going program which should be monitored, tweaked and developed over the coming months. 

Step 8 – Anchor New Approaches in the Culture
Eventually assuming all the steps have been covered and the top team stay focused the culture of the company will change in one of continuous improvement and the results you outlined in your vision should be achieved.