ajitpathania

Sponsor: Is a senior business leader or executive who sponsors the Six Sigma engagement. Responsible for signing of objectives of the project and approver of business case in the project charter. Sponsors and promotes the initiatives throughout his span of control for implementation. He is responsible for ensuring resources are available for projects and required funding is arranged.
 
Champion: is a functional head of a team in whose area the Six Sigma project is getting implemented. He is responsible to ensure availability of resources required for the project.  Responsible for driving actions or working with upstream or downstream processes to get their commitment if required in the project.  Generally, approver who will approve the different critical tollgates.  Doesn’t get involved in day to day activity of the project.
Champion is the liaison between the project team and senior management including Sponsor and thus responsible for securing subject matter experts and non-Six Sigma resources critical to the success of the project. Black Belts go to person for any troubleshooting.  Responsible to communicates the plan for business success
In a typical Lean Six Sigma Project both sponsors and champions are critical to drive actions for successful completion of a project.  At times Sponsor and Champions can be the same person.  Sponsor and Champions get mapped as per ARMI tool to drive change on the process where both are at approver level.  Only Variation is the severity of decision where they are required to approve.
 
It is very important to have both Sponsor and Champion for a project to ensure project closure on time.  Lets take an example- A Manufacturing company has Finance Shared Service Centre. A project is to be driven to improve the First Pass Yield(FPY) of the invoice processing.  Improving the FPY there are different parties involved from Procurement teams, vendors, Requisitioner, Business Users, IT teams(SAP, Workflow, Scanning Solution) and Accounts Payable Team.  While the Invoice Processing happens at Accounts Payable team but will require the other functions to improve the process.
 
To undertake this process Black Belt will need funding and resource alignment.  To even this project to start, this must be approved by Sponsor so the required funds can be made available.  In this example head of Shared Service Centre is the Sponsor who will provide all the resources, alignment from different functions is made and funding required for the project is provided.  Sponsor will approve the project charter and approve the DMAIC tollgates. In the above example head of Procure to Pay(P2P) team is the champion under him the project will be executed.  Will provide and align resources (Sponsors, Black Belts / Green Belts) and ensures cross functional collaboration. Will ensure accountability for results is there.  Will be responsible to ensure change is accepted well.  Will be approver as per ARMI.

Most companies fail in implementing a solution or a project not because solution was bad, but they did not engage stakeholders in the change. Hence for a change to be effective, change management becomes critical for successful adoption of the solution.  One of the tools used by GE widely to successfully implement project was CAP-Change Acceleration Program
Change Acceleration Program talks about the equation which is important to understand how change will be effective.
 
Q x A = E
Q       = Qualitative/Technical Solution
A       = Acceptance/Engagement
E       = Effectiveness
 
For any solution to be successful and adopted, acceptance from stakeholders is important.  Engaging them in the project journey is important will make better adoption of the project/solution.
 
Few key reasons for failures of major change efforts: -    
Decision-driven and behavior-dependent change. Failure to mobilize and engage pivotal groups. Over reliance on structure and systems to change behavior. Inability and unwillingness of Leaders to change. Criteria for performance not clear. Lack of a winning strategy. Failure to make a compelling and urgent case for change. Not willing to confront how they and their roles must change.  
Having the right strategy is only one of these factors; others relate to poor implementation and execution.
 
Change Acceleration Process Model
 
 
 
Leading Change:
Having a champion who sponsors the change.
 
Creating A Shared Need:
The reason to change, reason to drive project or solution should be communicated well within the organization and should be pursued through data, assessment, demand from business and not anecdotal. The need for change should be acknowledged so that resistance is reduced.
 
Shaping A Vision:
The desired outcome of change should be clear to everyone and adopted widely.
 
Mobilizing Commitment:
There is a strong commitment from key stakeholders, understanding their role and ensuring they are invested in the change, make it work.  Forums in the organization to ensure management are updated periodically to get their support on time.
 
Making Change Last:
Change is not about implementing a project/solution or a change but ensuring enough controls and owners who will own it and enable adoption of change.
 
Monitoring Progress:
Tracking the progress to ensure the changes and expected benefits are getting delivered.  Setting KPIs/KRAs and other indicators to ensure accountability
 
Changing Systems and Structures: 
With change getting implemented and to ensure they are long lasting and permanent, existing practices, system and structures should change.  Modifying and updating the management practices which complement and reinforce change to executed.
 
Commonly used CAP tools to help create a shared need and drive change are:
Stakeholder Analysis ARMI Model Stakeholder Analysis
Stakeholder Analysis is an important change management tool.  It helps analyze various stakeholders getting impacted with the change and their role.  It helps in planning to onboard stakeholders who may not be pro change.
Below are the steps that done to map the stakeholders and plan actions to ensure they are onboarded
·       Plot where you think individuals currently are with regard to desired change (ü = current).
·       Plot where you think individuals need to be (X = desired) in order to successfully accomplish desired change – identify gaps between current and desired.
·       Plan action steps for closing gaps to move from current to desired.
 
 
 
 
ARMI (Approver, Resource, Member, Interested Party) Model
ARMI model is another CAP tool used to assess each person’s role in the project during different phases of the project. ARMI is an acronym which stands for:
A - Approval of team decisions
R - Resource in the team whose expertise will be required
M - Member of team, with the authorities to execute steps as per charter
I - Interested Party, someone in business who needs to be informed on direction and findings
ARMI helps in defining the role of everyone in the project team. It helps in clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of each individual to avoid any ambiguity. Below is an example of ARMI: