Dear All, 

Another question for a discussion - A Company has just hired you as a six sigma professional. What would you do first to demonstrate your capability?

Hi Vk sir & All,

I am attempting to answer this question based on my personal observation, which others may or may not endorse & agree with, herein.

As per the accepted industry norm, the number of six sigma experts / professionals in a company should not be more than 1% of the total organisation's work force. So they are very few in numbers & this criteria more or less puts them in an elite work category in the company, as seen by other employees (junior & middle level).

With the increasing awareness on Six Sigma & the job of a SS professional to a great extent now a days, most employees in the company know & understand them to be very valuable to the organisation & close to the co mgt & consequently they (SS expert / professional) holding a lot of authority & also being a change agent, as thought & known by some. This mindset often makes them (junior & middle level employees) think of the SS expert/professional as a very standoffish & snobbish person & unapproachable for handling/solving routine office issues.

This mindset of theirs needs to be changed, which needs the SS expert/employee to be an ice-breaker in communication among the general work force (junior & middle level) in the company. This is very essential because the success of any SS project depends on their (jnr & middle level employees) support & co-operation in implementing the change methods suggested by the SS expert/employee for achieving the desired results.

If my point comes across as valid though miniscule, then it is indeed very beneficial to the SS project to be commenced or undertaken in the company. Now, how this goes to demonstrate the capability of a SS professional & in the eyes of the company mgt & other employees & how should one (SS professional) go about doing it, is what I want to know from others here.

Please share your thoughts on the above, if deems fit, & other thoughts aswell.

Thanks & rgds.

Hi All,

No inputs so far on the earlier perspective, nor any other thoughts. Well, one just came to my mind on the topic (how to demonstrate your capability first as a SS professional) under discussion with respect to my previous response, which I felt like sharing with all.

With the growing awareness of SS now a days in the corporate work force (especially junior & middle level), further efforts need to be taken by the SS professional to increase the existing awareness & knowledge of SS in the role played by it in contributing to the organisation's success, for which all its employees are working. Most people in the junior & middle mgt know & understand SS to be something big (in terms of work intellect & function) in the organisation, but do not know exactly as to what is the big thing that SS does in or to the organisation.

Generally speaking, SS has found it's way into most of the MNCs & Big cos with most having dedicated SS professionals (even a SS team/dept) for identifying more & working on existing SS projects. The awareness (about SS) among junior & middle level employees which I mentioned earlier is generally prevalent among such MNCs & big companies. It's awareness among small & medium cos is still at a very nascent stage.

We see that an employee, post joining the company (MNCs & other Big cos) undergoes employee induction (briefing about the company & its various depts & activities) & other routine training (eg, fraud awareness, quality control, etc) programs, which form a part of the employee grooming activities undertaken by the company during the employee's initial days therein. However, SS has still not found a place in such employee informative training programs largely for whatever reasons, which may/may not have been thought by the company mgt. This is an irony despite the feasibility in application of SS, per need, for bringing breakthrough & further imrovement in all the activities (functions) of the company & consequently its bottomline results, which (various activities / functions of the co) are briefed to the newly joined employees during the training programs, as mentioned above.

So, the prospect of including a session on Introduction & role of SS in the company (being a six sigma driven company) as a vital part of such employee induction & related training programs will prove to be a great boon to the organisation & its work force, as it would make them (junior & middle level employees) relatively more familiar with it (SS) instead of they relying on other half-cooked sources (eg, gossip, hearsay, etc) for information on SS. More importantly, it will emphasize upon them (jnr & middle level employees) the need for their individual aswell collective activity & support in contributing to the practical success of a SS project on its completion & in turn the company's growth & consequently their own professional growth, therein.

The above will not only help the SS professional(s) in breaking the ice in freely communicating (per my previous response on this topic) with the junior & middle level employees (during such sessions & subsequently also, at work), but also make them (regular employees) feel very much a part of the SS process, thus boosting their work morale & making them more productive in their work. For old/tenured employees at the junior & middle level, the company mgt can organise a separate program, giving them a bird's eye view of SS & its relevance in the company. Or if possible, to include them (old/tenure employees) as well in small batches (only for the SS session) along with the new employees under induction & routine training programs, as it would save a lot of time, effort & money in reconducting it again.

Now all that would be required for the above, is for the SS professional(s) to convince the company mgt to inculcate the same in it's (company's) employee grooming activities/programs.

Although, the above (inclusion of a session on introduction & role of SS as a part of employee induction & related programs in the company) wouldn't demonstrate the capability of a SS professional from a SS perspective per se, immediately after joining the company, however it would certainly be instrumental in laying (if SS is new in the co) or improving the pathway for the organisation in it's future SS journey by making all it's employees feel valued for their contribution to the same (SS process), through such a session.

Hope, most will agree with me & also contribute further & other thoughts aswell, in championing for this cause.

Thanks & Best wishes.

Hi Everyone,

My take on this would be that in order to establish and prove my capabilities as a Six Sigma professional I need to do some back ground work:

1. First and foremost the Vision/Mission/Short terms goals of the organisation need to be understood.

2. Then look at the existing dashboard of the business and see how relevant and appropriate the metrics are in order to achieve the stated Vision/ Mission. Identify whether the critical pain areas are getting addressed in some form or the other.

3. If there exists some mechanism to address this what is the scope of further bettering it in terms of methodology being followed/ the benefits achieved and the time frame to achieve the results.

4. With this homework I would carry out an alignment session with stakeholders for showing the big picture, showcase the benefits of following a structured approach like SS Vs unstructured approach (adhoc/ fire fight), sharing the prospective of capability building in this regard at various meaningful stages.

5. Target some quick wins using Six Sigma tools and attain some credibility in the system.

After this I guess the way forward would be much easier.

May now someone validate this hypothesis pse? Ho: The theory is theoretical and won't be able to prove the capability and Ha : The above theory will help in demonstrating the capability

Regards,

Shalini

Hi all,

Some good points from Manian / shalini. After being Hired by the company, I need to do the following things to exhibit my capability.

• Under stand the oppurtunities for Improvement. For this I should under stand the overall process & find out the AFI's.
  

• Experience / Knowledge - By virtue it is very important that we understand the process & parameters thoroughly before I define my project.
  

• Prioritize the projects & make a crisp presentation to the SMT with proper justification. Justification should speak more on Money Value. Also a formal approval from the SMT's in the form of PDQ (Project definition questionaire) is required and need to be circulated to all the concerned stake holders where the project is conducted.
  

• Involvement of people - This is the most important criteria as we need to understand we cannot complete the project all alone. It requires lot of resources based on the type of project & expected results. So the SMT & MMT involvement in trigering the project is very important. We will also need to win lots of mis-understanding but with an open mind. For this, we need to collect perfect data from an authenticated source. Over a period, we will easily be able to understand what we need to answer and refine our data accordingly.
  

• Avoiding mind blocks - Sometimes by experience, we assume things and may skip some of the process. (Eg) the Hypothesis test, DOE. A small difference over our assumption will have a major effect on the results. We may be forced to redo the project.
  

• Convert all the rate of improvements into Business results - Business results normally are shown in currencies. This will have a good appeal to SMT. Even the customer satisfaction score can be shown in currency by just getting the data on sales figures / market returns etc, before & after the project.
  

Regards,

Ramabadran

My Take on this question is simple instead of going on a long prone plan -

1. Speak to executives of the company on the nice to have and must have on a broad perspective / goals
   
2. Map current capabilities and gaps of the organization
   
3. Execute one simple project (green / yellow) based on the must have to show the ROI
   
4. Take buy-in from the executives and then go on a long prone plan
   

Dear VK

If I were that person, I would FIRST estimate the current COPQ and make a striking impact on them (sr. management) by presenting as to how much bottom-line can be improved (or can be saved) without ever increasing the sales.

Any company that listens to increase in profit without increase in production or sales, will (or should) immediately give the "go ahead" to that Six Sigma Professional FIRST.

Ari

Companies and Sr. management are generally looking for value differentiation to their processes. The junior and middle management are looking for Rewards and recognition systems and their voices heard

If SS professionals remove the jargons and make it acceptable to all strata then, this will bring in greater sense of acceptability across levels

Being the change agents and some amount of out of the box thinking in the client related deliverables or internal processes will make them acceptable, despite resistance at certain pockets

I would like to start with auditing the As-is process and see variation. I would after studying variation, submit my analysis and recommed project charter asap :-)

If I don't find special cause variation, then would like to study Mudas.

 

Dear VK,

First we have to understrand the vision and mission of the Organisation

Then a roll out of six sigma proceedure to drafted and presented in line with the vision & mission of the organisation

I think the flow would then be good

Hi All,

Many Apt and good procedures and steps have been shared here on this topic.

I would would like to focus on the very beginning and Basic steps of implementation of the Quality,making the organisation understand the importance of 5S and its implementation enroute to big picture of Six sigma.

While the 5 S is being implemented the intital bottlenecks of Team formation etc will be taken care and you get very good opportunity to have CFT meetings and understanding the Mission,Vision and Goal of the Organisation .Then the Role out of Six sigma will be smooth.

Many Thanks

Jagadish

Hello,

My thought is here to identify in which stage the projects are in (Red, Yellow & Green) once we hired by any organization. The Green stage projects are considered as "Status Quo" and an opportunity for us to show what further Operational excellence can be done to improve the current performance through Continuous improvement.

We will take one project from Status Quo and show what improvement can be done from the current level and the cost advantage through six sigma.

This would fuel their thought and then people would perceive the status quo projects can be taken to next level and so on through six sigma. This way we can show the entire cycle of six sigma in each phase and that can be the Strategic Objectives for others projects to follow on.

Regards,

Yoga

First of all it is important to understand what is blocking the organization performance. Normally there is no consensus on this. More focus is given on cost cutting. It is short term advantage to cut the cost but initiatives which will increase sell, cash flow  will add more to bottom-line than cost cutting in long run and it makes organization flexible to market changes.

slecting a project which is strategically important and will make significant impact   on bottmline will automatically impress the management. Conviction is utmost important. Once this is done, path to achieve desired goal is clearly defined in SS methodology.

 

Vikas

 

Hi Vk sir and dear all,

Question for a discussion - A Company has just hired you as a six sigma professional. What would you do first to demonstrate your capability?

As you are hired as a six sigma professional by the company,it means company management is serious about to implement/enhance the current staus on the subject.

First step -To assess the status quo of the company about Six sigma.

Second step-Plan to develop foundation and to implement /enhance the condition of 5S,KAIZEN,CONTROL ON WASTES AS MENTIONED IN LEAN.

Third step-plan for impementation of six sigma .

D.P.BHALARA