Q83. Before supporting Lean Six Sigma, the Leadership team wants to see evidence that Lean Six Sigma will work for them. So, they want to see spectacular success in some trial projects in their own company. In the absence of the Leadership buy-in, Lean Six Sigma team cannot deliver results even in the "Proof of Concept" projects as - 

 

• The areas with biggest gaps are cross-functional in nature and require strong leadership support. 
• Chronic problems that need to be addressed to generate great results in trial projects need the involvement of subject matter experts who will not put in time and effort unless top management is behind the initiative. 

 

What should the Lean Six Sigma Enthusiast do to break this deadlock? 

 

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Avoid branding program with “Lean Six Sigma” tag at start. Understand biggest Leadership pains. Always, bound to have requirements for improving effectiveness / efficiencies of processes. Take such pain area (or improvement area), and initiate through regular procedures in organization viz. Change request, or CAPA processes, which normally flow through relevant cross functional stakeholders. No SME should feel as an added activity. Once succeeded let leadership feel a fact-based success story encouraging them to give you the next one. Step-up usage of LSS tools / practices as required and pursue to result in a seamless buy-in of the program.

The first and foremost step is to calculate the Project Profitability Index and show the impact to the senior management where the PPI stands in terms of present value of the future cash inflows. If the PPI is greater than 1 it is very obvious that the Management would rethink on the next approach.

 Next,apply theory of constraints and showcase the major road blocks how this affects the entire goal and vision of the organization. We have to prioritize the problem areas which are realistic and achievable in a definite time line like anything achievable in next 5-6 months  

In such a "Catch 22" situation, the POC (Proof of Concept) needs to be scoped judiciously. A Function or a business Line with reduced dependencies (as nil is not possible) on others will need to be identified and a problem which when solved would deliver quantum, breakthrough improvements for that Function needs to be identified. It needs to be clearly projected that the "Top Management" is behind the POC, which is true. The Function selected for the POC and their personnel need to be made to feel special and lucky on being selected for the POC.

I think they should select a small and simple process to show the difference to top management. It will give them a good idea. A small and simple process will be easy too... to implement. That will help the enthusiast to keep the charm and to present it to top level.