Q 786. Change Management is often the deciding factor between a successful and a failed DMAIC project. How is change management relevant across the five phases of a DMAIC project? What role should an MBB play in driving adoption and sustaining results? Support your answers with relevant examples from projects that you might have led or mentored.

 

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Controlling Change in DMAIC: An Essential Success Factor

Appropriate change management guarantees that any improvement is embraced, implemented, and maintained appropriately and DMAIC phases are depend on change management:

1. Define - Earning Support
Engagement with stakeholders marks the beginning of their alignment and ownership. Resistance is minimized when the "why" of a project is communicated well. For example: In a hospital discharge project, doctors and nurse participation was solicited early on to align and ease s about workflow changes.

2. Measure - Establishing Trust
Fear of data collection is real. Data collection participation can be enhanced through trust that volunteers will not be punished. For example: In one manufacturing project, operators assisted in data collection because they were assured that the objective was process not performance.

 3. Analyze - Owning Accountability
Insight accuracy is improved when teams are engaged in work ownership and root cause analysis. Example: A loan processing team helped reconstruct existing policy gaps, which improved prompt processing of loans by devising more relevant strategies.

 4. Improve – Changing Slowly
Stakeholder confidence is nurtured and resistance lowered when they are allowed to test the provided feedback. For example: Attitudes shifted from skepticism to support with automated workloads demonstrated by helpdesk IT pilots.

 5. Control – Sustaining Results
Reinforced behaviors are necessary for lasting change. This can be achieved through proper training, dashboards, and sufficient leadership backing. Example: A call center project embedded changes into daily operations through the use of daily huddles and visual metrics.

 Role of the MBB:  The Master Black Belt integrates the necessary technical detail with human acceptance and key responsibilities are:

1. Resolving issues for the supervising teams.
2. Landing leadership sponsorship.
3. Accountability and control gaps.
4. Practical steps for complex changes.
Example: An MBB created standard visual boards for several departments which enhanced inter-departmental transparency as well as momentum during enterprise-wide efforts.

 

In Summary:  Solutions need change management to achieve desired results. Best improvements are rendered useless in the absence of change management. The MBB is the change catalyst who guarantees the delivery of changes while ensuring acceptance and sustainability.

MBB is the core of Change Management. In the entire project lifecycle, MBB plays the major role from defining the project to closure it. The anchor who runs the Change Management ship is MBB.

 

MBB Discover the project opportunity and define the project goals and objectives, perform the required analysis which is required for the project and without them the project derails at the Measure phase itself. 

 

Master Black Belt anchors the ship and bring the cultural change in the project and the organization as well.

Change management often makes the difference between a DMAIC project that sticks — and one that fizzles out. It’s not just a final step after solutions are rolled out. It actually plays a role in every single phase of the DMAIC cycle. If you ignore that, you’ll usually see great ideas fall flat.

 

Define – Setting the Stage Early

At this stage, change management is all about creating that shared understanding: why are we doing this? why now? You want stakeholders to feel the urgency and know they’re part of the solution from day one.

In one of our telecom process improvement projects, we were trying to cut down Average Handling Time. We looped in team leads right at the start. They were worried it might burn out agents, so we adjusted the goal slightly and added stress management checkpoints. That early conversation saved us from a lot of pushback later.

 

Measure – Getting Everyone to Trust the Numbers

Here, people start getting skeptical. “Where’s this data from? Is it accurate?” Change management here is less flashy, but super important — it’s about building confidence in what we’re measuring.

In a healthcare case, some nurses didn’t buy into the data about discharge delays. We didn’t fight it — instead, we got them involved in mapping the current workflow and verifying how data was captured. Their buy-in increased dramatically just because we treated them like co-owners of the truth.

 

Analyze – Digging into the Root Causes (Even the Uncomfortable Ones)

This is where change management helps navigate politics. You’ll find root causes people don’t want to admit — outdated policies, favoritism, or even team-level issues.

I remember a retail returns project — root cause traced back to how sales reps at the POS entered product details. The data exposed some clear gaps, but instead of blaming, we framed it as a training and system fix. That reframing made the solution more acceptable to everyone.

 

Improve – Making People Actually Try the New Stuff

Even the best solutions won’t land if people don’t use them. This is where you need proper rollout plans, pilots, training — and just listening. You’ve got to make it feel like their solution.

For an utilities account, we moved to a pull-based inventory setup. Initially, warehouse staff were hesitant — they thought it meant more manual work. So, we ran a pilot in just one location, added some quick visual aids, and celebrated small wins. This helped convert skeptics into supporters.

 

Control – Keeping the Gains from Fading

This is the most ignored phase for change management — and ironically, the most critical for sustaining impact. People slowly slip back into old habits unless you lock the new ones in.

In a BFSI complaint-resolution improvement we worked on, we tied the new metrics into their existing weekly ops reviews. We also added recognition for teams that hit zero-complaint weeks. Just those two tweaks kept the momentum going well after the project closed.

 

Role of an MBB in Driving and Sustaining Change

A Master Black Belt can’t just be a Six Sigma “tools” expert. Their job is to be a strategic influencer and coach. I’ve found the most effective MBBs don’t just push DMAIC steps — they spend time understanding people, motivations, fears.

• They help build the story early — connecting the project to broader business needs.
• They teach GBs/BBs how to manage resistance, not just do root cause trees.
• They embed rituals and systems that keep improvements alive beyond project closure.

Change management is indeed one of the key factors in deciding whether the team is able to succeed in implementing the DMAIC Projects.

MBBs are the key in helping the team to be able to Define the problem statement.

 

In one of our Projects in my previous organization where there was a strategic ask from Customer to ramp up the production 2x and we knew of the problem statements which we have work upon because of multiple Non conformances, Internal and Statutory Audits pointing out the action points which we have to work upon.

 

The problem in front of all of us was we knew of the Problem statement, final goal and the Tool (in this case Lean Production implementation) but how to start and which all KPIs to be tracked for achieving the End Goal?

 

This is the place where we had approached MBB (external consultant) and the MBB consultant conducted workshops with Head of the Department and Black belt holders and was able to guide in defining the Problem statement, Project Charter and arrive at KPIs viz. the Throughput, Quality (Non Conformance per unit), Lead Time and Man Hours spent.

One thing which was highlighted from the workshop was the Change management which needs to be driven in the Organization for implementing the lean project.

 

We were able to focus on improvement actions in order to achieve the target KPIs which was set in for achieving the 2x ask in the throughput by the Client.

We selected the most critical work station and did the value stream mapping to identify the bottleneck points and the reason for the same.

 

MBB was able to steer the conversation and discussion with Head of the Departments from the ask of 2x output is impossible to lean driven approach in which the problems were identified through VSM and voice of the customer i.e. different cross functional teams like (SCM, Production, Quality Control, Production Planning and Control, Manufacturing Engineering).

 

Next step was most crucial step of Measure where we had special focus on arriving at the right data set as the whole exercise is dependent to have one source of truth for the data points and then able to analyze and figure out the pain points where the focus was needed to be done.

Our special focus was to cross check and verify multiple versions of the data which was available as localized data and which needed to be cross checked to have One common data sheet to initiate the discussion amongst the cross functional team which was to be acted upon as baseline for measuring the impact which the Project actions were to have for us to achieve the defined target numbers in the KPIs.

 

MBB had played an important role in the measure phase as able to convince the heads on putting in man effort to go through the historical data which was being recorded by the team as the team members felt that questions were being raised on the way they were carrying out the work and had apprehensions that there can be some actions against them if there are discrepancies which will be found out in the reported and actual data.

 

MBB had to play an important role in the next phase of Analyze too as most of the team members (including Heads) had a understanding that they are Subject matter experts as they are executing their work day in day out. The MBB was able to have shown the right approach of arriving at the root cause of any problem statement. MBB had guided with one problem statement where the non conformance were being reported to be too much related to Foreign Object Debris and the team was convinced at the start that the problem is with approach from one of the team members.

 

But with tools suggested by MBB i.e. the Fish bone diagram and 5 Whys we were able to report the Standard Operating procedure were not properly defined for the operators (details like what all tools to be carried while inspecting the unit at final assembly point). So, the SOP was revisited and that is how the team was convinced on the change in approach to look towards any problem to find out the root cause.

 

MBB had highlighted that the biggest change management is to be done for the Improve phase in the lean project.

The team had initiated the Pilot project for the most critical work station in which the team members were to be cross trained in other functional area for them to become self dependent in taking the key decision which required medium expertise in the respective domain (e.g. a Production lead used to wait for the Quality team members for them to check the measurement of the project as per the dimensions called out in the standards. After cross functional training and passing the evaluation test (to test the understanding the new function area), the same Production lead were expected to get the work done from the production team and then able to test on their own based on the training received.

 

This require a massive change in approach by the team members to come out of their comfort zone and challenges themselves with new learnings and its correct applications. 

 

MBB had highlighted that the most important step in the DMAIC cycle is to able to sustain the changes which have been implemented and also monitoring the progress of the changes which were brought in.

In this particular case, the progress of the critical workstation was being monitored on the non conformances, lead time, throughput, regular assessment and then management monitoring through the defined KPIs.

 

I have experienced that the MBB has to be involved a mentor to be able to bring the change as adopting any new approach and too withe a critical approach faces resistance because of the inertia which creeps in the way team work and have to guide the team throughout the DMAIC process.

 

The change management is like a superglue that holds or grasps the DMAIC improvement together.

How Change Management Fits Across DMAIC Phases

Define

We should build urgency and buy-in senior management, align all key stakeholders on the significance of the problem and need to improve

MBB organized the Voice of Employee (VoE) sessions with coders and QA reviewers to find out pain points. These insights were used to articulate the problem statement: “We spend over 15 hours daily reworking charts that could be completed correctly the first time.”

Measure

We should communicate transparently about the current process gaps and baseline data

MBB shared baseline audit data which revealed 18% rework rate with the top five error types.

Analyze

We should collaborate with cross-functional team and find out root causes

MBB should ensure that the coders, and auditors should collaboratively identify the root causes at the time of fishbone and pareto analysis. The errors were outlined as process and training gaps (not coder incompetency), reducing resistance. Example: “If 65% of errors are due to DRG mismatch, what process steps enable this?”

Improve

We should solve “what’s in it for me” (WIIFM) for all impacted groups, find out the solutions, pilot and celebrate quick wins

Instead of giving solutions, MBB facilitated sessions for the team to share their ideas. Coders proposed a new DRG cross-check checklists and mandatory peer review for new coders. These initiatives were piloted within one team for four weeks, which resulted in 40% reduction in rework. The quick wins were shared in townhalls to keep the momentum active.

Control

Sustain the solutions by creating new SOPs, visual management, dashboards, and feedback loops.

MBB established a visual management dashboard which displayed monthly rework rates by team, integrated weekly error review huddles, and nominated a Coding Quality Champion from the team. They Conducted 30-60-90 day audits following the project to confirm sustained improvements. The best-performing coders were publicly recognized to maintain motivation.

Project Outcomes:

• Rework rate decreased from 18% to 9.5% within 5 months
• Average Turnaround time improved by 10 hours
• Client audit satisfaction score increased from 91% to 96%
• Coders reported higher confidence and lower frustration (as indicated by the VoE survey)

Role of MBB in Driving Adoption:

• VoE engagement and listening sessions
• Collaborative identification of root cause analysis and solutions
• Celebrating quick wins
• Integrating visual control systems
• Institutionalizing new practices through SOP revisions and dashboards
• Ensuring accountability handover post-project

In this project, the technical solutions such as checklists and peer reviews were significant. However, it was the coders’ emotional engagement, empowerment, and shared ownership facilitated through disciplined change management that made the improvement stick.
That represents the true value added by MBB beyond Six Sigma tools.

 

Change management is critical factor for the success and failure of any project irrespective of its scale level. A project may fail if it has not been properly discussed, communicated and adopted by the involved stakeholders and the project team.

 

Relevance of change management in DMAIC roadmap:

 

1. Define: Clearly defining project scope and problem statement with the stakeholders. Engaging stakeholders in early stage of the project becomes essential to build trust and alignment. Example – Reduce invoice processing time – In this scenario involving finance manager to understand pain points becomes essential.
2. Measure: Gathering data from the respective stakeholders and getting it validated. Example – Coordinating with the AP team to ensure base line data and relevant matrices.
3. Analyse: Identify root cause of the problem statement. Example – Initiate brainstorming sessions with the cross functional teams like finance, IT and vendors.
4. Improve: Design solution. Example – Build prototype and pilot. Example – Train AP super users on changes and run pilot.
5. Control: Sustain changes. Example – Train all users / teams. Incorporate changes in SOPs and monitor matrices.

Change management is an important part of DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) projects because it deals with the people and organizations that affect how successfully improvements are accepted and kept up. Even solutions that are technically good may not work if there is opposition, inadequate communication, or a lack of engagement. Here is a breakdown of how change management works in each level of DMAIC and the important job of a Master Black Belt (MBB).

1. Define Phase: Getting people to know about it and support it
Managing Change Importance:
The Define phase sets the stage for successful change. This means getting everyone involved on the same page on the project's goals, scope, and business case. Getting people on board early is important to avoid problems later.

Important Activities:

• Find out who the stakeholders are and how much support and influence they have.
• Make sure you adequately explain the problem and the benefits you expect.
• Get support from the executives.

For example, in a project to improve service quality at a bank, getting frontline managers involved early on in the Define phase helped make sure that the project's goals were in accordance with their needs. This alignment made it easier to put into action and increased the number of people who used it.

2. Measure Phase: Building Trust and Understanding
Managing Change Importance:
The Measure phase can make people scared, especially when data shows that teams or individuals are not working as well as they should. Change management makes things clear and less defensive.

Main Tasks:

• Get teams involved in collecting and checking data.
• Tell people that the purpose is to make things better, not to blame them.
• Get everyone on the same page about how things are going right now.

For example, in a project to improve logistics, getting warehouse workers involved in the time-motion studies led to better data and a quicker understanding of the issues.

3. Analyze Phase: Getting others to talk and take part
Managing Change Relevance: When looking into problems, the main causes are often cultural or behavioral. When individuals talk about the core causes of problems, they are more likely to accept the results and feel that they are all responsible.

Main Tasks:

• Help run seminars for cross-functional root cause analysis.
• Use stories and pictures to get your point across.
• Start to shape the story for change.

For example, in an effort to cut down on telecom billing mistakes, an investigation showed that departments weren't communicating well with each other. Workshops helped people trust one another and work together again, which made it easier to make changes.

4. The Improve Phase: Getting people to use new solutions
Change Management's Importance:
This is where you can see the most change. Without organized assistance, new procedures may be ignored or undermined by old habits. Change management makes ensuring that people accept and use solutions.

Important things to do:

• Do pilot tests and get feedback.
• Give people training and programs to get them ready for change.
• Deal with resistance and appreciate small victories.

For example, when a new call routing system was put in place as part of a call center efficiency effort, it met with some early resistance. Targeted training and a rewards system for early adopters made people much more interested.

5. Control Phase: Making sure it lasts
Managing Change Importance:
Change management makes sure that the benefits last by making sure that new ways of doing things are used every day. This means long-term support and making sure that the culture is in line.

Important tasks:

• Change the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and performance metrics.
• Give ownership to the people in charge of the process.
• Set up a feedback loop and reward behaviors that last.

For example, in a healthcare scheduling project, making adjustments to the electronic medical record system and giving department heads the job of tracking KPIs on an ongoing basis made sure that the changes stayed long after the project was over.

What does the Master Black Belt (MBB) do?
An MBB is very important for guiding change in all phases of DMAIC:

• Coach and Mentor: Help project leaders figure out how to talk to and work with stakeholders.
• Change Agent: Encourage a culture that values new ideas and constant development.
• Governance: Make sure that change management is included in the project charter and tollgate reviews.
• Barrier Remover: Step in at key times to deal with opposition and increase support when necessary.
• Measurement Advocate: Encourage the use of both leading and trailing indicators to keep an eye on adoption and results.

As an MBB mentoring a Six Sigma project to speed up loan processing, I helped the team build stakeholder maps and ideas on how to talk to them. This not only made the credit team less resistant, but it also made it possible to make modifications to the process more quickly. The result was a 40% reduction in cycle time that lasted for more than a year, as shown by control charts and user surveys.

In conclusion
Managing change is not something you do once; it's something you do throughout the DMAIC lifecycle. When done right, especially with good MBB coaching, it translates technically sound solutions into business results that change the game.

 

Edited July 16, 2025Jul 16 by Sumukha Nagaraja
Pasted Incorrectly and posted multiple times by mistake due to system issues

Making Change Stick: My Take on Change Management in DMAIC

Let me say this up front—just because a process change looks great on paper does not mean it’s going to work. I have seen technically brilliant solutions fall flat simply because the people involved were not brought along for the ride. Change management is not a side activity. It is front and center, especially in DMAIC projects. Here’s how I have seen it play out at each phase.

 

Define – Before the work even starts

This phase is where everything begins, and honestly, it sets the tone for the rest. It’s not just about writing a charter and stating the problem. It’s about getting people in the room who actually care or will be affected by the change. If they’re not aligned early, you’re already behind.

 

In one of our accuracy improvement efforts, we were planning to roll out a Decision Tree tool. Before diving into anything, I sat with ops and quality folks to agree on how we define “accuracy.” It sounds simple, but definitions can differ across teams. We also pulled in training leads early—because what good is a tool if no one knows how to use it or sees the value?

 

Measure – When numbers meet nerves

Once we hit the Measure phase, things can get a bit tense. Teams start wondering: Why are we tracking this? Is someone checking up on us? It’s natural. That’s why I always try to make it about shared learning, not surveillance.

 

I was involved in a dispute reduction project, working with teams in Chennai, Pune, and Manila. I made it a point to meet each team and explain how the data would be used—not to compare them, but to find patterns. I think that made people more open. The goal was never “who’s doing better,” but “where can we improve across the board?”

 

Analyze – Time to get honest

This is where people start talking about root causes, and things can get uncomfortable. You hear stuff like, “We have always done it this way,” or “That part’s not in our control.” These are real blockers. So, I try to keep the room neutral—no judgment, just curiosity.

 

During a denial touchpoint review, I remember teams opening up about repeat manual work that felt pointless. It was not easy to hear at first, but we slowly shifted the conversation toward: What’s causing this, and how do we fix it together? That made a difference.

 

Improve – Not just a fancy pilot

So, you’ve got your ideas and now you’re testing them. But here is the thing people are not waiting for perfect; they want to know if the change makes their job easier. If it does not, they will quietly go back to the old way. I’ve seen it happen.

 

For an RPA rollout in payroll, we involved the team right from design. After the pilot, we ran short check-ins to see what was working and what wasn’t. One user pointed out something the bot missed—and we fixed it the same week. That kind of feedback loop made people feel like they were part of the build, not just receivers of change.

 

Control – Holding the line

Once the numbers start looking good, the temptation is to move on. But without reinforcement, things fade fast. I have learned that even small routines help keep improvements alive.

 

There was a project where we were pushing quality from 72% toward 95%. We introduced a basic dashboard to track progress, but more importantly, we acknowledged wins out loud. I remember when we first hit 90%—just a quick callout in the huddle, but the energy shift was real. That moment made the team want to hold on to the progress.

 

If I had to sum it up: change isn’t about tools or templates—it’s about people feeling seen, heard, and involved. The rest follows.

Answer: In DMAIC Project {i.e. Define (D), Measure (M), Analyze (A), Improve (I) and Control (C)} change management plays a crucial role to ensure that improvement are implemented, adhere and sustained by organization.

It plays a crucial role at last two phases i.e. improvement and control phase.

In order to effectively drive the project from inception to conclusion “Master Black Belt” Leader plays essential role which is act like a mentor and provide strategic direction, facilitate the continuous improvement project at each stage with best industrial practices. The Guidance of MBB is act like a instrumental which ensures that six sigma project are complete on time.   

MBB plays a crucial role in change management across all the five stages of DMAIC Project and the successful closer of Lean six sigma project, effective implementation of change management is very important. 8 steps of “Kotter’s Guideline are important for effective change management:

It is important to integrate change management at each step of DMAIC to ensure the alignment with business goal. Following summary provides a comprehensive overview of change management:

Define Phase:

Ø  During this phase, first defined the urgency of proposed change and their long term benefits.

Ø  Identify the key department and stakeholder, clearly communicate the vision and importance and explain that how their involvement is crucial for this project. 

Ø  Define the chronology of events of each phase in project charter and get it signed off from each CFT’s.

Measure and analyze Phase:

Ø  In this phase communicate the urgency of the project clearly and consistently  and Emphasize critical focus areas and maintain a strong prioritization to ensure alignment and momentum throughout the initiative.

Improvement and implement: 

Ø  This is one of the most important phase where change initiated through change control QMS system, performance reviews and training.

Ø  Assessment of the issues, concerns and react.

Ø  Encourage the people and remove obstacles.

Ø  Empower people to lead change and take meaningful action.

Ø  Identify the quick win and celebrate the success to build momentum and reinforce positive change.

Control: 

Ø  Ensure the long term sustainability of change by fixing the new process and values into the organizations culture.

MBB play an important role in order to sustaining the results, below are the key techniques that can keep the things on track

Ø  Implementation of Control Plan

Ø  Clarity defined Metric

Ø  Standard operating procedure

Ø  Process Control Evaluation

Ø  Training and regular communications

Ø  Effectiveness check

Ø  Periodic inspection and review

Let’s discuss with real time example, where through DMAIC methodology, improvement happened.

As a part of continuous process improvement, DMAIC tool was utilized to address the issue of nitrosamine impurity (a carcinogenic impurity), in one of our products. This product was initially manufactured using a wet granulation process. During the investigation phase at R&D, it was discovered that this impurity was generated during the drying process at high inlet temperatures.

After so many trials, we were unable to control the impurity. Ultimately, we decided to change the manufacturing process from wet granulation to roll compaction (dry granulation) to mitigate the formation of this carcinogenic impurity. This change was significant according to SUPAC guidelines, and we were aware that we would need to halt the commercialization of this product temporarily. However, after receiving approval from the regulatory agency, we achieved double benefits.

Ø  Control of Nitrosamine Impurity: The change in process effectively controlled the carcinogenic impurity.

Ø  Reduced Process Time: The process time was significantly reduced from approximately 48 hours per batch to 29 hours.

Ø  Increased Production: The number of batches delivered per month increased from approximately 12-13 to 20-21.

Ø  Enhanced Revenue: The cost per batch is approximately 93 lakh INR, and the monthly delivery cost increased from 12.09 crore INR to 19.53 crore INR.

In our efforts to improve the product, we successfully reduced process time, eliminated rejections, and enhanced output.

 

Top management recognizes that company’s failures are systemic. They then apply the levers of change on many fronts simultaneously because the dysfunctions cannot be viewed and corrected in isolation. It demands deep top management involvement and exposure. Change whether perceived as good or bad has always been faced with resistance. People often resist change for various reasons like moving them out of their comfort zone, out of fear, ambiguity, etc. Every change then requires management in order to mitigate potential resistance within the organization, making sure that everyone is aligned, agreeable, and supportive on the change implementation.

 

The most significant cost of change implementation failure is indirect and long term, where confidence in leadership decreases, resistance to change increases, and future change/s more likely to fail. MBB together with the management team (MT) must manage resistance to achieve aggressive timeframes for implementation. If they do not manage resistance to this change, it slows down the implementation of future changes or worst they're bound to fail. Ultimately, resistance from employees will impact the customer.

 

MBB should systematically analyze and identify significant personal and organizational barriers to change and generate tactics to increase readiness and decrease the time and resources required to achieve business results.

 

MBB should help build a compelling business case for action translated to stakeholders’ - that may include sponsors, GB/YB/BB change agents, employees – “frame of reference.” This is the foundation of defining the project. There must be a clear and commonly held definition of the project by everyone impacted by the change, where the present state (is now) and desired state (will be) is aligned and understood for successful change implementation. Stakeholders' buy-in is the key. The business case for action must address three basic questions:

             What are we changing?

             Why are we changing it?

             What are the consequences of not changing?

 

In 2007, an Electronics Manufacturing Services company in the Philippines was engaged in manufacturing for its cash cow client’s autonomous Wi-Fi network solution.

 

The production method was a low-volume high-mix, wherein high variety of product model were produced in small volume. Frequent transitioning from one variety of product model to another requires long accumulated changeover time which means idle time for production employees, overtime required to meet production quota, and higher opportunity loss for sales.

 

As a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and Operations Manager in-charge for manufacturing that time, I found this case as an opportunity to improve the process. I was equally aware that there will be strong resistance to change for two reasons – First, everyone in the company got used to such condition (long changeover time, idle, overtime, etc.). Secondly, I’m a newcomer in the organization, got no connection, and got a lot to prove.

 

Anticipating the potential resistance to change, a compelling business case for action was presented to the company’s management team including its CEO addressing the following questions:

             What are we changing?

             Reducing changeover time from X to Y.

 

             Why are we changing it?

             The company incurs an opportunity loss in sales to the tune of $xxxx per annum attributed to prolonged downtime caused by changeovers, plus higher cost of manufacturing heavily due to overtime, reworks, and late delivery.

 

             What are the consequences of not changing?

             Potentially losing business with the cash cow client for not fulfilling its demand on time, higher price, and low quality.

 

The objective of presenting a compelling business case for action was to reveal what the problem was, acquire a good sense of how important the case was to the management team, obtain their agreement, commitment, and strong sponsorship from the top. Furthermore, building credibility to the management team was also vital to getting their trust and confidence. Done that by introducing myself as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt in conjunction of my operations role, provided them brief walkthrough of DMAIC framework to educate them, manage their expectations, and emphasizing their vital role as sponsor/s.

 

The next step was to select team members from production and different engineering disciplines, recognizing and leveraging on their respective expertise, present the business case, obtain their agreement and commitment to support the change. More importantly, making them realize what’s in it for them once change implementation succeeds. Educating them on DMAIC framework, introducing necessary LSS tools essential to the project and helping them understand how to use them established trust and confidence in the process of change implementation. Listening to everyone’s perspective (like operators, inspectors, and technicians) with respect to said process improvement project developed overall buy-in and good sense of group ownership, which made the change implementation successful.

 

The motivation to implement (both individual and organizational) must be stronger than the motivation to stay the same.

Change Management across phases

Define

• Understand and articulate the voice of the customer or quality, focus on the pain points or new opportunities.
• Building consensus on the need for change and align with stakeholders’ expectation

Measure

• Ensuring shared ownership in collecting the data.
• Involve the frontline staff to baseline the data and conduct performance reviews.

Analyze

• Collaboration across stakeholders to find the actual issue, engaging cross functional teams and involving them in detailed root cause analysis.
• Ensuring the transparency in publishing the detailed findings and explaining the rational for criteria being used

Improve

• Prepare and train the team for changes
• Set up a detailed feedback collection process and define the procedures to assess the effectiveness of the change

Control

• Maintaining well defined Standard operating procedures with latest updates and properly reviewed  (SOP)
• Adopt dynamic process monitoring tools and Kanban visual dashboards.

 

MBB Responsibilities across Phase:

• Articulating the problem or opportunity and providing data backed support to secure management approval.
• Supporting the team to establish data baseline and help to visualize current performance
• Guiding the project team to conduct a structured root cause analysis and supporting them to prioritize
• Leading the implementation and piloting of proposed changes or solution
• Overseeing the handover process and supporting audits and setting up other required processes for monitoring the status

DMAIC is the acronym for a problem-solving approach.
Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control
How change management can impact the success or failure of a project: the absence of change management can lead to even the most robust statistical solution stalling at adoption or slipping back into old habits.

Define:
Focus: Before starting any project, the vision should be clear, and "why" needs to be defined to gain the alignment of sponsors and stakeholders.
Charter: Align the project's goals with strategic priorities, identify stakeholders impacted by the project, and define roles and responsibilities using a RACI framework.
Example: In a project of building a bot that can use the documentation from applications, we define which documents we can ingest, so there is no issue with compliance.

Measure:
Focus: CM focuses on building credibility and mapping how baseline metrics affect stakeholders.
Scope: Identify knowledge gaps and tailor training through targeted staff feedback. Involvement of cross-functional and all stakeholders.
Example: In a bot project, involve stakeholders from each application early on to define how the data will be captured and used clearly.

Analyze:
Focus: The change management focus should be on translating gathered data into actionable design and changing existing thinking with actionable data-driven insights.
Scope: Lead the actionable task through workshops, build a pilot, and let stakeholders stress-test and make improvements on small tasks, and educate on difficult conversations.
Example: In a bot project, educate stakeholders (application teams) on how to format their documents, how large documents should be, and what can and cannot be included in documents during the early stages.

Improve
Focus: Change management ensures that new SOPs are followed, users adopt new ways of working, and manages resistance.
Scope: Make it compulsory for the team to complete the training and simulation. Guide pilot efforts and build team capability through iterative learning.
Example: In a bot project, we create templates on how to create documents and how to enter data into different tabs, as well as what types of data need to be captured.

Control
Focus: Change management has to focus on how to sustain improvement and gains and embed the changes
Scope: Embed changes to documents. Strong emphasis on conformance audit & compliance checks and strategic direction, or a roadmap of what to monitor, how to monitor, and how often. Who is responsible? Also includes plans in case metrics exceed targets. A personalized and focused approach to skills development drives continuous growth and improvement.
Example: In a bot project, we make sure application teams adhere to SOPs, a standard template, no PII or PHI data, and automated ingestion of updated documents

Change Management is the important factor while undergoing a DMAIC project. As the change management is key accelerator for driving improvements, its plays a vital role for ongoing sustenance. Following is the way by which change management impacts DMAIC phases and how a MBB can play a role in efficient management in change.

1. Define - As I lead the project for reducing INC backlogs ,In this phase problem is defined and the foundation stone is set for the project. So its important to set the governance of the project. Set clear communication strategy with stakeholders. Identification of members of CCB(Change Control Board). 

MBB - MBB helps to facilitate the stakeholder engagement, Clearly set the project charter and define each and every role and their responsibilities for project execution.

2. Measure  - In this phase its important to collect accurate data for measuring the current phase and current performance level. I gathered the data for overall factors for backlog and validated the data with the team.

MBB - MBB guides in data handling and takes data driven decisions while making statistical inferences.

2. Analyze - In this phase RCA can change processes standards and can impact product or output. So here role of CCB is very crucial to authorize changes while studying there impact on each and every parameter. In the project I ensured overall participation from Solution, Developers, Testers and Ops Team so that everyone is on a same page.

MBB - MBB helps in facilitating decisions and conducting RCA workshops and brainstorming sessions.

3. Improve - This is the phase where change is implemented and the resistance from the stakeholders are more likely in this phase so the role of a proper change management system or a CCB(Change control Board) is very crucial. I ensured pilot runs are effectively conducted for implementing solutions for automations and Gen AI.

MBB - MBB drives the pilot implementation plan. Coaches stakeholders on effective implementation plan.

4. Control - This phase ensures ongoing monitoring which is again a important aspect of change management. Here a whole monitoring was set with the CFT for monitoring backlogs.

MBB - MBB drives the governance for the monitoring and makes Control plans, Select control charts, measures after improvement capability study.

MBB in this act as a change leader while focusing on strategic alignment, Coaching mentoring, stakeholder engagement and effective communication.

 

As a BB and having been a part of the DMAIC projects I agree that the success of the project hinges significantly on effective Change management. Change management is a structured approach to transition individuals, teams and organizations from the current state to a desired future state and is not merely an addon but a critical driver of adoption and sustainability.

Let’s look at how change management is appropriate across the five phases of a DMAIC project and the pivotal role an MBB plays in ensuring success. I would like to draw relevant examples from a project that I was a part of for an Online Travel Company working to improve its revenue for its Holiday Packages inside sales teams.

Change Management across the five phases of DMAIC

A.      Define Phase

In the define phase, we identify the problem statement, define project goals, project scope, stakeholders and customer (CTQ) requirements.

Relevance of Change management in Define Phase:

·         Stakeholder alignment – Stakeholders need to understand why the project matters and how it benefits them, hence an early buy-in is crucial. As change management ensures transparency about the “why” the project matters, hence it reduces resistance by addressing concerns upfront.

·         Communication Plan – Having a structured communication strategy is equally important to conveying the project intent, business impact and benefits to those involved. It involved including the sales leads and agents to explain how improving conversion rates will boost the Holidays Package revenue and, in turn, their incentives.

·         Sponsor engagement – Having the project sponsor’s commitment to champion the change ensures the project isn’t deprioritized during operational challenges.

Define Phase actionables:

Post kick-off of the project to improve Holiday packages sales conversions, workshops were conducted not just with the higher management, but also with team members and team leads. By incorporating the VOC (in this case the sales team members), we co-created a project charter. The agents felt heard and became partners in the project rather than showing resistance and becoming subjects to the project. They helped define the problem statement “Our current process doesn’t equip us to handle complex queries effectively, leading to lost opportunities”, which is far more empowering than “Agent performance is poor”.

B.      Measure Phase

We capture the baseline performance, validate data sources and measure current state performance (e.g. Current Conversion% of the process).

Relevance of Change management in Measure Phase:

Change management ensures that those involved accept and support the data collection process by invoking-

·         Trust in data – Sales teams often distrust data especially if performance is linked to incentives. Change management enables address concerns regarding data misuse or “hidden agendas”.

·         Clarity for Metrics – Communicating what is being measured, and why it’s being measured and most importantly clarifying the goal is to find flaws and not to blame members. Involving team members in metric development also leads to increased ownership.

·         Acceptance for baseline findings – Presenting data findings openly helps to avoid surprises later. This also builds psychological safety and readiness for the upcoming project and improvements.

Measure Phase actionables:

The sales team were explained that the tracking would involve reviewing important business metrics including AHT, number of follow-ups for converted and non-converted queries and system-generated quotations shared per query etc. We positioned it as a “Gemba” in order to shadow the agents and understand their daily challenges. We also had the team leads share a transparent funnel view of the query lifecycle, this breakdown from queries :: quotes :: bookings, led the team to understand the bottlenecks better, thereby reducing the blame game.  And we also had the team members design query trackers to ensure they were practical and captured the right information. This approach led to minimizing fear and more accurate baseline data.

C.      Analyze Phase

Identify, validate, and prioritize root causes of the problem from the collected data using tools like Fishbone diagrams, pareto charts and regression analysis.

Relevance of Change management in Analyze Phase:

This phase challenges long-held assumptions and beliefs. Change management fosters collaboration and consensus amongst stakeholders, by –

·         Engaging diverse perspectives – Like the frontline agents know the customer objections firsthand, similarly the conducting cross-functional workshops with sales, marketing and customer service teams may reveal as to why holiday package queries convert low (e.g. pricing issue, poor follow-up, script inefficiencies, unclear promotions) ensuring the identified issues resonate with those who will implement the solutions, building a collective problem-solving mindset.

·         Managing fear of blame – Teams may fear punitive action and hence can create defensiveness in root cause identification. Change management emphasizes process over people.

·          Consensus creation – By having identified root causes validated by members ensures they feel solution are built with them and not imposed on them.

Analyze Phase actionables:

The data analysis revealed that the conversions were highest when the agents instead of following a rigid script, acted upon and used the product repository to quickly create customized itineraries. This contradicted the established belief that script adherence was the key to improved conversions.  Using visuals and clear language including showing the agents Pareto charts and scatter plots, they were able to see the undeniable correlation in the data and realized the need for a new approach with focus on dynamic bundling options and not static scripts.

 

 

D.      Improve Phase

Develop, test and implement solutions to address the root causes, pilot changes and validate improvements. This involves brainstorming, prioritizing solutions, piloting changes and creating an implementation plan.

Relevance of Change management in Improve Phase:

Change management is important to ensure these changes are embraced through training, communication and support.

·         Co-creation of solutions – Involving teams in designing the new process, will ensure they identify pitfalls and will make them more invested in solutions.

·         Piloting and iteration – Involving frontline leaders and “change champions” in pilots to create success stories and generating pull from others.

·         Training and Support – Providing trainings to address both skills and mindset is a must, while making support readily available during transition. Also, acknowledging that there is a learning curve and performance may dip temporarily.

·         Celebrating Early wins – Publicly acknowledge the success from pilot teams to build momentum.

Improve Phase actionables:

The pilot for a new holiday bundling tool along with a CRM Dashboard that populated Key knowledge base articles was initiated. The pilot team provided feedback, the tool and dashboard were refined. After 4 weeks their conversions improved by 30% for complex queries. These agents shared their experience in team forums leading to peer-driver adoption.

E.      Control Phase

Sustaining the improvements and the gains, by standardizing the new process, creating monitoring plans (using control charts), updating SOP’s and have a response plan incase the process goes out of control.

Relevance of Change management in Control Phase:

Change management focuses on embedding the changes into the organizations culture and systems, or else the team’s may revert to old habits.

·         Systematic integration – Ensuring new scripts and tools become part of standard practice and not temporary fixes by using regular coaching, feedback loops and regular huddles. Additionally, aligning the job descriptions, KPI’s and incentive structures with the new way of working.

·         Performance monitoring – Making use of dashboards and control charts instead of micromanaging teams.

·         R&R’s – Re-enforcing value of the change, and sustaining motivation by linking improvements to ongoing rewards or career development.

·         Knowledge transfer – Creating SOP’s and training modules to prevent knowledge loss.

·         Handoff to Process owner – Clearly transition the ownership of the new process from the project team to the process owner who is responsible for the ongoing process performance.

Control Phase actionables:

The holiday bundling tool and CRM dashboard were integrated into the formal process SOP’s. The team’s performance scorecard, which was reviewed weekly, now included metrics directly related to the new process. The incentive structure was modified to reward both high conversions and consistent usage of new tools.  The changes stuck as they had now become the new standard of work.

 

The Role of an MBB in Driving Adoption and Sustaining Results

A project’s success is measured by the tangible and sustained improvement it brings forth in business performance and not just by the statistical analysis.

A MBBs role extends beyond the technical expertise to leadership, engagement and sustainment. Below is how they can drive adoption and ensure lasting results –

·         Communicating the vision – Translate complex data and project goals into a compelling narrative that answers “what’s in it for me?” for every impacted group.

·         Stakeholder engagement – Identifying early, and proactively and continuously engaging with key stakeholders from project sponsor to front-line agent, ensuring alignment, trust and fostering a shared vision.

·         Managing resistance – Anticipating, understanding and addressing resistance not as a problem to be crushed, but as a valuable feedback about the real-world impact of the change.

·         Training and Development – Overseeing tailored trainings to ensure everyone is confident in the new processes. Coaching project leads, process owners and team members, empowering them to become change champions to carry the improvements forward.

·         Sustaining the gains – Institutionalizing the project changes in the organization’s systems, ensuring the project’s impact endures and guarantees a lasting return on investment.

 

 

 

Change management is the quiet strength which makes whether a DMAIC project implemented delivers the required result or actions subside after implementation. If change management is not proper, even the best solution will face resistance, poor adoption or quick relapse.

Change management always plays a crucial role in all the five phases of DMAIC journey:

• Define: Creates urgency and gains stakeholder alignment. Resistance will be lesser when all stakeholders understand the necessity of change.
• Measure: It assesses the readiness for change and inputs voice of the customer.
• Analyze: Highlight all possible barriers (behavioral and cultural barriers) that will prevent success.
• Improve: Include stakeholders who understand the change to create pilot solutions to influence the buy in from other stakeholders.
• Control: Reinforce the change through training, SOPs, metrics, and recognition to make it work.

An MBB plays a major role in driving success & sustainability of the project. They act as a change architect than a technical or subject matter expert.

• Strategic Alignment: To ensure the alignment of the project with the Business goals & expectations of stakeholders.
• Coaching & Mentoring: Guide BB’s and GB’s to influence and engage with people.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Facilitate buy-in from all stakeholders and leaders.
• Sustainability Planning: Design control mechanisms that includes cultural reinforcement and leadership activities.

Summary:

Without change management:

• Solutions will be technically good but not adopted properly.
• Resistance causes delay in timelines and subsides the impact of solutions.
• Improvements are not sustained.

With effective change management:

• Stakeholders are the champions to drive the initiatives.
• Improved adoption of solution to realize expected results
• Results sustains beyond the project lifecycle.

Let us see how Change management is important across the five phases in a DMAIC project with some hypothetical examples

 

Define Phase:

 

Example: In an Insurance organization, there was a web-based Policy and Claims management system, which had several issues that bothered the leadership team. The system was having multiple technologies (mainframe, legacy Database, advanced web technologies). The system was undergoing a modernization (both business and technology perspective) with multiple vendor organizations working on the system and there was a considerable focus on the response time of some of the key pages.

The (Six Sigma) Project team gathered VOC from various key stakeholders and then when it was widely assumed that web page Response time could be arrived as the CTQ , there was a shock awaiting to the team as another key business stakeholder who happens to be a VP for a geographical region raised a concern. He wanted to have the response captured for mobile app version of the same system as many of his regional customers use personal hand-held devices.

 

So there were lot of discussions and deliberations as which response time to be used – System enabled web-browser based or mobile-based response time. No decision could be arrived at

 

The MBB decided to understand how the power structure is in the organization and came up with a Stakeholder matrix. He found that Stakeholder 5 is the key stakeholder and therefore the organization heeds to his thoughts predominantly. 

 

 

Now the CTQ has to be changed to accommodate the stakeholder ‘s (Stakeholder 5) ask.   Since the response time for both mobile based and as well for the traditional system-based web browser had to rely on database query fetching time, it was decided to have that as CTQ, than the response time.  The outcome of the database query fetching time resulted in improved response time, both for mobile and for traditional system-based web-based browser satisfying all the stakeholders. 

 

Measure Phase:

 

Example:

In one of the projects during the initial stages, the customer wanted to have the categorization of Pass vs Failure and hence the measuring system was different. The approach was useful for reporting purpose. But later the customers wanted to see how many defects are there and they wanted to analyze as why defects are happening and where it is happening and what is causing them. So the MBB helped them to  go for continuous data and decided to change the MSA and used Gage R&R.. This helped them to see how the defects are occurring and if there are any process gaps.  This helped them to fix the process issues and also address the quality issues as well.   The change brought was on the mindset of people to have ‘First Time Right’ approach and also to consciously understand any patterns when there are defects coming out.

 

Analyze Phase:

 

Example: The IT organization had a problem of not delivering on time for several months and has a reputation hit. The organization has decided the CTQ as on-time delivery, and they found one of the key factors - lack of domain/functional, technical knowledge. So, they decided to improve the team on these…   With the guidance of the MBB, the team did - one hypothesis testing of mentored training vs self-learning Nano-video based learning. While the result was not statistically significant, the business significance was worth the effort, which was well articulated by the MBB (as what it means to them). So, the team decided to move with Nano video approach.  The team changed itself to be self-reliant and more accountability creeped into the team’s mindset  

 

Improve Phase:

 

Example: In the Policy and Claims management systems that had mainframe, legacy database and advanced web technologies, the response time for database query fetching had to be improved.  As this was a modernization program, the existing policies were to be running in old systems and new policies created were to fall in newer DBs.  As soon as the changes were being made to address the CTQ (DB query fetching time), lot of hassles happened in terms of policy creation and claims management.  The MBB sensed this and guided the project team to let out the communication on what is being changed and what will be remaining as such and how changes being done, will impact the services rendered in a positive manner.

 

Control Phase:

 

Example:  For monitoring the Policy and Claims management system, there were lot of metrics.. which was more focused on the business metrics such as type of policies created in specific regions, no.of policies created per hour and so on. But as the crux of the issues were on the IT side, the MBB also suggested to track the IT metrics that involved about the web page response time, mobile page response time, the DB query fetching time etc… This change of thought/approach resulted in more stable application and ensured happy stakeholders and customers.

 

Conclusion:

Change Management is critical to the success of any transformation or initiative in an organization and more so definitely for the success of a DMAIC project.  The change accelerator process (CAP) formula  is E= Q * A where E is the effectiveness of the solution, Q is the quality of the solution and A is the acceptance of the solution.  It is the acceptance part, that is more often than not  a challenging one.  As we deal with human emotions, its imperative that every phase/facet of DMAIC project (for that matter any initiative that has human element) has to have the buy-in of the participants (in this case all stakeholders involved and whoever wields the most influence, usually wins).  Thats why we saw how stakeholders identification sets the tone for a project.  John Kotter's change management clearly outlines how change management is essential in doing any transformation or initiative

Change management is really relevant across all phases of DMAIC, this is because no matter how good the solutions and data are, people are still the major factors that drives change. Below are examples of management at each DMAIC phase:

1. Define Phase: In this phase, the MBB should ensure stakeholders understand the WHY behind the projects. Poor alignment in this phase will cause resistance later.
   For example, the reduction of customer complaints in a Nigerian manufacturing firm. Early alignment with the sales and quality team must be done to make it easy to collect data and test ideas without friction.
2. Measure Phase: In this phase, people may question the data or feel defensive. The role of the MBB should be to create transparency by involving frontline staff in validating the data and ensuring trust. For example; consider a delivery staff who was initially resistant to GPS tracking during a logistic project. those delivery staffs can be brought to co-review the data and understand that GPS trackers isn't for blames but for route optimization.
3. Analyze Phase: here, MBBs must frame insights in a non-threatening way, showing how fixing issues helps people do their jobs better, not replaces them. 
   For example, Imagine a delay was tracked to manual approval. MBB can work closely with managers to see automation as support and not loss of control.
4. Improve phase: The MBB plays a vital role in piloting changes, gathering feedback, and making people feel heard.
5. Control Phase: Changes fades without reinforcement, so the MBBs should ensure standardization, ownership, and monitoring. Also a setup recognition reward system can be adopted to encourage continuous improvement.

DMAIC and change management go hand in hand. Both the activities are interlinked. The Project team may define all the phases of DMAIC , however without the actual implementation and acceptance of the strategy the six sigma assessment and completion will remain incomplete.

Define -Awareness towards the  change

Measure & Analyze-Ensure the change to be implemented

Improve-Provide appropriate training on the required changes.

Control-Redefine the changes and its control parameters.

 

MBB should be able to utilize the resources and increase awareness towards the implementation and benefits of DMAIC as a long term risk assessment and solution in place of following the old standard approaches. Involving the team in each step and identify the stakeholders for the DMAIC.

The Assay of an active in the finished drug product was consistently achieved for about 40-50 batches , however suddenly in 3-4 batches a lower trend was observed although within the limits. On application of six sigma the lower PPK value resulted into orange zone. On investigation the root cause for the lower assay data was linked to the change in the input API PSD at d10 values. On redifining the controls the Assay of the FP was again achieved and the tighter controls were defined for the input API PSD.

Sargun has provided the best answer to this question. Well Done!!