Success Stories
Case Study #1: Six Sigma needs Project Leadership Skills to
Succeed
"We have a problem with several significant projects and
we need your input," said a senior executive in Supply Chain
at one of our large clients. He had called the meeting with his
HR Director and Quest to get to the bottom line on what was keeping
their teams from accomplishing their assignments.
"Nothing happens," they stated. "Every time one
of our managers assigns a project to a team of people, they can't
seem to get anything done. These are all long-time employees,
all (Six Sigma) green belt certified, yet they aren't able to
use the Six Sigma tools. "
In discussing the situation further, we learned that the team
members were great at "executing" (getting the product
out the door), but typically had never been involved in process
improvement, problem-solving, and making decisions.
Basically, now that they were being asked for new ideas, to
move ahead without someone telling them what to do, how to do
it and when, they were at a loss. It was apparent we needed to
teach some additional skills to augment their Six Sigma learning.
And in a hurry, if they were to complete their projects in the
four months allotted. Because of the urgency of the projects,
the client insisted we start immediately!
The challenge was :
- getting these employees focused and involved in these projects;
- teaching them the necessary teamwork and problem-solving
skills;
- providing coaching on their projects and progress; and
- finding them the time to work on these projects, without
negatively impacting their operations!
Our approach was to appropriately involve
all the Stakeholders in a three month "educational intervention."
The senior leaders prepared a Scope for each project, assigned
each of the 80 employees to a project team, and served as Coaches
to the project teams, agreeing to meet with each team at certain
milestones.
The company's Black Belt Instructors presented an 8-hour, green
belt refresher course to include the Six Sigma process and the
key tools and served as consultants to the teams.
The employees were divided into 16 teams of
from three to six members and participated in a 40-hour, action-learning program
where they learned the skills they needed and applied them directly
to their "live" assigned project.
The Quest Consultants organized the effort and provided instruction
to the teams in teamwork, problem-solving in teams, innovation,
planning and implementing change, and presentation skills. They
also reviewed the critical skills of "coaching teams" with
the leaders.
The results spoke volumes for this approach
and the need to provide these project leadership skills for Six
Sigma teams. At the end of 10 weeks, each team presented their
analysis and recommendations to their peers and the company leaders.
A number of the solutions are already being implemented and numerous
money saving and process improvement efforts are underway.
The leaders agreed that more progress had been made, and more
great ideas surfaced, then they imagined possible in such a short
time.
In conclusion the training in Six Sigma alone
does not provide the full range of skills and experiences required
for teams to handle the complexities of leading projects. An action
learning approach, using significant projects, with leaders
serving as Coaches, enables all Stakeholders to be successful
in a Six Sigma environment.
For more information about ...
- Project Management Fundamentals, click
here.
- Integrating and Customizing all learning efforts to meet
your organization's strategy and goals, click
here.
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