Effective leadership is essential to successfully embedding Six Sigma in an organization's DNA. Leaders must adapt their priorities and dedicate significant time (over 10% of their time) to Six Sigma depending on the deployment phase - from generating enthusiasm in early phases to maximizing ROI in later phases. Successful organizations implement a closed-loop "Business Improvement Cycle" aligned with business objectives that integrates performance management, project selection, execution, and process management. This ensures continuous and sustainable improvement. Effective leadership establishes this improvement cycle and guards against focusing too much on urgent/important tasks at the expense of important long-term activities.

1. Getting Six Sigma into the DNA of your organisation
Getting Six Sigma into the DNA
of your organization...
Paul Docherty, CEO, i-nexus
Introduction— not all Six Sigma programs are equal
My belief is that whilst it is relatively easy to start Six Sigma, it is much, much harder to make the
transition to the point that it becomes embedded into the fabric of your organization. By embedded, I
mean that systematic improvement, using Six Sigma methodologies, is not only pervasive throughout
your organization, but that it happens without corporate dictates or some deployment leader
courageously fighting on a daily basis to make it happen.
This white paper is about this challenge of getting Six Sigma into the DNA of your organization. Its
aim is to give people who are responsible for driving Six Sigma deployment some insights from our
recent research which should help them to improve the sustainability of their Six Sigma programs. It
is largely based on a comprehensive survey of over 40 organizations which was carried out in 2002 by
i-nexus (a leading provider of software to manage improvement programs) to find out why some
companies where succeeding with Six Sigma while many were failing.
Figure 1— Macro results from i-nexus survey
Whilst the macro results (see figure 1) from the i-nexus survey (which followed the fortunes of 43
companies who had started to deploy Six Sigma in, or before, 1999) showed dramatic differences in
relative returns, the detailed interviews with deployment leaders revealed strong similarities in the
emphasis and deployment approach of the more successful organizations.
www.i-nexus.com

2. Getting Six Sigma into the DNA of your organisation
By piecing together feedback from various organizations, the survey team were able to build a simple
causal model which integrated most of the learning from the more successful organizations.
Increased
Customer
Satisfaction
Improved
Financial
Performance
Effective
Project
Execution
Skilled &
Motivated
People
Right Process,
Infrastructure &
Environment
Effective
Leadership
Figure 2—Causal Model behind the SSEM
Over time, and though use with various i-nexus customers, this causal model (see figure 2) has
evolved into the Six Sigma Excellence Model (see figure 3) – a comprehensive framework for
assessing the ‘health’ of any organization's Six Sigma program.
effective process
execution
effective project
execution
effective project
selection
effective performance
management
continuous and sustainable
improvement in business results
supporting programme, process and
knowledge management system
effective human resources
effective leadership
Figure 3– The Six Sigma Excellence Model
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3. Getting Six Sigma into the DNA of your organisation
Towards joined-up improvement—the Business Improvement Cycle
At the heart of the Six Sigma Excellence model is something that we in i-nexus have christened
‘The Business Improvement Cycle’ an integrated and ‘closed loop’ approach to driving improvement
that was observed in one form, or another, in all surveyed organizations that were successful in terms
of relative ROI in their deployment of Six Sigma.
mission
strategy
business objectives
causal
thinking
performance
management
key performance
gaps
targets
product/process
capability
product/
process
improvements
feedback
customer
expectations
process
execution
project
execution
potential impact
project
selection
high leverage
project opportunities
Figure 4—The Business Improvement Cycle
This Business Improvement Cycle is effectively a macro PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) cycle which
ensures, at the overall business level, that the effort we are investing into improvement is focused on
business priorities, and the impact of that improvement effort is being continuously validated. The improvement cycle consists of four key sub-processes:
•
Performance Management.
The key inputs to the Performance Management process are the business objectives (what the
business is trying to achieve) and the current performance of the business in terms of both
operational process capability and customer satisfaction. The core purpose of the process is to
evaluate whether the business is on track to deliver the required business results and to identify
any ‘performance-capability’ gaps that need to be addressed.
•
Project Selection.
The key inputs to the Project Selection process are identified improvement opportunities which
can come from a number of sources. With an effective Performance Management process in
place many will come directly from the performance-capability gaps (a more top-down
approach) but they could also come from a more bottom-up (improvement ideas employees) or
outside-in (improvement ideas from suppliers, partners and customers or competitors)
approach. The core purpose of the project selection process is to evaluate these ideas and select
the portfolio of projects (existing and planned) which will deliver the maximum business benefit
with the minimum risk given the financial constraints of the business. The outputs of this
process are clearly defined project opportunities.
•
Project Execution.
The key inputs to the Project Execution process are the project opportunities themselves and
the customer expectations on the process that is to be improved. The core purpose of this
process is to deliver on-time, and to estimated cost, the expected tangible benefits. This process
is complicated by the fact that unlike traditional projects, knowledge about the expected benefits and costs is only gained through the execution of the Six Sigma project. The outputs of the
Project Execution process are changes to the business processes executed by the organization.
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4. Getting Six Sigma into the DNA of your organisation
•
Process Execution.
The key inputs to the Process Execution process come from the changes introduced during
project execution and from the customer’s on-going feedback on process performance. The core
purpose of this process is to manage and improve the operational processes based on
measuring process capability and customer satisfaction. The output of this process is an ongoing assessment of process maturity and customer satisfaction with the business performance.
The effective implementation of this business improvement cycle means that improvement remains
integrated with, and closely aligned to, the achievement of the business objectives. This in turn ensures that management stay engaged as the improvement actions that are being taken are the things
that they believe will help them deliver the results they need to satisfy stakeholders.
Just saying that it would be good to have such a closed-loop improvement process in place, however,
is not enough to make it happen. To build such a management system we need to first lay the right
foundations.
Considering
Initial
Scaling
Mature
Generate Enthusiasm
Demonstrate Results
Ensure Sustainability
Maximise ROI
Figure 5—Leadership priorities through the Six Sigma life-cycle
Building on firm foundations – The importance of effective leadership
Effective Leadership:
Do the behaviors and actions of leaders within our organization inspire, support, enable and
promote the implementation of Six Sigma ?
One clear theme which echoed throughout our research was that it was ultimately the effective
leadership of the Six Sigma program that provided the foundation for a successful deployment. To
help us discuss the different demands placed on leaders throughout the deployment of Six Sigma and
to understand what the key X variables are that led to effective leadership, we constructed a simple
four phase Six Sigma life-cycle model.
Using this model as the basis of discussion it became clear that not only did the priorities of leaders
change during the deployment of Six Sigma, but the demands placed on leaders to ensure the
success of the deployment – particularly the executive team – were considerable both in terms of
time and effort required (over 10% of leadership time was spent on Six Sigma deployment in more
successful organizations – see Figure 6).
www.i-nexus.com

5. www.i-nexus.com
Figure 7—The Important Not Urgent trap
IMPORTANT
Low
High
10%
5%
• People development ignored
• Management burn-out
• Competitors move while you
stand still
+ Serious long-term dangers…
Low
URGENT
Not Urgent
and
Not Important
Not Urgent
And
Important
The swamp is not being
drained as you fight the
alligators…
But…
70%
15%
High
Urgent
and
Not Important
Urgent
and
Important
• Battles get won..
• Boxes get ticked…
• Nothing happens unless I’m
there…
• It’s a rush…
It is satisfying to be in the
urgent not important box…
The Urgent Not Important Trap
This trap is illustrated in figure 7. It is essentially the difficulty of being able to free yourself from the
day to day urgent activities (the inevitable result of bad processes) enough to be able to focus on
removing the cause rather than alleviating the symptom (an important activity).
Figure 6— Role of leaders in each stage of the Six Sigma life-cycle
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Getting Six Sigma into the DNA of your organisation

6. Getting Six Sigma into the DNA of your organisation
The problem lies in the fact that our work ‘system’ encourages this situation to persist – not only is
urgent work fulfilling and satisfying (battles get won, boxes get ticked, I feel that if I wasn’t around
things wouldn’t get done) but most organizations tend to reward and recognize those people who are
good at it – the people who get things done. This leads to the situation that many managers when
faced with the choice of draining the swamp (i.e. investing their effort in Six Sigma which will at some
point in the future make life easier) or shooting the alligators (dealing with the day to day issues
which will generate sales and cash) will choose a bigger alligator gun.
To break out from this trap we need to be able to create a work ‘system’ which ensures that leaders
do not just have the motivation to act, but also have the skills needed to act effectively. Much of the
feedback from deployment leaders reinforced our belief that a supportive ‘system’ was one in which
there was not just appropriate rewards for getting results with Six Sigma but also where the key links
between a) leadership behavior and business impact through Six Sigma and b) getting results
through the impact of Six Sigma and the rewards available to individual leaders were universally understood (the basis of the motivation model). The key elements identified in our survey to ensure
effective leadership are illustrated in figure 8.
Perception that
Improved performance
will lead to the outcome
Define what
needs to be done
sllikS gninnalP •
Perception that
the effort will deliver
improved performance
sllikS sisylanA •
sllikS gninoisiV •
egdelwonK amgiS xiS •
Align & motivate
people to do it
Create a supportive
environment
sllikS noitacinummoC •
sllikS noitageleD •
sllikS noitasiliboM •
sllikS laruoivaheB •
Value
of
Outcome
sllikS lanoitasinagrO •
Improved
Performance
sllikS gniknihT smetsyS •
Degree
of
Effort
Perceived value
of the outcome
The knowledge and
skill to act effectively
The motivation
to act
Figure 8— What leaders need to be effective
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7. Getting Six Sigma into the DNA of your organisation
Developing the Capacity to Execute – The Importance of Capable People and Systems
Effective Human Resources:
Do our people have the necessary motivation, competencies, time and alignment needed to
successfully implement Six Sigma improvement projects?
W
hilst effective leadership (the driver) is a critical first step, our finding is that without an effective
supporting infrastructure (the car) and capable human resources (the engine) needed to turn good
project opportunities (the fuel) into business results (the destination), Six Sigma deployments are
unlikely to succeed.
In relation to human resources, (and in particular Black/Green Belts), it was quickly clear from our
survey that the word ‘effective’ and the word ‘skilled’ were not equivalent (technical skills, were as
one deployment leader put it, necessary but not sufficient). To be truly effective, human resources
need to be capable (of which technical skills is a subset), motivated (in a similar way to leaders),
available (meaning more than just having time available) and aligned (meaning they understand how
their work contributes to the achievement of business objectives) (see Figure 9).
• Effective = capable * motivated * available * aligned
• Capable means…
Appropriate competencies (personal characteristics)
Appropriate knowledge (understanding of context)
Appropriate skills (task specific capabilities)
• Motivated means…
Truly believe outcome of good performance will be positive and
yield something they value
Truly believe that they have the capability to perform well
• Available means…
Having the necessary time to complete the work
Having the necessary tools/resources to complete the work
Having the necessary space to complete the work
• Aligned means…
Having a shared contract on what the individual needs to achieve
and why
Having a clear understanding of how their actions will contribute
to the achievement of the larger business goal
Figure 9 —The true meaning of effective
To better understand the nature of the competencies/skills required to be an effective Black belt, we
analyzed the different activities undertaken by Black Belts in a sub-set of the organizations we
surveyed. The results of the analysis (see Figure 10) illustrated that the activities demanding the
technical/statistical skills (which dominate the traditional Six Sigma syllabus) accounted for only a
small percentage of the activities undertaken by Black Belts, with the remaining activities (80%)
requiring predominantly softer skills (such as relationship building and team leadership) to be
successful.
A key conclusion from this feedback was that the real X variables behind capable resources lie in
having appropriate acquisition processes, which while testing that Black/Green belt candidates have
the necessary intellectual horsepower to understand and implement the more analytical tools, ensure
that the focus is on testing for the softer skills which are often inherent in the individuals personality
type and much harder to train in. Additionally, feedback from deployment leaders highlighted the
importance of ensuring appropriate coaching support is in place as, with any significant body of
knowledge, Six Sigma takes time to internalize and, during the initial stages of a project, intervention
is required from experienced Six Sigma practioners to ensure it does not go off track.
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8. Getting Six Sigma into the DNA of your organisation
Analysing Data (6%)
Process Investigation/
Discovery (36%)
Planning Work (14%)
Coaching/Facilitating
Teamwork (26%)
Communicating with
Stakeholders (31%)
Figure 10— What do Black belts actually do?
Other key feedback from deployment leaders was the importance of effective succession planning in
ensuring the ‘availability’ of Black belts. More than one surveyed program could trace problems with
the deployment to Black belts who had not had their existing responsibilities transferred effectively,
which in turn was traced to a lack of management understanding of their role and ultimately to weak
leadership of the program. In terms of motivation and alignment, the suggestion from our interviews
is to ensure that Black/Green and team member education includes clarity on the relationship
between effort, business results and individual/team reward and that the rewards are appropriate to
the culture in which the individuals participating in the process operate.
Effective improvement system
Do we have a system in place that enable us to manage the improvement ‘cycle’ effectively as
the program scales?
W
hilst information technology is not the only element of the infrastructure needed to ensure the
successful deployment of Six Sigma (other elements include methodologies, tool templates, gate
checklists, financial quantification rules etc), feedback from deployment leaders indicates that it
becomes increasingly important as the program scales from tens to hundreds if not thousands of
projects. In the context of managing the Business Improvement Cycle, it is not difficult to see why in
a multi-national organization running many Six Sigma projects such a systems infrastructure is
required to ensure benefits are maximized and the program is sustainable.
Figure 11 illustrates some of the challenges reported by the organizations surveyed in each subprocess of the improvement cycle when they tried to scale up the program within the organization.
Faced with these challenges many organizations we surveyed had implemented different systems
(from spreadsheets, through simple databases through to enterprise wide web-based systems) to try
to get a grip of the process and ensure that the work being completed was delivering benefits.
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www.i-nexus.com
Figure 12—System capabilities needed to manage scaling challenges.
project
execution
project
selection
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egarevel laitnetop fo saera yfiton yllacitamotuA •
oiloftrop tcejorp tnemevorpmi eht yb detareneg
stnemevorpmi ytilibapac ssecorp kcarT •
scirtem ecnamrofrep ssecorp etareneg
yllacitamotua dna sessecorp yek etamotuA •
ledom ssecorp esirpretne lacihparg a eganaM •
:ot ytilibapaC
From their feedback, our conclusion was that the key issue lies in ensuring that the system implemented fits the improvement process being implemented (covering as much of the improvement
cycle as possible) and in ensuring that organization wide there is only one system – so that the
knowledge gained in execution can be leveraged to multiply the benefits generated. Based on the
scaling challenges, the capabilities that organizations should expect in such a system are illustrated in
Figure 12.
Figure 11 - There are many challenges as the deployment is scaled.
secruoser delliks
fo noitasilitu gnisimixaM •
stcejorp tcapmi
hg h gn tce es y tnets snoC •
hgiih gniitcelles ylltnetsiisnoC •
lleehw
eehw
eht fo no tnevn -er gn d ovA •
eht fo noiitnevnii-er gniidiiovA •
…segne ahC gn acS
…segnellllahC gniillacS
project
execution
project
selection
spag noitatcepxe-ytilibapac
yek eht no stcejorp tnemevorpmi
fo tcapmi eht gnirotinoM •
sevitcejbo ssenisub htiw troffe
tnemevorpmi fo tnemngila gnirusnE •
…segnellahC gnilacS
adnega tnemeganam
adnega tnemeganam
eht no amg S x S gn peeK •
eht no amgiiS xiiS gniipeeK •
wef at v eht no desucof
wef llatiiv eht no desucof
no tnetta ev tucexe gn rusnE •
noiitnetta eviitucexe gniirusnE •
ygo odohtem fo no tac ppa
ygollodohtem fo noiitaciillppa
tnets snoc gn rusnE •
tnetsiisnoc gniirusnE •
…segne ahC gn acS
…segnellllahC gniillacS
process
execution
sno tu os
snoiitullos
tce orp fo egareve gn s m xaM •
tcejjorp fo egarevell gniisiimiixaM •
sessecorp s no tas nagro eht fo
sessecorp s’’noiitasiinagro eht fo
’’erutciip gniivom‘‘ eht gniiniiatniiaM •
erutc p gn vom eht gn n atn aM •
no tamotua metsys tnemerusaem
noiitamotua metsys tnemerusaem
rof dnamed eht gn ganaM •
rof dnamed eht gniiganaM •
…segne ahC gn acS
…segnellllahC gniillacS
performance
management
Getting Six Sigma into the DNA of your organisation

10. Getting Six Sigma into the DNA of your organisation
Effective Performance Management
Do we have a sustainable process in place which translates business objectives, previous performance and future customer expectations into opportunities for improvement ?
As a whole, our analysis showed that it was how effectively organizations had implemented the Business Improvement Cycle that was ultimately the key differentiator between those organizations which
were getting good results from Six Sigma and those who were getting exceptional results. Particularly
important in terms of maximizing the ROI from the program was the effectiveness of what we subsequently have christened the Performance Management sub-process, which essentially ensures that
our portfolio of improvement work remains aligned with, and is having an impact on, achievement of
business objectives.
Whilst there was a number of different approaches taken by the organizations we surveyed, in
essence those that were more effective shared three core concepts:
•
•
•
the use of causal thinking combined with process yield analysis to identify key operational
measures
the implementation of a balanced set of metrics with customer driven targets
the implementation of a closed-loop measurement system to monitor performance against
targets.
Many deployment leaders stressed the problem of poor project identification, the cause of which could
be traced to ineffective Performance Management caused by leaders not having the necessary causal
thinking skills to effectively breakdown the business goals in process drivers and ultimately, through
on-going measurement into performance-expectation gaps (see Figure 13).
Shareholder
Value
Capital
Employed
Cash (Profit)
From Operations
Working
Capital
Costs
Fixed Assets
Overhead
Costs
dleiy dib esaercnI •
yreviled emit-no esaercnI •
yreviled emit-no esaercnI •
ycneiciffe selas esaercnI •
ycneiciffe selas esaercnI •
selas ecudeR •
ecivres/tcudorp ecudeR •
tcelloc ot emit ecudeR •
tcelloc ot emit ecudeR • dedda eulav-non ecudeR •
noitcudorp esaercnI • eciovni ot emit ecudeR •
ycneiciffe
ycneiciffe
ecaps
tessa esaercnI •
noitasilitu
noitasilitu
yticapac evorpmI •
Cost of
Sales
egarots ecudeR •
Revenue
hsac
tnemerucorp ecudeR •
emit
ot emit esaercnI •
ot emit esaercnI •
pihs/erutcafunam
tiurcer ot emit ecudeR •
stcefed
sesimorpmoc
xim tcudorp esimitpO •
xim tcudorp esimitpO •
ycarucca tsacerof evorpmI •
tekram ot emit ecudeR •
slevel ecivres TI evorpmI • ycneiciffe noitcudorp esaercnI •
slevel ecivres TI evorpmI • ycneiciffe noitcudorp esaercnI •
noitneter ffats esaercnI •
gnitekram esaercnI •
stcefed esahcrup ecudeR • gnicirp tekram evorpmI •
ycneiciffe
syaled ssecorp ecudeR •
gnitsacerof
Figure 13— Applying causal thinking to business objectives.
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11. Getting Six Sigma into the DNA of your organisation
In addition to the importance of training leaders and managers in causal thinking, we observed a
strong importance placed by the more successful organizations of ensuring that each business unit
had dashboards (in many cases using the balanced scorecard model) in place and ensuring that each
measure on each dashboard was
a) linked via causal thinking to the overall business objectives,
b) owned by a process owner with responsibility to change the process in question and
c) linked through a closed loop directly to programs and projects that were attempting to move
the relevant dial.
In terms of ensuring a closed-loop measurement system, a few organizations surveyed had implemented a form of MAAR (Measure, Analyze, Action and Review) chart which ensures for each measure
that the process capability of the process in question, and the effectiveness of the actions identified
and implemented to address special and common cause variation, are monitored on an on-going
basis.
Our synthesis of the various practices suggested that a particularly powerful approach to Performance
Management would be to use the MAAR chart approach to drive improvement opportunity identification in combination with a ‘balanced’ dashboard which has been developed through strong causal
thinking from the business objectives and which features customer targets for each measure which
are based on effective VOC (Voice of the Customer) analysis (Figure 14).
By implementing a dashboard
for each business…
Financial
And a MAAR chart
for each measure…
Customer
Measure
Business
Results
Measures
Customer
Satisfaction
Measures
M
A
Analyse
People
Skilled and
Motivated People
Measures
Action
A
R
Review
Process
Process
Execution
Measures
Figure 14— Using dashboards and MAAR charts to achieve closed-loop management.
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We can monitor
our performance
and validate the
effectiveness of
the actions we
are taking.

12. Getting Six Sigma into the DNA of your organisation
Effective project selection
Do we have a sustainable process in place which helps us to prioritize and select the
improvement opportunities that Six Sigma can help us with ?
While effective Performance Management can ensure that the work identified remains aligned with
the business objectives, effective project selection is key to ensuring the resource invested in implementing Six Sigma projects is targeted on those opportunities which will yield the greatest business
benefits (in terms of both achievement of objectives and top/bottom line benefit). Figure 15 illustrates how effective project selection can drive ROI.
emiT elcyC tcejorP
tttcejjjorrrP///sgniiivaS ttteN
ce o P sgn vaS eN
ce o P sgn vaS eN
lllufffsseccuS%
u sseccuS%
u sseccuS%
ROI
Select projects with appropriate
output frequency
Select projects with high leverage
potential
Select projects with have a
supportive environment
Improve the utilisation of scarce
skilled resource (black belts)
Minimise false starts and aborted
projects
s ce o P o ebmuN
s ce o P o ebmuN
stttcejjjorrrP fffo rrrebmuN
tttsoC emmarrrgorrrP
soC emma go P
soC emma go P
Figure 15—How does effective project selection drive ROI?
In virtually all of the organizations we surveyed we were able to identify a basic process for funneling
project opportunities for evaluation and selection. In the more effective organizations, this opportunity funnel was clearly identified and had a strong information system support to ensure that ideas
were collected from the widest population possible (including partners, customers and suppliers) and
ensuring that they were evaluated quickly and efficiently. Figure 16 is effectively a synthesis of the
best practices used in the different organizations surveyed. Whilst many evaluation and selection
criteria were suggested by deployment leaders, a few were given particular emphasis.
Virtually all interviews highlighted the importance of output frequency (the number of process outputs
that can be measured in a given period) as a key determinant of project feasibility, as in practice few
projects can be completed by relying on historical data alone. Other key factors highlighted by
deployment leaders, in addition to the mandatory evaluation of potential cash/profit impact, included
the leverage potential of the opportunity (the degree to which the successful improvement could be
replicated throughout the business) and the degree of sponsorship from an individual who has a
majority responsibility for the process being improved.
Whilst the individual criteria for evaluation and selection were considered important by virtually all
organizations, there was some indication that the more successful organizations had also taken the
logical next step of managing the opportunities as a portfolio – focusing on ensuring a balance within
that portfolio with respect to, for example, top-line vs. bottom line improvement, customer driven vs.
internally driven projects, as well as ensuring that the number of projects implemented was balanced
with resource (people and cash) constraints.
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13. Getting Six Sigma into the DNA of your organisation
project ideas from
employees
project ideas from
project ideas from
capability-expectation customers, partners
and suppliers
gaps
Opportunity
Capture
Alignment Filter
Feasibility Filter
Project
Qualification
Financial Filter
Project
Allocation
Project
Scoping
Project
scoped
Project
staffed
Project
Selection
Figure 16 — The Project Opportunity Funnel
Effective project execution
Do we have a sustainable process in place which maximizes the benefits for every pound/euro/
dollar invested in project execution?
L
ike effective selection, effective execution can have a significant impact on the ROI generated by
any organization’s Six Sigma investment. Figure 17 illustrates the impact that improving project
execution can have on ROI.
emiT elcyC tcejorP
tttcejjjorrrP///sgniiivaS ttteN
ce o P sgn vaS eN
ce o P sgn vaS eN
lllufffsseccuS%
u sseccuS%
u sseccuS%
ROI
Reduce time spent waiting for
roadblocks to be cleared and
time wasted in blind alleys
Ensure that the targeted benefits
are actually realised
Kill projects which are unlikely to
realise benefits early and refocus
those which are going off-track
Minimise the time spent in
unnecessary progress reviews
Minimise the time and effort spent
on unnecessary reporting
s ce o P o ebmuN
s ce o P o ebmuN
stttcejjjorrrP fffo rrrebmuN
tsoC emmargorP
Figure 17— How does effective project execution drive ROI?
Effective project execution was one aspect of the improvement cycle where all surveyed organizations
could provide significant input. One overall theme that emerged from our discussions with deployment leaders was that effective execution was in many ways tied to the consistent application of the
methodology, which in itself was driven by consistent implementation of gate reviews (the main check
in the process that the methodology is being applied systematically). One key finding was that many
organizations found a key problem in terms of not following the methodology effectively to be not as
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14. Getting Six Sigma into the DNA of your organisation
one might expect the lack of skills and experience of the Black Belt, but rather the lack of skills and
experience in the project sponsors who would often ‘bend’ the methodology/project to fit their
intuition and desired result.
A strong theme in the more successful organizations was therefore the training and mentoring of
project sponsors to ensure that they understood clearly the dynamics of the Six Sigma process, and
in particular whether the stage the team were currently in required a more creative approach/analytic
approach and what was the key deliverable at each gate. Figure 18 illustrates the DMAIC process
from a sponsor perspective based on a synthesis of gate review approaches used in different
organizations.
Establish
Causal
Drivers
Prioritise
the
Drivers
Define
the
Defect(s)
Generate
Potential
X’s
Collect
the
Data
Analyse
the
Process
Generate
Potential
Solutions
GR0
GR1
Defect(s)
Defined?
Pilot
the
Solution
GR2
Problem
Identified
Select
Best
Solution
Root Causes
Understood?
S
D
M A
Transfer
the
Solution
Control
the
Process
Realise
the
Gains
GR3
GR3
Solution
Workable ?
I
I
Benefits
Realised
C C
Figure 18— Key gate reviews and critical decision points in DMAIC process
This diagram (a similar diagram can be constructed for the design variant of the Six Sigma process)
shows the opening stages (e.g. whether hypotheses are generated and solutions identified) as well as
the closing stages (where analytical processes are used to determine the most likely defects, causes
and solutions), within each phase and what the key deliverables of each ‘hard’ gate are.
Another key learning from our survey in relation to project execution was the importance of implementing an enterprise-wide benefit reporting and management by exception system as the deployment scales up. This has the benefit of ensuring sponsors stay engaged and drive projects – firstly as
they do not need to process large amounts of information to understand where their intervention is
required and secondly because it transfers accountability as top management can easily see where
there are roadblocks in benefit delivery and who in the management team has the responsibility for
managing them. Interviews with deployment leaders also underlined the importance of ‘institutional
plagiarism’ – being able to learn from and/or quickly and easily replicate the work of other project
teams, and being able to quickly and easily gain access to experts as key factors in accelerating deployment.
Effective process execution
Do we have sustainable processes in place to ensure that changes introduced as a result of Six
Sigma projects are locked into day-to-day process execution and that these processes continue
to be managed?
One of the most puzzling aspects to the survey results was the difference, in the majority of organizations we surveyed, between the (often substantial) benefits reported and the consequent lack of positive movement in the Profit and Loss or Balance Sheet. Whilst some of this can be explained by other
factors – e.g. changes in market demand, our hypothesis (which is yet to be confirmed with hard
data) is that the most likely cause of this benefit fall-off is ineffective transfer of responsibility for ongoing process improvement from the project team to the team executing the process. Indeed a
number of the deployment leaders reinforced this point, highlighting the fact that the percentage of
people who participate in the actual execution of Six Sigma projects (especially in the early phases of
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15. Getting Six Sigma into the DNA of your organisation
deployment) is usually a small fraction of the total number of people in the organization and an even
smaller fraction of the people who are in the ‘front-line’ i.e. directly interacting with customers (see
Figure 19).
Customer
Customer Interaction
Front Line Staff
Middle
Management
Senior
Management
People impacted by Six Sigma
projects on a day to day basis
Top
Mgmt
Figure 19—Why process execution is so important
Their conclusion in relation to this point was that until there was an effective ‘system’ in place to
engage the vast majority of people who actually execute the processes being changed in process
thinking, not only would improvements be short-lived, but customers would perceive little improvement. Talking with deployment leaders it became clear that there are several systemic problems
which lead to ineffective transfer of responsibility from the project team to the process team. The first
is that the last phase of the DMAIC process is essentially boring. Many deployment leaders reported
that Six Sigma project teams saw the critical activities of documenting and training implicit in the
Control phase as laborious and often less exciting than the next project challenge (or even their day
job). The second is that the process changes inherent in the improvement projects often mean significant personal changes in their work for the people actually executing the process. It is therefore
unlikely that they will make the initial effort to adopt these without fully understanding and having a
chance to understand the implications. The third is that implicit in the transfer of responsibility for ongoing process improvement is a significant training effort (each member of the team executing the
process needs to have an understanding of variation and the ability to interpret a control chart).
To overcome these obstacles, several organizations we surveyed had started to implement process
management education (to spread out in a targeted way a basic understanding of variation theory,
how to implement simple process measurement and how to capture customer feedback on the process). Others had reinforced the importance of the Control phase gate as the final check on responsibility transfer - effectively not allowing project teams to be decommissioned without confirmation
from the team running the process that they had been fully enabled.
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16. Getting Six Sigma into the DNA of your organisation
Measuring Success – Quantifying the Business Results
Business results
Is our Six Sigma effort really delivering a continuous and sustainable improvement in our business results ?
In most organizations we surveyed, deployment leaders had implemented measurement systems to
provide top management with visibility of the success of their Six Sigma program. In the majority of
these organizations the key measures taken related to the number of people trained, the number of
projects completed and the value of benefits delivered. While interesting in themselves, our conclusion was that these measures (with the exception of training completed) were essentially lagging
measures and did not reflect the real causal drivers of Six Sigma results. Figure 20 illustrates an
alternative Six Sigma dashboard which reflects the different causal drivers and which could easily be
combined with closed loop measurement to drive continuous improvement in the Six Sigma system.
By implementing a Six Sigma
Dashboard…
Financial
• Net Programme
Benefits (Profit &
Capital Employed
Impacts)
• Net Benefits/Project
• Net Benefits as % of
Revenue
People
• Leadership Capability
Index
• Belt Capability Index
• Number of Certified
Belts, Sponsors, and
Process Owners
Customer
• Product/Service
Capability
Improvement Indices
• Customer
Satisfaction Indices
Measure net benefits that
impact the P&L and
balance sheet only
Measure relative
improvement in process
capability not absolute
process capability
Measure customer
satisfaction to validate
process capability
improvement
Process
• Process Success
Rates
• Project Lead-times
• Project Leverage
Index
• Project Productivity
Index
Measure the key return on
Investment drivers
Measure the underlying
organisational capability
Figure 20— How do you measure the success of a Six Sigma implementation?
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17. Getting Six Sigma into the DNA of your organisation
Summary
It is my hope that this paper has provided some useful ideas to help you further embed Six Sigma in
your organization. A free download of the Six Sigma Excellence Model (SSEM) workbook which details
the criteria for each component of the model and provides a guide to scoring the “health” of your
deployment is available in the visitor resources section of www.i-nexus.com. If you have questions
about this whitepaper, would like to discuss how i-nexus can help you meet you need for an integrated ‘improvement’ management system, or would like see further examples of best practice
resources from each of the key elements of the SSEM, please contact myself or any i-nexus team
member on +44 (0)845 607 0061.
About Paul Docherty
Paul is the CEO of i-nexus, the leading provider of software solutions to help manage improvement
programs. He was previously the deployment leader for Six Sigma within Marconi and is a firm
believer in the application of ‘systems thinking’ to the challenge of deploying Six Sigma in large organizations. He can be contacted on paul.docherty@i-nexus.com or by telephone on +44 (0)7985
117784 (mobile), +44 (0)24 7660 8865 (desk).
About i-nexus
i-nexus helps organizations to get more from their investment in the critical business programs such
as Six Sigma, IT and R&D that drive growth and create value. They provide a range of enterprise software solutions, based on their flagship i-nexus product, that have been designed from the ground up
to meet the real needs of Six Sigma VPs, CIOs, CTOs and other business leaders. Combining the
latest web technology with powerful ROI driven functionality, these solutions are helping a growing
number of global organizations to align their project portfolios with business objectives, accelerate the
delivery of tangible benefits and leverage what they learn in project execution.
To find out more about how i-nexus can help you to reduce project cycle times, increase project
success rates and cut the cost of managing your portfolio:
•
Email: sales@i-nexus.com
•
Call European office: +44 (0)845 607 0063
•
Call Americas office: +1 (617) 267 9595
•
Call Asia office: +86 (0) 215 836 2701
•
Visit: www.i-nexus.com
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