"I haven't failed, I just found 10,000 ways that won't work" A methodology that is at the heart of General Electrics' strategy of improvement and innovation is Lean Six Sigma, a framework that builds success and growth by eliminating waste and reducing errors in a business process. For an inventor in the last century, or for today's businesses success is never an accident. Can one methodology really create an organisation of incredible people? Being a creative genius doesn't stem from knowing all the answers, but from asking the right questions. Lean Six Sigma encourages us to question absolutely everything we know about our business. At the conference Kiran will explore this framework and concept in greater depth. Kiran will also look at the commonalities between some of the great feats of creative genius in history and modern-day society and at how their philosophies aligned with the Lean Six Sigma principles. She presents ways in which businesses can create an organisation that promotes targeted innovation and embraces change using Lean Six Sigma principles and demonstrates some simple and effective tools that can be applied and understood by anybody in an organisation.

1. HARNESSING THE
CREATIVE GENIUS WITHIN
YOUR ORGANISATION
Kiran Kachela
Managing Director, Continuous Improvement Projects Ltd.

2. “QUESTION EVERYTHING
-Albert Einstein

3. “STUDY THE SCIENCE OF ART & THE
ART OF SCIENCE -Leonardo Da Vinci

4. “
I HAVE NOT FAILED, I’VE JUST FOUND
10,000 WAYS THAT WON’T WORK
-Thomas Edison

5. “HAVE NO FEAR OF PERFECTION,
YOU’LL NEVER REACH IT -Marie Curie

6. “A VISIONARY AND A PRAGMATIST
-Shirley Ann Jackson

7. “YOU’VE GOT TO START WITH THE CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE & WORK BACKWARDS TO THE
TECHNOLOGY -Steve Jobs

8. “COMPLEXITY IS YOUR ENEMY
-Richard Branson

9. IF YOU ONLY HAD ONE
HOUR TO SAVE THE WORLD,
WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

10. I WOULD SPEND FIFTY-FIVE
MINUTES DEFINING THE
PROBLEM AND ONLY FIVE
MINUTES FINDING THE
SOLUTION
“
“
Albert Einstein

11. WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A CREATIVE GENIUS?
➤ Question everything
➤ Connect humanities & sciences
➤ A process of elimination is not failure
➤ Aim for continuous improvement, not perfection
➤ Have a clear vision and be pragmatic in your approach
➤ Always start with the customer & work backwards
➤ Define the problem well to reach a solution
➤ Simplify, simplify, simplify!

12. LEAN SIX SIGMA: 5 WHYS?
➤ Bust assumptions
➤ Ask “why?” 5 times
➤ Uncover the underlying root
causes to problems

13. LEAN SIX SIGMA: A MATRIMONY
➤ Voice of the Customer
➤ Translate subjective customer
feedback into quantitative
characteristics
➤ Statistically measure process
performance against customer
specifications
➤ Change Management
OF HUMANITIES & STATISTICS

14. LEAN SIX SIGMA: LAW OF FOCUS
➤ Problem Solving through a
process of elimination
➤ Pareto Analysis - 80/ 20 Rule
➤ Hypothesis Analysis

15. LEAN SIX SIGMA: 99.99% ASPIRATION
➤ Continuous improvement
➤ Evolution, not revolution
➤ 6 Sigma (almost perfection) is
an aspiration target to work
towards
➤ Success is a journey, not a
destination

16. LEAN SIX SIGMA: VISIONARY & PRAGMATIST
➤ Logical and structured
framework
➤ Flexible and pragmatic
approach
➤ A clearly defined vision from
the beginning
➤ Outcomes from each phase
informs the approach for the
next phase

17. LEAN SIX SIGMA: LAW OF MARKET
➤ Customer is King
➤ The Customer defines quality
and ‘value’
➤ Anything that is not ‘value-
adding’ is ‘waste’
➤ R.O.I and Market Growth are
reliant on the Customer

18. LEAN SIX SIGMA: LAW OF COMPLEXITY
➤ ‘Waste’ or ‘Value Adding’
➤ Streamline processes
➤ The more complex a service or
product is, the more it will cost
to deliver

19. LEAN SIX SIGMA: PROBLEM
SOLVING
➤ Define the problem first
➤ Identifying the solution is the
easy bit!

20. LEAN SIX SIGMA FRAMEWORK
DEFINE MEASURE ANALYSE IMPROVE CONTROL
Define the problem
and requirement
Understand the
current process &
performance to
establish a baseline
Identify the cause of
the problem
Implement & verify
the solution
Maintain the
solution to sustain
the gains

21. WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HARNESS THE CREATIVE GENIUS?
➤ Create an environment for asking questions
➤ Re-direct focus on the customer, not on profit
➤ Don’t punish failure, embrace it and reward ‘trying’
➤ Promote a continuous improvement culture
➤ Re-assess the scope of change initiatives - small and
incremental changes are better than big failed changes
➤ Always allow for more time and resources to define the problem
➤ Spend more time on the problem and less time on the solution
➤ Before ending a project, ensure that control mechanisms have
been established to sustain the gains
➤ Don’t over-complicate things - keep it simple!