Communication in Six Sigma by Peter Peterka

Deploying Six Sigma means entering a period of significant change in your organization. Productivity and morale almost always suffers in times of great change. The requirements of change and adaptation and the very human fear of the unknown add to stresses of the work environment. In these times, communication becomes more important than ever.

Communication throughout a Six Sigma project is very important because the power and scope of Six Sigma demands a significant commitment from everyone in the organization. Six Sigma successes require clear and open communication at all levels to transcend departmental barriers that would otherwise cause confusion. In addition, any change in an organization will meet some resistance, either intentional or just because of inertia. When management can effectively communicate that it is behind that change and can communicate the positive aspects of the change, resistance can be countered and overcome.

Company leadership must be willing to give Six Sigma teams all of the tools and information necessary to apply Six Sigma concepts to their day-to-day activities. It is crucial in Six Sigma projects to clarify the rationale, expectations, goals, and sequence of steps in the process. Six Sigma teams with clear, written goals accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than teams without them could ever imagine. This is true everywhere and under all circumstances. Documentation of the Six Sigma process is the opportunity to resolve any misunderstandings of the deployment. A schedule is developed that outlines the strategy to take the process from its current state to one that is within statistical control and in line with the company's Six Sigma goals. Roles need to be clearly defined in how individuals contribute to the schedule and strategy. Employees assess how they can contribute to the organization through the information they receive. A team's quality goals should be set to tie in with the overall company quality improvement goals. This happens only when the team has the knowledge they need.

Lack of clarity in communicating business information is probably more responsible for frustration and underachievement than any other single factor. It is unfortunately way too easy to not realize that communication is falling short of your organization's needs. Often senior managers sincerely believe they are adequately communicating with employees. However, managers can easily underestimate the number of issues on which employees need information and how much information they need.

How do you know what is important to employees and what to tell them? You need to put yourself in the position of the employees. If you were that person, what would be important for you to know to do your job? What would you be worried about in the current situation? What information would help you deal with change? How would you want to be told? You can't answer those questions yourself. You need input from the very people you are trying to understand. Communication is a two-way street--listening as well as talking. Asking a few individuals what is being said, what people are worrying and wondering about.

Also be aware that the way a person receives news can dramatically affect how he or she feels about it, so you need to choose the medium very carefully. E-mail can be perceived as cold and unfeeling, although it is useful for routine updates that don't have emotional overtones. Many messages are better delivered in person, either to individuals or to the team as a whole.

Communication skills take practice. Always be sure the message remains honest, clear and compassionate. Have integrity and build trust. Don't say what you don't mean. Don't promise anything that you cannot or will not fulfill. Above all, follow through on your commitments and promises. Nothing turns employees off more than feeling betrayed. Sincere, caring, and constant communication will form the basis for building employee engagement throughout Six Sigma deployment.

Peter Peterka is a Master Six Sigma Black Belt for Six Sigma us and has implemented Six Sigma in a variety of organizations. For additional information for Six Sigma Training and Six Sigma Consulting please contact Peter Peterka at http://www.6sigma.us/

Peter Peterka is the principal Six Sigma Consultant in practice areas of DMAIC and DFSS. Peter has over 15 years experience including implementation of Six Sigma in Healthcare with a variety of organizations. For additional information please contact Peter Peterka at Six Sigma us.

Six Sigma Online Education

Six Sigma is a management methodology that makes use of data and statistical scrutiny, which provides companies with an ability to identify consumer needs and design a consistent and high-class method to meet those requirements. Simply put, it is a process devised to increase productivity and reduce costs. The statistical term 'Sigma' is a measure for determining how off beat a process is from its set standards. This method is known to have no more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities and is a pioneer in data driven decision-making. Various companies all over the world have integrated their policies with Six Sigma's disciplined structure to attain optimum competence. The process not only scrutinizes a company's existing systems and performance but also suggests changes to make it perfect.

Advantages Of Online Learning

Business owners and executives look for training sessions on Six Sigma in order to understand the concept and implement it. However, it becomes difficult for many of them to spare time from their hectic schedule to attend the sessions and hence prefer online training. The benefits of online training are as given below:

• Online Six Sigma training provides flexibility to students to commence and end the course according to their individual schedules. They have an option of taking the entire course in small sections to acquire better absorption of the subject.

• Online training facilitates students to learn from the comfort of their home thereby eliminating traveling expenses and travel time.

• When the entire course is listed in front of the students, they can take their pick of topics. They can omit those topics that they find easy or already have knowledge about and continue with the others only. This helps leveraging time and aids students in investing more time on difficult subjects.

• Online lessons offer practical tips that are relevant to real work issues, which help learners in applying some of the strategies as they are learning them.

• Typically, online sessions offer an immediate evaluation and feedback on a student's performance during a lesson.

• When discussions take place online, learners from all over the world can participate at the same time and share their views. This allows each participant to gain a new perspective towards a particular problem.

• The course matter includes audio and multi-media slide shows, practice conferences, online simulations, quizzes and exams.

• All students registered for the online Six Sigma course have individual access to earlier student projects and informative templates.

Course Specifications

There are various levels of courses for each group of personnel such as courses for senior management, for functional / process managers, quality leaders and for associates. Each course has specific highlights pertaining to the particular needs of the learners. For instance, a senior manager Six Sigma schedule will involve program overview, real examples of triumphant business strategies, financial benefits of implementation, list of application areas and the Six Sigma tools required. On the other hand, a functional or process manager's course will include Six Sigma methodology, concept, tools and necessities to translate senior management's tactics into objectives and actions.

Six Sigma Levels

Six Sigma certification is divided into various levels such as Six Sigma Green Belt, Six Sigma Black Belt, Six Sigma Master Black Belt and Design for Six Sigma. To register, a learner has to fill up the Six Sigma application form, choose a payment method, select the course they want to opt for, and provide an E-mail address so that course timings can be coordinated with online instructors. As soon as students complete their registration procedure, they are supplied with a registration number. As and when the learners complete a chapter, they can mail the documents to their personal Six Sigma instructor for evaluation.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution's Six Sigma Online ( http://www.sixsigmaonline.org ) offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

Six Sigma Project Management

Employing Six Sigma for the business environment is for achieving well-defined goals. The project selected for deploying Six Sigma is not self-sustaining and can develop tendencies to get off target following even the slightest let up in its management. The focus of the Six Sigma management committee is to steer the project implementation to meet those stated goals within budget and time constraints.

Six Sigma Project Management Stages

Project management in Six Sigma begins even before selecting a project. In the run up to the implementation, the right kinds of people, who have proven track records, are selected for Black Belt positions. Since Black Belts are the pillars of managing six sigma, it essential that candidates have proven qualities such as attention to detail, tendency toward problem solving and a proclivity for dedicated work.

Organizational clearances, essential for project implementation, have to be sorted out at this stage. Project selection that has a potential for a high payoff cannot be missed out on any account. For example, because of lack of funds or because of organizational stumbling blocks.

Defining Project Goals And ROI

Defining project goals and estimating pragmatic ROI is essential at this stage to set the course for project implementation and for bringing it back to course if an audit shows that deviations occurred during the implementation. This is really important - if deviations are missed it will produce endless financial and customer base losses to the company. Another key aspect is setting practical ROI targets without getting carried away. The bar shouldn’t be set too high and certainly what has not evolved from the “Voice of the Customer”.

Getting Down To Measurements

Measurements are the watchdogs of a project and demand total integrity. This is the area where Master Black Belts and Champions need to concentrate completely. Black Belts can encounter undesirable pressures for misrepresenting facts, which would otherwise expose a few poor performances.

Another issue that needs to be tackled is of a more serious nature. The consultant teams have their interests in keeping the project going on for as long as possible. This fact may be seen in the fact that Black Belts employed at the company do not measure up to the reputation of the consulting firm. From this point of view, it becomes important to double check and get back to the basics to negotiate the names of professionals who are going to be deployed.

Six Sigma Audit By Internal Committee

The internal audit committee must not the audit exercise lightly, as there is much at stake. The audit committee, besides inspecting process records and documented measurements, must place a lot of emphasis on interviewing the internal customers. The interviews should focus on finding the status of efforts at minimizing customer complaints. This is clearly an exercise of contrasting the condition ‘as is’ against ‘should be’, which is the goal. The Champion will then take over the matter for brainstorming with the Master Black Belts and Black Belts. The agenda of the brainstorming session should not deviate from discussing the findings of the audit committee.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solutions – Six Sigma Online ( http://www.sixsigmaonline.org ) offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.