Category  AnyOther Company  AnySell Model Helicopters     Price Range  Any$0 to $9.99 Sort by  NonePrice: Low to HighPrice: High to LowDate: New to OldDate: Old to NewBest Selling: High to LowBest Selling: Low to High Keyword

StingBat

Details related products related articles related news Create A Helicopter Account To Sell Your Model Helicopter On This Website by Sell Model Helicopters Other Item #: helicopter-account Comments Pages: | 1

Lean Six Sigma and Kotter's 8 Points - Point 6, Part 2 - Critical Points Regarding Initial Successes

Initial breakthrough successes are critical when initiating a substantial change effort like Lean Six Sigma. Here are some key points and concepts to consider.

Establish clear objectives and goals and work to achieve them

One of the dangers of initial projects is serendipitous goodness, meaning that we want to do something good but are not really clear what that is. So we work until something good happens and we try to draw the line between cause (I wanted this result) and effect (I got this result). For systemic change such as Lean Six Sigma, it is important that we have that cause and effect relationship, and that what we do today gives us the results tomorrow. Serendipitous goodness is not enough. We need to have a clear set of objectives and goals and a clear plan for how we are going to achieve them. There needs to be a cause-and-effect relationship that can be explained to the organization.

Initial projects and teams

A simple way to generate initial success is to have a very strong team in a very simple project. Management therefore reduces most of the risk, and the chances of failure are very low. However, the organization knows that the game is rigged, and that it was a foregone conclusion that success was going to happen. It is better to pick a more aggressive project and the team accordingly (not just "A" players) for the organization to buy in. Lean Six Sigma is a robust improvement process. Give it clear targets, good data and a sound structure and it will typically yield great results. Therefore, it is important that we generate initial breakthrough successes. These are successes that are above and beyond what is expected and that model of the new way of doing business. To that end, the scope and scale of the initial projects is critical for the success of the organization. And while initial teams can be skewed towards high performers, it is recommended that every team represent somewhat of a balance to rely more on the process than the team members for initial success.

What not to do

We were once invited to participate in a project that a new client had selected. On first inspection, it looked like you a properly setup project. The goals were aggressive, and the team was a good mix of players in the organization. But upon further questioning, we found out that the area that was in question involved a technology that the company was going to get rid of in the next five to six months, so any benefits that the team gained would have a very short life expectancy. When the management team was probed on why they would focus the initial effort in such a short-lived area, they admitted that they viewed this approach as a safe bet. In case the project failed, it would not have a tremendous negative impact on the overall organization. After some discussion, a new area was selected that fit the strategic plan of the organization, and where the gains would have a lasting impact on how the organization performed. Lesson learned: it is important that the selection of initial projects is meaningful and that these projects will have a lasting and positive impact on the overall organization. This is critical so that as the projects roll out, the management team and the team members can point their projects and say that they made a difference.

Reward and recognition

It is important to recognize and reward those that get the gains. It is also important that that reward and recognition reflect the new behaviors that are being modeled by the team and as well as by the individuals. Rewarding and recognizing individuals or teams that used the wrong behaviors will have a detrimental impact on the transformation effort.

Speed

Management is to hold people accountable for obtaining the gains in a set timeframe. This goes back to Kotter's first point, talking about urgency. What's urgent gets focus and generates adrenaline and gets in motion. It is important at the time frames be set aggressively so that the change efforts happen in real time, not corporate time. Note: in keeping with Kotter's fifth point, the organization needs to be tolerant of legitimate misses. If there is a legitimate reason why time frames and/or scopes need to be adjusted, the organization and the management team need to be flexible. However, calculated derailment cannot be tolerated.

Conclusion

It is important that the organization plans for initial wins through clear objectives, reward and recognition systems, and accountability. Proper selection of initial projects and breakthrough successes will help jumpstart the transformation effort within the organization.

Next set of articles will cover Kotter's seventh point on how to consolidate the gains and plan new campaigns.

About the Author

Josh Anderson