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How To Get Your Organization Ready For Six Sigma Implementation
The Six Sigma approach is emerging as a winner on the business landscape. It delivers myriad benefits, from cost savings to waste elimination, higher productivity, and customer satisfaction. Not surprisingly, small and large organizations are keen to embrace the methodology. But you cannot implement the approach overnight as some preparation goes into making your organization ready for the change. Here are the steps that can set up your business for a smooth transition to Six Sigma.
Understand your requirements
The first step is to examine your organization and understand its requirements for quality improvement. Start by assessing the activities of the company, identifying strengths and weaknesses, and foreseeing the potential improvements in efficiency after going lean. Further, you must highlight internal issues and pick complaints from repeated customers to determine the focus areas. A clear view of these factors will help you create a successful action strategy.
Pick the right people for training
The next step involves picking the right people for training. If you want to introduce Six Sigma in your organization, you need people who can acquire skills and put them into action. Yellow and Green belts are for beginners, while Six Sigma Black Belt training is apt for managerial and leadership roles. These experts direct and organize the initiative, propose changes, and plan implementation. The Green belt courses take a week to finish, while the black belt takes two weeks.
Align with your projects
The success of the Six Sigma initiative hinges on its alignment with your projects. Once you have educated practitioners in the team, they can bring new ideas to complete projects with agility and accuracy. Having them on board will empower your business with a new mindset towards projects and culture as a whole. It is crucial to integrate the approach to relevant projects rather than pick it for everyone you work on.
Prioritize good communication
Organizations implementing the new methodology must maintain consistency in their internal correspondence systems as well. It ensures the success of the initiative while teaching key lessons to the entire team. An effective internal contact mechanism supports Six Sigma and speeds up its progress by ensuring best practices. If there are communication lags, fix them before going ahead with the implementation.
Ensure management buy-in
Six Sigma is a company-wide change that needs buy-in from everyone in the team. It is crucial to get management buy-in to ensure that everyone else embraces the change effectively. If the top management is not committed to productivity improvement, the initiative will not deliver results. Ensure they are ready to invest the effort, and you can get the best from the transition to this new work methodology.
Implementing Six Sigma should not happen as an aggressive spree. It requires an in-depth understanding of your needs and challenges, along with a well-planned approach. Moreover, you need to pick and train the right people to lead the initiative and take it in the right direction. Once you cover these fronts, you can transform operations for better productivity and performance.
