Change Happens When…

Through the course of doing business and networking I have had numerous discussions lately about change; change management, accelerating change, culture change, etc. In fact, at the August Cincinnati Six Sigma User’s Group meeting we talked about “Accelerating Change & Influencing Buy-In”.

Several months ago I was having breakfrast with a good friend and we were talking about change and accoutability as it related to us as individuals. He shared the follloiwing formula with me and I think it also applies to companies and organizations.

Change Happens When D + V + F > R
Where:
D = Dissatisfaction
V = Vision
F = First Steps
R = Resistance to change

Do you typically think about change when you are satisfied? I don’t. I don’t think about food when my stomach is full (except ice cream…). I don’t really think about a drink of water unless I’m thirsty. It’s the sense of dissatisfaction that spurs us to do something. For individuals this could be a desire to lose weight, get into shape, reduce or eliminate debt, etc. For companies this could be a desire to increase shareholder return, increase profits, stimulate innovation, reduce muda (or waste), etc.


Vision refers to individual’s ability to see how circumstances could be better. To visualize how I will feel (and look) after I lose 15 pounds. For companies, this might be visualizing satisfied customers who now recommend your products to their friends. The key to visualization in organizations is clearly communicating the vision to all employees and members.


First steps is action. Do you ever recall a time when you really dreaded doing something that you had to do? I can remember times when I did not want to run. It was cold and rainy and I wanted to stay in the warm bed, but I know my friend would be waiting on me. So I got up and ran anyway. Afterwards I felt great and was glad that I did it. The first mile is always the toughest. There have been other times when I was to present a paper or teach a class. As I began working through the preparation (first steps) I found myself looking forward to the presentation or class.


No one likes change for change sake. In fact, many of us have a very strong resistance to change. Dissatisfaction, vision and first steps together must be greater than our resistance to change. That is, we must be dissatisfied with how things are now, we must be able to visualize the payoff and we have to get started.


Apply this formula and test my friend’s theory. We’d like to hear from you.

Tim DeRosett, CSSMBB
E-mail: tim.derosett@isssc3.com

Six Sigma User Group September: One Year Anniversary

This month we will be celebrating our One Year Anniversary with free entrance to the meeting not to mention some special treats! So if you have been considering trying us out, this is the month to do it!

This month we welcome Bob Sutton from ProThink to lead the discussion. Bob will address Accountability and the ProThink, definitions, concepts, and tools for achieving accountability. This should be a nice follow up to last month's discussion about "Accelerating Changes & Influencing Buy-In".

Date and Time: Thursday September 10, 2009, 5:30 open registration/networking, 6:00-7:30pm meeting.

Please R.S.V.P on LinkedIn at:
http://events.linkedin.com/September-Six-Sigma-Users-Group-Meeting/Pub/120079

Location & Sponsor: ISSSC, 9902 Carver Road, Suite 203, Cincinnati, Oh 45242 (Centrally located off Reed-Hartman in the Sycamore Office Buildings

Six Sigma User Group Meeting Results - August

Hi Everyone, and thank you for coming to this months User Group meeting if you were able to join us. Below are the notes from our discussion. If you weren't able to make it this month, we hope the notes are helpful to you and that we will see you in the future.

This month we discussed Accelerating Changes & Influencing buy-in

1. Successful initiatives are supported by top-level management. The project sponsor and champion must have authority, by proxy.

2.Uncover what motivates the leaders and key stakeholders within the organization.

3. Learn about the culture before implementing change.

4. Find ways to make incremental improvements.

5. Understand the environment in which you are working. The timeline and urgency varies, based on the circumstances.

6. Redefine "Hero"..."prevention" instead of "Rescue"

7. Deliver proof of gains within a short period of time.

8. Recognize successes and communicate.

9. Identify resistors to change, discover why they resist and what motivates them. Spend time with them one-on-one.

10. use a "parking lot" to capture ideas and issues that are out of the scope of the meeting/project.

12. Prepare staff for changes - why? what are the benefits?

13. Communications - establish a common language.

14. Change agents must have/build credibility

15. Gain buy-in from the "doers" - the Subject Matter Experts.



If you have and topic ideas please share them with us.

Have a great day!

Tim DeRosset

Director of Sales

tim.derosett@isssc3.com

Increasing e-commerce sales from 26% to 34% using Six Sigma

Today we covered the Six Sigma project from www.ohiobeads.com and covered how Paul was able to increase Sales Funnel Conversion from 26% to 34%.


Great information, great feedback from the group too! Paul's heads must be spinning.

Thank you Paul Brandon, certified Six Sigma Black Belt, for talking about your project and opening yourself to a room full of Six Sigma professionals' comments and suggestions.

-Betty Hakes
VP, Marketing
ISSSC

Establishing MSA (Measurement System Analysis for Problems/Processes difficult to measure

We welcomed a total of 8 members at tonight’s user group meeting. We broke into 2 groups and these are the results from our discussion about establishing measurement system analysis for problems and/or process difficult to measure.

Some examples of difficult to measure process:
· Subjective items (such as price, perception of value, pain, taste, spice, etc.) – for example, mild salsa in Texas is different than mild Salsa in the mid-west

Some examples of difficult to measure problems:
· Why do people leave a web site
· Moral, team work
· Behavior based
· People based – perception
o (talk about perception mapping may be important here)

Answers…..

Group 1:
1. If it’s a problem: you need to define the problem first
2. If it’s a process: you need to ask, why are you measuring something first
3. Then figure out the method you’re using to measure
4. Ability to quantify circumstances –(attributes) (Define what you can and can’t control)
5. Sampling method – make sure you have a good sample
6. Gauge R&R
7. Observe the process…. And how the measuring process is performed.
8. Clear operational definitions – what makes it a pass or fail.

Group 2:
1. Define why measuring
2. Indentify key points of interest
3. What is the most effective level to measure to
4. (sometime you want work out the high level and let the lower level work itself out)
5. Who does the measuring? Who sets the goals and who is tracking?
a. Question asked: why does it matter who does the measuring? People are more motivated to achieve that goal if they are self-measuring the goals. – trust but verify
6. Identify the most effective level and measure/analyze
7. How many times should one measure?

Let’s move from ambiguity to data!

Thanks to everyone who attending tonight. Next month's discussion may be a case study -- that's Dan for great suggestion. We're going to try to make it happen.

Join us next month - we meet the 2nd thursday of the month in Blue Ash. www.isssc3.com

Determining the Six Sigma project Costs

Join us April 9th at 5:30 PM to discuss how to determine the overall Six Sigma project costs.

Our User Group meetings are held in Blue Ash at 9902 Carver Road, Ste: 203.

Seating is limited, please RSVP to usergroup@isssc3.com

For additional information, please visit: http://www.isssc3.com/cincinnati_six_sigma_user_group.asp#meeting

How do you calculate the benefits of a Six Sigma Project?

These are the notes from March 12th (2009) Cincinnati User Group Meeting in where 22 members broke out into 5 groups and discussed "Calculating the benefits of a Six Sigma Project". We then reconvened and came up with the following notes....

Project charter needs to be created with business case then:
· justify by the urgency,
· justify the cost of the project

Categories in which to look for justification:
· Defect reduction (cost of reduction * delta of defects)
· Cost of rework
· Waste reduction
· Efficiency gain
· Safety
· Regulatory requirements
· Cost of doing nothing vs cost of project
· Resources needed
· Expertise available
· Complexity of the project
· Likelihood of success
· **Urgency (what kind of lead time do we have to address this issue – is the problem big for small)
-- Market conditions, regulations, 1st to market, driven by VOC

Then --
** figure out how to tie to the bottom line
** tie to... measure success of which you’re in control


Other notes (on flip board)

Create your baseline of today
Develop category of the benefit
Anything intangible, tie back to the tangible.
Don’t measure beyond of what you can control (author's note: this was a recurring thought, only measure what is within your control scope)

Benefits – save money, risk, revenue
Hard dollars

Soft dollars
Capacity
Competitive advantage

Customer Satisfaction
Reputation (i.e. stay away from WSJ - Sting test for financial MKT)
Quality compliance
Time to market
Synergy (Padu)
******************************************************************

The Cincinnati User Group meets the second Thursday of every month at the ISSSC offices in the Blue Ash area. For more information, please visit: http://www.isssc3.com/cincinnati_six_sigma_user_group.asp

How to present a Six Sigma Project to Management

During our February Cincinnti Six Sigma User Group, the group discussed "How to present a Six Sigma Project to Managment"... Here are the results/notes from the group break-out session and discussions.

How do you communicate status…update management of progress?

1) Develop Communication Plan…Stakeholders (who, what, when, how, why? [why are they doing the project?])
2) Agreed on milestones (target, dates, tollgates)…timeline
3) * Expenses (Cost Benefit)
4) Project review (how often)?
5) Project Sponsor…support (VP)
6) Key Stakeholders
7) Depends on Audience
8) Communicate “breakthroughs”
9) Shared documentation…Excel/PDF (MS Project)
10) Pre-Meeting for “hot points” with Sponsor/Stakeholders
11) Agenda ahead of time
12) If there’s issue...Be the first to inform with facts…recommend solutions/suggestions
13) Use the mole…get them involved
14) Work with subject matter experts (SME’s)
15) Work with SME’s First then work vertical


Next month’s topic, March 12th at 5:30 PM:
How do you calculate Benefit of project?

Questions/comments/RSVP to usergroup@isssc3.com

Presenting Six Sigma Projects to Management

As any good Six Sigma professional knows, how we present a Six Sigma project findings to management is just as important as what we define and improve. But, what are the best practices or tools used? How does management want to receive this information?

Come share and collaborate with other Six Sigma professionals at Cincinnti's Six Sigma User Group Meeting.
RSVP to February's User Group MTG - at http://events.linkedin.com/pub/34629

2/12/09
5:30 - 7:30 PM
Free to user group members or $10 at the door

ISSSC's Next Six Sigma User Group

Meet other Six Sigma professionals in Cincinnati to share ideas, tips and techniques to become better Six Sigma professionals!

ISSSC's second User Group meeting is Thursday, September 11, 2008. The meeting will once again feature certified Six Sigma Black Belt instructor and ISSSC consultant, Esau Borja, as he leads the general topic discussion on 5S – Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain. 5S directly applies to the principals of reducing waste before implementing fixes.



For more, visit our Six Sigma User Group page for a full description of the meeting and how to register.