Many of the speakers at ITWeb's Lean Six Sigma conference, which took place in Sandton this week, stressed that Lean Six Sigma (LSS) needs commitment to work.
“It's not magical,” said Salomon Erasmus, MD of Breakthrough Management Group International, the event sponsor. LSS is not going to fix the problems by itself, he argued.
Sadiq Malik, director of business development at BCT Global, reiterated this point: "LSS will not address human greed and corruption. If that exists at executive level, nothing will work.”
Improving incentives
Malik said people need to be persuaded to put LSS in place. “Many LSS implementations fail because the incentives are not attractive enough.”
David Anthony, senior manager at the business improvement office, Telkom SA, spoke about possible incentives for staff members who get involved in LSS.
He mentioned financial rewards and competitive pay, as well as public acknowledgement of achievements. He also stressed the importance of ensuring employee satisfaction, such as flexible working hours and encouraging social interaction.
Top down
Another reason why LSS projects fail is the lack of management buy-in, said Malik. “Many fail because there is no clear senior management mandate.”
Ralph Nadar, quality and standards manager of Merchants, agreed: “LSS takes strong senior management buy-in and strong leadership to make it a reality.”
Nadar added that to ensure LSS success, the programme needs to become a part of the company's DNA. He explained that there is a difference between "doing" LSS and "being" LSS. The latter, he said, tends to be more successful.
People problems
Richard Aldous, head of sales and marketing at Rethink, argued that companies wanting to implement LSS need full-time staff to do so, rather than some employees taking it on as an extra duty. "You need dedicated resources to make this work," he stated.
Erasmus added that many companies fail to put the right people in the correct roles for LSS leaders, such as the black belts. “We define the role but we're not good at making sure we find the right person for that role.”
He suggested a range of competency tests, like a PI assessment, a KAI assessment, Shadow Match and a CPA assessment, to source the most effective person for the position.
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