Being “too busy” is a myth! (#80)


Being “too busy” is a myth!

“If our leadership supports continuous improvement, should we even go through training?”

I often go to organizations to discuss the logistics of instituting a Lean Six Sigma Deployment on their site. When I hear this, I can’t help but sigh. Statements like these are red flags that most likely lead to the company’s continuous improvements efforts failing.

Other examples of these red flags would be:
  • ·       “We already have one Black Belt onsite so we don’t think it is necessary to train all of the other execs.”
  • ·       “Leadership wants me to champion the continuous improvement efforts and communicate with them so they do not have to pursue Executive Training.”
  • ·       “Our leadership team has already had a short introduction to Lean Six Sigma so they can skip formal training.”

Six Sigma Development Solutions, Inc. uses one metric to asses how successful a Lean Six Sigma Deployment will be. The key is executive engagement. Lean Six Sigma Deployments that have a Leadership team who is involved, supportive and accountable have better chances of creating successful and lasting change.

If your leadership team isn’t completely on board to a Lean Six Sigma Deployment and they do not know how they should be involved in the process, what can you expect?

Turf Wars
A leadership team who doesn’t see the value and priority of continuous process improvements (CPI) will push their own agenda as the priority. If a Belt is working on resolving a problem in the process whose efforts block the leadership’s agenda, then the leadership team will push the Belt’s efforts to the back burner, sometimes indefinitely. However, with proper training (i.e. Executives Training) the leadership team would learn that each CPI project is organized by priority according to the overall organizational Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s). Leadership that blocks CPI projects are ultimately blocking the KPI’s of the organization.

Sub Optimization
Without Executive Training a leadership team will not be able to recognize CPI projects. Numerous organizations treat Green and Black Belts like the company’s new toy. Executives assign projects where they feel their current “pain,” even when the majority of time that “pain” has noting to do to the real constraint on the system as a whole. A Belt may even successfully solve that “pain” however that success has no real value to the overall improvement of a organization’s production abilities. See the example below:




Instances like Turf Wars and Sub Optimization are like quicksand to Lean Six Sigma Deployments, ultimately causing the entire effort to fail.

Successful completion of Executive Training is part of the foundation of a sustainable CPI program. If the leadership team is not educated and does not “buy in” to these efforts, they will lose their steam and push towards projects that do not optimize the company’s KPI’s.

Have you been involved in a Lean Six Sigma Deployment where the Executive Team did not buy in to the efforts? Let us know in the comments!


About Six Sigma Development Solutions, Inc.

We are Certified as an Accredited Training Organization with the International Association of Six Sigma Certification (IASSC)
“The IASSC Accredited Training Organization (ATO) designation validates Six Sigma Development Solutions, Inc. has demonstrated adequate management systems, courseware with a high degree of correlation to the subject matter contained in the IASSC Bodies of Knowledge, delivery schema consistent with such content and highly qualified instructors.”
We Provide Public Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification Training Courses in 34 Cities across the globe.

Our Training Centers are located in: Albuquerque, New Mexico | Anchorage, Alaska | Atlanta, Georgia | Austin, Texas | Boston, Massachusetts | Calgary, Canada | Charlotte, North Carolina | Chicago, Illinois | Cincinnati, Ohio | Cleveland, Ohio | Columbus, Ohio | Dallas, Texas | Denver, Colorado | Detroit, Michigan | Dubai, UAE | El Paso, Texas | Fort Smith, Arkansas | Honolulu, Hawaii | Houston, Texas | Indianapolis, Indiana | Jacksonville, Florida | Kansas City, Missouri | Las Vegas, Nevada | London, England | Los Angeles, California | Louisville, Kentucky | Memphis, Tennessee | Mexico City, Mexico | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Minneapolis, Minnesota | Montreal, Canada | Nashville, Tennessee | New Orleans, Louisiana | New York City, New York | Northwest Arkansas | Orlando, Florida | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Phoenix, Arizona | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Portland, Oregon | Raleigh, North Carolina | Salt Lake City, Utah | San Diego, California | Seattle, Washington | St. Louis, Missouri | Tampa, Florida | Toronto, Canada | Vancouver, Canada | Washington, DC

We Provide Onsite Lean Six Sigma Certification Training. Some of the training's we provide are: Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt, Lean Six Sigma Champions Training and Lean Certifications for Healthcare, Finance, I.T, Manufacturing, Processing, Logistics, Retail Sales and Government.
SSDSI will come to your site to train for your choice of the Lean Six Sigma Certification Levels. Onsite training is more cost effective than open enrollment training when training larger groups of team members.
Benefits of Onsite Training:
The Training is focused on Your Opportunities
SSDSI uses your opportunities in class (vs. generic examples)
You will get the experience of a seasoned Lean and Six Sigma Master Black Belt who will help mentor you while completing your Lean and Six Sigma Project
You can train up to 20 employees for one fixed cost (this cost includes course ware and the instructors travel & lodging)
Our courses are full of games, simulations, and active learning to help the adult learner
SSDSI can customize the training to meet your company’s particular training needs
Call Kevin Clay at 214-731-3176 or email at kclay@sixsigmadsi.com for more information

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